A FALSE ALARM

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 17, 15 August 1928, Page 5

A FALSE ALARM

« INDIAN SENSATION. MA3IMOTH ICE BARRIEB, REPORTED TO HAVE BURST. (Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 14.

Statements that the glacier clam at Yapchan, on the Shyok River, in the mountains of Kashmir, had burst, releasing a vast volume of water down the river valley, are now officially stated to be erroneous. The first report that the dam had given way was evidently based on a fir e that was seen burning in jthe neighbourhood.

This was mistaken for one of the beacons which had been prepared to signal if a burst occurred and caused the caution signal to be wrongly given.—Australian Press Assn.

A previous cablegram announced the collapse of a mammoth ice barrier holding back millions of tons of water, situated 17,001 V feet above (the plains. All the villages below the flood level of the Indu s River had been evacuated and thousands of refugees were pouring into Peshawur. Immediately the false alarm was given a chain of giant bonfires was lighted, stretching 200 miles along the loftiest mountains and river banks. The ice barrier i s nine miles long and 500 feet deep in places. Th e ice wall is 1000 feet wide and ithe level of the water has risen two feet d?«ily for several weeks past.