TRAINS COLLIDE IN FINLAND
MOST OF 13 VICTIMS KILLED BY GAS FUMES HELSINKI (Finland), October 6. Thirteen persons were killed and 12 were injured ,wb en an express train and goods train collided in a fog between Rauha and Tainonkoski. The collision resulted in the explosion of a sulphur dioxide tank which asphyxiated most of the victims. The accident occurred because some of the wagons in an unusually long goods train were shunted on to the main track. The driver, hearing the approach of the express, leapt for his life as the express crashed into the wagons, telescoping two sleeping cars and killing the first victim. Gas overcame men and women climbing out of the sleeping cars. They fell back into the splintered coaches and died. People giving first aid were without gas masks and were unable to approach until the fumes dispersed. Meanwhile, they watched five victims die.
The debris is expected to yield more corpses. Hie goods train driver and another employee have been arrested.
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Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 7
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167TRAINS COLLIDE IN FINLAND Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 7
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