NO LOSS OF LIFE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26214, 26 July 1946, Page 5

NO LOSS OF LIFE

ELABORATE PRECAUTIONS SMALL ISLAND SWAMPED (Rec. 11 p.m.) I BIKINI, July 24. Admiral W. H. Blandy, reporting from Mount McKinley, nine miles from the centre of the target, said he had not ascertained the fate of ail the submarines which had been submerged for the blast. None came to the surface. Two were sighted from the air in their proper submerged positions. The exact efficiency of this bomb was not yet known, but it appeared to be normal in every respect. There had been no injuries and no loss of life, but the elaborate safety precautions were being continued. The task force

would not be able to enter the lagoon as soon as after the first test. Bikini was not inundated, but a wave seven to ten feet high rolled up the beach and a small island nearby was swamped. A correspondent on board the Appalachian says: “After 30 minutes the atomic mist appeared like distant rain on the horizon. There appears to be no danger of a highly radio-active cloud from this burst, as after the previous atom test. To-day’s cloud went only a quarter as high, and falling water washed out and down to the sea most of the radio-active salt and other dangerous chemicals. The island appears to be more or less intact." The correspondent said waves reached the island, three miles distant, five minutes after the explosion. They rocked beach landing craft, but no more than rough surf would have done.