THE OPPAU DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16595, 30 November 1921, Page 6

THE OPPAU DISASTER.

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION IN CERMANY. CHEMICAL WORKS BLOWN UP. The greatest industrial disaster in the ; history ol : Europe occurred at Oppau, Germany, at a.m. on September 21, when the hi# Badische Aniline Works, where the first German poison gas in the war was made., were destroyed by a tremendous explosion. Over 1000 persons were killed, nearly 2000 were injured, many hundreds of them very seriously, and damage estimated at over £1,000,000 was done. The concussion of the explosion smashed windows sixty miles away. Though tho exact cause of the disaster is not exactly known, it is stated that it was primarily caused by the explosion oT 4000 tons of ammonium sulphate and saltpetre, this being followed by explosions in all parts of the works, which cov*ered 150 afcres. Several thousand workmen were in tho plant at tho time of the disaster. The first explosion occurred in laboratory 53, which is situated in part of the pre-war buildings, shortly after the change of shifts and 800 men had begun work. This building was blown completely into the air, and it is thought that not a single man escaped. Their bodies could be seen hurled high into the air. 'Wreckage, splintered bars, and huge pieces of steel were blown for miles. Many other buildings in the neighbourhood were destroyed as the result of the tremendous shockTERRIFIC FORCE OF EXPLOSION. A workman of the factory, describing his experiences, said : “ I was just leaving the factory, having boen on the night shift, when the explosion took place. I and the men with me were thrown to the ground. Everything became dayk. We crawled along the ground, Hoping somehow to escape. Flames shot up from the building whore the explosion had taken place and gradually the darkness passed, and it became light. Then we saw the ruins of fallen buildings all around us. It is a miracle that we escaped. A gigantic column of smoke shot up into the air and spread out. covering everything wftn gre\* dust. Tho stencil of gas was unbearable.”

Another workman said that he was hastening along, being late, when he saw a high column of flame shoot up into the sk\*. It was almost instantaneously followed by a detonation which knocked him down. There was an interval—he was uot sure of the duration, hut put it at two or three seconds--then another report followed far more violent than the first. Then there was a silence. A great fog of dust and fumes spread over tho works and village. The trees had been blow r n bare of leaves.

In Ludwigsha-fen. a few miles away, roofe were torn from houses. People walking in the street were killed, and in Mannheim, twelve miles and a half away, a man was killed and thirtysix were injured by the immense force of the air current set up by the sxplo--6ion. In Mannheim shutters were trenched from their binares, windows broken and roofs damaged. A workmen’s train, which had just arrived, kas buried under the ruins. I he killed included a number of children, who were caught on -their way to school and were buried under the tailing masonry- At Mannheim houses trembled, thousands of panes of glass were ehattred, and heavv things, such as typewriters, were hurled from tables, wood pawing in the streets was torn up, and people rushed out of the houses behoving there was an earthquake. Malodorous clouds ot smoke poisoned the air for miles. WIDESPREAD DEVASTATION’. Ifor twenty miles round houses rocked and window frames were blown in. In one engineering works four miles away k wail was blown in and three men were killed and seventeen injured. Cunbusiy enough, the iiadisene Anaiine Company’s works at Hudwigshaien, the parent concern of the factory at Oppau, seem to have escaped with broken glass. Other factories in Dudwigshaien were loss fortunate. Most of them had their windows blown in by the rush of air. Gravestones in Oppau cemetery were hurled about, and in Jbudwigsiiafen and Mannheim all clocks stood still at l.'Sd, as a result of the shock caused by the explosion. Where the factory stood is now nothing but a huge crater 60ft deep and one hundred yards in diameter. Some conception of the magnitude of the explosion may be gathered from the fact that, in addition to 4000 tons of explosives, which blew up, nine gasometers went hurtling through the air, each containing some 00,000 cubic metres of gas. All this part ot the works was literally pulverised. Stones, pieces of wood, rails, twisted iron girders and debris of every description lie scattered round, and for a distance of 200 yards there is not a wall left standing. Three tall factory chimneys stand gaunt above the ruins, but of a fourth there is but a stump. Huge pieces of masonry and machinery, blackened and unrecognisably twisted, lie hundreds of yards from their original position. The' village of Oppau, the population of which was about 6000, was partly destroyed. Many of the houses were left in utter ruin, and hardly one but was not more or less damaged. RESCUE WORK STARTED AT ONCE. The work of rescue started at one* The transport materials of the whole region were immediately requisitioned The French military authorities sent all the available army doctors, as well rb ambulances, motor-cars and lorriea for transporting the wounded. Genera! Degoutte, the French Commander-m, Chief, controller] the rescue operations, in which French troops have been injured. The French Supply Corps organised free soup kitchens and supplies of food for the population, and French funds were sent for the relief of the stricken families. One of the greatest difficulties that the parties of rescuers, even equipped as they were, with gas masks, had to meet, was the noxious fumes that arose* thick and yellow from the huge pit Formed in the ground. Among the first troops to take part in the. work of rescue we re the can Colonial Regiment and uie That Madagascar Regiment. These coloured troops, without waiting for orders, immediately separated into email working parties and rushed to the places where the smoke wan thickest and the scenes of desolatipn most frightful. Pathetic scenes were witnessed as the survivors from the village and factory searched for relatives and friends amid the ruins. Temporary huts of debris and straw were built, but these offered little protection to the heavy rain and cold which followed after the explosion. Many relief funds were opened up throughout Germany, and the President contributed 260,000 marks from his fund. Relief funds wore also organised in New York hv Germans resident there.