FIRE AND EXPLOSION
DESTRUCTION IN VILA. A NUMBER OF CASUALTIES. (Press Association— By Telegraph—Copyright.) SUVA, January 20. (Received Jan. 20, at 5.5 p.m.) The Resident Commissioner at Vila, New Hebrides, reports that a serious fire and explosion occured in Vila on the night of January 17. Two of the main stores belonging to Balland’s and a bulk store belonging to de Bechade were completely demolished, together with three small buildings and timber yards. No Government buildings were affected. The known casualties are: —Dead— French, 1; British 8; Chinese and Tongkinese, •3. Severely injured—Europeans, 7; French natives, 15. Minor injuries— French, 4; natives, 30. The British commandant of police and the assistant commandant received superficial injuries in the execution of their duty. The fire is now extinguished. Unofficially it is estimated that the loss will probably be £200,000. NINE LIVES LOST. AMMUNITION EXPLODES. SYDNEY, January 20 (Received Jan. 21, at 0.15 a.m.) Advices received from the New Hebrides state that nine persons were burned to death in the fire which destroyed the premises of the French New Hebrides Company. The manager and five members of the staff were entrapped in the store and burned. Altogether there were 45 casualties, caused mostly by exploding ammunition.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19280121.2.56
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 20312, 21 January 1928, Page 11
Word Count
203FIRE AND EXPLOSION Otago Daily Times, Issue 20312, 21 January 1928, Page 11
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in