Faced Certain Death

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 981, 26 May 1930, Page 11

Faced Certain Death

PANIC ON BLAZING STEAMER British Officers’ Heroism DEATHS ESTIMATED AT TWO HUNDRED Aj4 panic-stricken natives jumped overboard and others cut their throats in the face of certain death, two British officers worked incessantly in rescuing the pilgrims from tlie burning steamer Asia in the Arabian port of Jeddah. Many prayed as the flames licked about them.

United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 10.5 a.m. PARIS, Sunday. The Jeddah correspondent of “La Petit Parisien” pays .a tribute to the gallantry of two British officers of the steamer Arabistan in rescuing the terror-stricken pilgrims who were trapped on the 'blazing steamer Asia. The officers picked up the fainting pilgrims and passed them over the side to a boat below, remaining calm as if playing a game cf golf. One group of pilgrims tried to es-

cape by an iron ladder, but were beaten back by the flames. They all then cut their throats, and their bodies piled up on the red-hot deck. Two of the four boats launched were swamped by panic-stricken natives jumping into them. Most of the. pilgrims were drowned. Many others refused to attempt to escape, and remained in the dining saloon, praying to Allah, with faces turned toward Mecca. The number of dead is not yet known, but is estimated between 100 and 200.