RAILWAY DISASTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1926, Page 13

RAILWAY DISASTER.

SYDNEY-BRISBANE EXPRESS VIADUCT COLLAPSES. CRASH INTO A RAVINE, FOUR PASSENGERS KILLED. By Telegraph-Press Assn.—Copyright Sydney, June 11. Owing to the eollapsS of a wooden viaduct between Togar and Aberdeen, about 180 miles north of Sydney, the Brisbane express which left Sydney yesterday afternoon was derailed shortly before midnight. Five persons were killed and over 30 injured, some critically. Medical aid was sent from Scone and Muswellbrook. The injured who were able to be moved were sent to the hospitals at those places. Those who are dead through the railway accident are: Miss B. Dalziell (Toowoomba, Queensland), Mrs. Bennett (Mosman, Sydney), Fryhan Monsour (an Assyrian), a man named White (Queensland), and an unidentified man. Those critically injured are: Ward Morgan McTor, who had both legs broken, and Mrs. Alice Nicholls, of Manly, Queensland. The train consisted of two engines, a van and seven carriages. There were 143 passengers. The official statement showed that the leading engine and four carriages went off the line and the assisting engine toppled on its side. The accident was caused by three spans of the wooden viaduct collapsing when the train was passing over it. The viaduct crosses a ravine 25 feet deep. The first engine crossed safely, but. the viaduct collapsed under tire second engine and the first carriage and engine crashed into the ravine followed Ey the next two carriages. It was fortunate the first engine and the fourth carriage kept the track, thus preventing further wreckage and additional casualties. The viaduet is within a short distance of the Hunter River. APPALLING SCENES WITNESSED. Owing to the darkness the work of rescuing the injured proved very difficult and the searching of the debris had to be suspended for some time alter 9 o’clock until this morning. The rescue parties built camp fires and awaited the dawn. The passengers travelling in the sec-ond-elass carriage which was next to the engine appeared to have suffered most. 'The carriage was split in ..two, one part was left still standing and the other overturned. Most of the dead were found in this carriage. The fourth carriage' was tilted down through the viaduct. Appalling scenes were witnessed alter the disaster. Flares, motor-car headlamps and other methods of illumination were used to throw light on the wreckage. Some people were so seriously hurt that they eould not be moved from the spot. The less seriously hurt, after treatment at the hospital, were accommodated in private houses, The permanent way was torn and twisted. The driver and fireman of the second engine had remarkable escapes., Both were buried beneath the coal when .the engine overturned. The fireman suffered a broken jaw and the driver minor injuries and shock. Among the passengers were J. C. Williamson's Katja Company with between 30 and 40 memebrs. Ward Morgan is the only one seriously injured; others, including Miss Marie Burke, leading lady, are slightly injured, or suffering from shock. Many passengers were asleep at the time of the accident. In consequence, of the darkness and the complete nature of the wreck it was hours after the smash before the victims were recovered from the wreckage. The latest official message, at 4 o’clock this morning, gives the number of killed as seven, but it is expected the casualty roll will be increased, when al! are extricated. An unofficial message states that eight were killed. lAter,.reports of the railway accident are most contradictory. The latest give four as killed. It is now stated that Mrs.. Beiniett was not killed but only slightly- injured. THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT. Received June 11, 9.45 p.m. Sydney, June 11. The official list of the dead in the railway disaster are:—H. C. White (Canterbury), Slimon Wansour (Waterloo), Miss Barbara Dalzell (Rockhampton) and a man . not yet identified. Thirty-three were injured. The driver of the leading engine, who had a miraculous escape from death, said his engine would have fallen over but that the main engine pulled the drawbar right , out. of his engine and although it lost its tender wheels the pilot engine never left the road. He added: “If the train had been composed of ordinary passenger cars there would have been hardly any survivors. As it was of special steel frame cars they did not buckle, thus saving many lives.” reason for the train leaving the rails is unknown. Officials emphasised the fact that the accident was not caused through the viaduct collapsing. The train had passed the wooden viaduct, which was about four hundred feet from the steel bridge- that spans the river Hunter, when it left the line and ploughed up the permanent way, seriously damaging the viaduct. A single line runs across the viaduct and bridge and slopes down towards the river, but the grade is slight and the line is straight. The Minister for Railways states that apparently the derailment occurred before the viaduct was reached. The question of the safety of the wooden viaducts was raised in the Assembly in December last, when the commissioner of railways stated that he had adopted bridges of standard design composed of brick and masonry or concrete with steel superstructure, which were replacing wooden bridges, as the lattes got out of repair. A report, of the disaster is being prepared for tire Commissioner.