ST. JEAN DISASTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17417, 15 November 1930, Page 5

ST. JEAN DISASTER

CAUSE OF THE COLLAPSE ANCIENT ROMAN TUNNELS LYONS, Nov. 14. To-night the Cathedral of St, Jean is filled with weeping men and women, praying for their loved ones, while in the'red rays of the watch lamp glimmering in the dim nave, Cardinal jMaurin passes silently from group to group, raising his hand and blessing, and mingling his prayers with those of the bereaved. When the landslide wrecked the convent. one nun, Sister Blandin, sleeping on the top floor, was thrown, with her bed, 50ft. to the ground floor and buried beneath 20ft. ot earth, rubble and timbers. She made cries, which were heard at 5 a.nr, Four workmen, who had tunnelled for five hours, reached her, and found the mattress above her, which had prevented fatal injuries, though she was only able to move layhead. The hill had been honeycombed by the Romans with numerous underground passages, which recent rains filled up, forming a lake which sapped the entire hill. The collapse of the first portion swept away a recently-erected retaining wall, the demolition of which made the whole hill unstable. The third convulsion buried the emergency equipment of the fire brigade, and the fourth destroyed a second street. During the course of rescue work, Cardinal Maurin led a tireless band of priests carrying the aged and injured from the danger zone, one remaining in a perilous position to absolve the dying. -