OIL TANKER EXPLODES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19760, 10 April 1926, Page 11

OIL TANKER EXPLODES

TRAGEDY ON MISSISSIPPI. CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS. (Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) NEW YORK, April 8. (Received April 9, at 9.30 p.m.) The New Orleans authorities have been notified that an toil tanker, the name of which has not been determined, exploded on Thursday night in ’ the Mississippi River, 20 miles below the city. Several men are believed to have been killed. Large numbers were rescued from the river, the waters of which were covered with burning petroleum. One report said that the captain. and pilot of the vessel were known to have been killed, that 35 were missing, and that 15 of the crew had been rescued. Unverified reports state that the ship was the Dutch tanker Sofrainst. Another report states that when several gasoline tanks were being placed on board the tank steamer O. T. Waring, an explosion ocurred on Thursday afternoon. Twenty-nine men were injured and 23 were rescued from the river. Four were not accounted for. There were 200 men on board the vessel at the time of the explosion.—Reuter. THE LATEST VERSION. NEW YORK, April 8. (Received April 9, at 10.30 p.m.) The latest reports state that the Dutch steamer Silvanus collided with the oiltanker Thomas H. Wheeler and an explosion on the Silvanus followed.—Reuter.