AIR LINER CRASH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23369, 8 December 1937, Page 9

AIR LINER CRASH

THE BRINDISI DISASTER A SURVIVOR'S ACCOUNT "EXCEPTIONAL ACT OF FATE" (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) ROME, Dec. 6. Mr Robert Lutyens, on his arrival here from Brindisi, gave the first account by the rescued from the Cygnus. He said: " Fortunately the hatchway was open, I clambered out and swam to a motor launch which was coming to meet me. It was an awful moment when I felt the weight of my overcoat dragging me down, but I managed to get it off. I witnessed the rescue work from the Imperial Airways tender. I have no words to describe the bravery of the Cygnus's crew Sec-ond-officer Mountain dived three times to open the top hatch of the main compartment, then dived again to rescue Mrs Ritchie, who had been swimming about seeking her brother."

Mr Lutyens added that a brief inquiry held by the Italian authorities exonerated the crew from blame or carelessness. "In my opinion," he said, " the accident was one of those exceptional acts of Fate which should not be allowed to retard the progress of aviation." Mr Lutyens was wearing a strange assortment of clothes lent by porters and others. He carried a small paper parcel containing all his luggage, which had been salvaged. THE WOMAN PASSENGER SISTER OF A VICTIM LONDON, Dec. 6. A formal advertisement in The Times announces the death in the Brindisi air accident of William lan Falconer Macdonald, of Watabadgery, East Wagga, and Falcon Manor, Towcester. The Brindisi correspondent of the Australian Associated Press says that Mrs Ritchie has not recovered sufficiently to make a statement, beyond saying she was a sister of Captain Macdonald. Five American oil men and an American couple from Alexandria had left the Cygnus at Brindisi, thus the plane was lightened by seven passengers, otherwise the casualty list might have been heavier. The Cygnus was hoisted out of the water and now lies on the quay. THE MAILS SALVAGED LONDON, Dec. 6. All the mails from the Cygnus, weighing over a ton, have been salvaged. The Italian post office is drying and forwarding them as soon as possible.