TRAIN CRASHES INTO VAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17831, 27 April 1926, Page 12

TRAIN CRASHES INTO VAN.

9 KILLED, 15 HURT IN MELBOURNE. PICNICKERS MEET AWFUL FATE AT LEVEL CROSSING. By Telegraph.— Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. MELBOURNE, April 26. The holiday was marred by a disastrous accident on Fern Tree Gully Tine, when to-night an electric railway train dashed into a large motor van crowded with picnickers. Details are as yet meagre, but so far as is known, nine people were killed and fifteen or sixteen injured, several seriously, and it is feared that when the work of extricating the victims from the wreckage is completed, the death-roll will be added to. The collision occurred at a level crossing at Boronia. The van was smashed to splinters, and its human freight scattered and mangled by the on-rushing train. The smash happened about six o’clock. Nine bodies have been sent to Melbourne, but have not reached the city, and their identity will not be known till a very late hour. Fern Tree Gully is a great rendezvous for picnickers, and to-day, being Labour Day holiday, many motor-van and other parties visited the spot. The scene of the disaster is two miles on the Melbourne side of Fern Tree Gully station, from which the train starts. It was given time to get up a good rate of speed and it struck the motor-van with tremendous force. It heeled it over and then cut I through it and its living freight, dragging the debris a considerable distance before it could be brought to a standstill. The mangled bodies of the wounded were pinned among the debris. The wounded were moaning and screaming. The bodies were mixed fn an inextricable mass and the work of extricating was difficult. Those who escaped death or injury were so shaken and unnerved by their terrible experience and the heart- . rending surroundings that they were unable to render much help. With the assistance of holiday making parties and people living in the vicinity, rescue work proceeded slowly. The wounded were removed from among the wreckage and given medical aid as soon as possible and sent on to Melbourne, where the dead were also forwarded. It was a late hour before this work was completed and at the time of cabling the identification of the victims not available. The wrecked van carried 24 passings, including a number of women and children.