ACCIDENT TO EXPRESS

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 9

ACCIDENT TO EXPRESS

SIXTEEN PERSONS HURT

STORMS VISIT AUSTRALIA

CYCLONE SWEEPS TOWNS

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright

Rec. 7-25 p.m. Melbourne, Dec. 27. The Adelaide express met with an accident this morning near Callington. One passenger coach left the rails at a soft spot and a mail van next to the engine was seriously damaged. Sixteen passengers were injured, none seriously. Heavy rain apparently caused the permanent way to sink under the weight of the train.

Heavy rain fell yesterday over almost the whole of the northern portion of South Australia. Pastoral areas are reported to have had the best fall for years. The rain means the breaking of one of the worst droughts in th- history of Australia, extending over nearly six years. Falls'up to 34 inches ar-’ recorded. A train to Broken Hill was cancelled owing to washaways.

Houses were unroofed, fencing and telegraph lines were blown down, and trees uprooted by a violent cyclone which swept townships north of Bendigo. Not a single building at Knowsley escaped damage. A Roman Catholic church and a private house were razed to the ground. The cyclone had a width of two miles, and travelled at a great speed. Roads are blocked by fallen trees. The gale blew itself out in an hour, and was followed by heavy rain. The express was derailed 15 .miles on the Adelaide side of the Murray bridge owing to storm water from a small creek washing out the filling under the line so that after the engine had crossed the spot the rails subsided. One carriage overturned and two others were sent off the metals.

To-day’s express from Melbourne will be dispatched as usual, the passengers transferring at the break if the line is not restored by the morning.