SHATTERING EXPLOSIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1927, Page 9

SHATTERING EXPLOSIONS

SHED BOUNDS INTO THE AIR MILE OF COUNTRY SHAKEN CHAOS FOR FIVE MINUTES By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright, 1 Received Jan. 31, 8.10 p.m. Sydney, Jan. 31, Two severe explosions, the roars of which were heard four miles away, occurred in the sheds at the rear of A. J. Benjamin’s store at Chatswood. Six persons are hurt and two are in a critical condition. Thirty-one shops had plateglass windows blown in and 16 dwellings had their roofs damaged and windows broken. The ceiling of the Methodist Church fell in. The tiles were ripped off the roof and the memorial stained glass windows were smashed. For five minutes seven streets were swept by a tornado of bricks, sheets of galvanised iron and blazing wooden beams, while a square mile of the surrounding country was shaken. The first explosion occurred in the shed in which petrol was stored. The fire then passed to the brick shed containing high explosives. This shed seemed simply to bound bodily into the air. Men working in the street 150 yards away, were hurled off their feet by the concussion.