SEVEN DEAD

Southland Times, Issue 20616, 15 October 1928, Page 5

SEVEN DEAD

Train Smash FREIGHTER AND MAIL EXPRESS CARRIAGES TAKE FIRE MANY TERRIBLY INJURED (United Press Assn.—-By Telegraph—Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, October 13. A mail train and a London Midland freighter collided at Charfield, Gloucestershire. The mail train caught fire. It is believed that seven were killed and many injured. The disaster occurred at five o’clock in a dense fog. The empty freighter was backing into a siding and the express mail train struck it head on. Three of the latter’s coaches were telescoped, instantly caught fire and became an inferno. Nine bodies have been recovered. Twentysix are in hospital. The express driver jumped clear, but the fireman is still imprisoned in the wreckage, likewise the freighter’s engine man. Petrol Waggon Ablaze. The smash occurred under the bridge, carrying the road over the railway close to the station. The mail train caught the freighter with a crash which awakened the sleepers for two miles around. Then it overturned on the opposite line on which a second freighter was passing. Fire broke out immediately amid the piled up wreckage. The screams of women and children mingled with the roaring steam from the engines. One of the freighters had a petrol waggon which was smashed and sent up a blaze. The bridge was so burnt that it has been declared unsafe for vehicles. Debris was smouldering and occasionally bursting into flames 12 hours after the crash. A hundred villagers rushed from their beds, but experienced the awful position of having to stand idly by listening to the cries and unable to approach until firemen found water. “It was like a great bonfire,” declared a spectator. “We did not know where to start. The carriages were like an oven. A little girl with both legs broken was the bravest I saw.” A man dashed from a blazing coach and then cried: "I have lost my luggage,” and dashed back. He was not seen again. A post office sorter, who is a war-time victim of shell-shock, lost his reason and had to be forcibly carried from the scene. A Brother’s Noble Effort. A terrible story is told by Louis Huntly, who was still last night roaming among the ruins vainly seeking his sister. "I smashed a window and lowered my wife safely. I then found my sister was pinned down and immoveable from the waist downwards. While I was working fire broke out in the next compartment. I threw the full weight of my body against the woodwork, but could not free her. The flames crept near inch by inch until the partition of the compartment was ablaze. My sister was calling out: ‘Save me. Get me out.’ I went mad. Ten men could not have freed her. I fought on until I smashed my shoulder blade, rendering the left arm useless. My sister cried: ‘Save yourself, Louis’ Then the flames swept over and I fell. I was taken to Bristol with my wife, then they brought me back here to identify a woman, but she was not my sister.” It has since been established that Huntly’s sister, Mrs Johnston, is among those dead. —Australian Press Association. ANOTHER DISASTER COLLISION IN TUNNEL. RESCUE WORK IN THE DARK. (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, October 13. One man was killed and 50 passengers were injured, including many women, by a collision in a tunnel outside the Queen Street Station, Glasgow, involving the Lon-don-bound train. The dead man was proceeding on his honeymoon. The bride was among those injured and was sent to hospital. The horrors of the collision were accentuated by the darkness of the tunnel. Doctors, railwaymen and volunteers were soon unrecognizable with soof and grime. The rear of the train was smashed to matchwood and wreckage was piled up against the roof of the tunnel. It is remarkable how the passengers, except one, escaped with their lives. It is feared that many will lose limbs. The bridegroom was terribly mutilated and still had a white carnation in his buttonhole from the wedding. Nineteen of the 50 injured were seriously hurt. The dead man is Donaldson Gray, who was married three hours previously. His wife’s leg was amputated in hospital, as well as the foot of the other leg. Mr and Mrs Ross were also on their honeymoon and are lying injured in separate hospitals.—Australian Press Association.