BRIDGE COLLAPSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18754, 6 January 1923, Page 10

BRIDGE COLLAPSES

TWENTY PEOPLE DROWNED DARKNESS ADDS TO CONFUSION Prca» Association—By Telegraph—Copyright VANCOUVER, January 4. bridge across the Cowlitz River, in Kelso (Washington State), collapsed while crowds were going home from their day’s work, and 20 persons were drowned. Tile cable of tho bridge, which was 700 ft long, snapped. One tower fell into the river and another against a new steel bridge which is being constructed. The central span buckled, hurling scores of pedestrians and several motor cars into tho water. Many of the former were rescued after clinging to the wreckage. Tho horror of the scene was heightened by tho sudden failure of the' electric light, which threw the entire town into darkness. Huge bonfires were kept going all night to aid in the rescue of the workers. An eye-witness of the disaster says that when the bridge collapsed, a bus, which was carrying 20 school children, plunged into the river. Onlv four children were rescued.—A. and N.Z. Cable. EIGHTY DEATHS REPORTED. VANCOUVER, January 4. (Received Jan, 5, at 7.20 p.m.) The latest estimate is that 80 lives were lost at Kelso.—A. and N.Z. Cable.