FEARFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN SPAIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 151, 14 October 1876, Page 3

FEARFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN SPAIN.

h June M r a fearful *rail way accident fupvett va Catalonia, Spain, not far front fr«ga,. between Barcelona and Lerida. |Pt«»r» from the narrative of one of [survivor* that the mail train left Bar[litt in the morning, a* usual, to meet axpresa whien take* the tetters from won rind Catalonia to> Madrid, starting ft Saragosaa at nine in the evening. [ train included two first-eta**,, three [nd-clas*,, and three- third-class carps,, with the mail van and four other foge ears. The guard * van and several 1 were provided with powerful; breaks, lio line Barcelona and Saraft is one of the most dittiettlt in the 111 of Spam. It run* through a sacion of narrow defiles, and through mtains where tunnels, curve*, and into ara very frequent. At last the * approached Tarrega* a pretty tittle »not far from Cervira.. The line here * a sharp curve of 7tM) metre* on an fitment 17 metres above the valley, hu very tWt ot! an eminence upon * stand* the old castle of Aaiegat. f " wood* extend in every direction, ■nost happily a very short distance off the iirsfc nooaea and t; e station of Tar--1 Down this curve and incline came ■nail train at fell speed, when sadly a violent shock told the passengers ' something had happened behind, itlnrd-claa* carriage, which was sixth n tlie engine, had snapped it* break chain simultaneously, thereby running :'•« line. The first carriage* with the n« went ott rapidly, and reached Tari where an alarm was raised, and the 'a of the inhabitant* answered the call to authoritieav Everyone rushed to "Cuna tit the accident, and a fearful

sight it was, according to all the eye-wit-nesses. In one shapeless heap lay the carriages, partly embedded in the embankment, and from under the wreck came groans and cries of the? p«ior sufferers. Others had managed to e:\. - p from smashed carriages, and the unhurt v.,f s actively engaged in resetting their fellow travellers. Every one worked with much g«>od will, and, at first, those who had escaped had to be prevented from ill-using the railway officials, who were, however, perfectly innocent of this catastrophe. Many passengers remained sitting on the ground as if atapified, and some women were almost distracted. The authorities displayed much activity, and very soon fourteen dead bodies were taken from the scene of the accident. The wounded, nineteen in number, many of them hopelessly injured, were taken to Tarrega. Thirty-five more passengers were more or less hurt, but were able to continue their journeys on the next day.