PARIS RAILWAY DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9847, 14 September 1903, Page 2

PARIS RAILWAY DISASTER.

A SICKENING HOLOCAUST. (Per S.s. Sierra at Auckland.)SAN Aug. 27. The railway disaster which occurred at Paris on the night. of August 10th was most horrible. Twenty cars were consumed, giving out a fierce heat. The flames burst out at the stations Les Couronnes and Menilmontant. The escape of most of the trainmen was due to their knowledge of the subterranean passages. There were instances of heroism, but the trainmen ,did not organise any attempt to rescue the passengers, hence the terrible panic. It is believed that more than 100 persons perished. A great number of bodies were taken out of the tunnel near Les Couromies. The firemen came upon a great mass of bodies, which were those of passengers who attempted to reach the statiou. The tunnel makes a sharp turn near the scene of the disaster, and at an tingle. The entire mass of humanity apparently became, tightly wedged m a panic at this point within the subterranean passage, and m the darkness it must have been terrible. The appearance of the victims was 'that of asphyxiated persons. Women held their children tightly m their arms, and these were happier than other women and children who identified husbands, fathers and children among charred bodies ;is they -were brought out. Several first-class coaches were destroyed, and the occupants perished.