THE OPPAU CALAMITY

Otago Witness, Issue 3526, 11 October 1921, Page 19

THE OPPAU CALAMITY

BODrKB TWENTY FEET DEEP. LONDON, September 23. The correspondent of The Times atOppau wires a harrowing account of the terrible scenes after the disaster on September 21. “A procession of carts,” he says, “is crossing the Rhine bridge full of corpses and wounded. Weeping women and frightened men, heedless of the incessant rain, watch the bierg of shattered remains borne over a soddened pathway. “In the midst of the ruins lie bloated corpses, horribly swollen from poison gas. Small carts drive up to receive their melancholy load, the pitiful remains of those blown to pieces—limbs, arms, heads, and bits of blouses. One shudders at the sight of it all. The whole place is reeking with poison gas. There is cracking, groaning, and an occasional crash, as the timbers give way. “The ambulance and columns of rescuers are working all day and night. The French colonial troops are guarding all bridges to prevent access of the crowds.” Some bodies were buried 20ft in the earth. Thousands are workless as a result, of the explosion, for 2100 new workers had been engaged on the day of the disaster. A message from Berlin adds that many foreign Governments have sent messages condoling with the Government on the explosion.