200 STILL MISSING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 456, 18 May 1932, Page 1

200 STILL MISSING.

British Captain Reports on Burning Liner. WERE PASSENGERS TRAPPED? United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received May 18, 11 aan.) PARIS, May 17. Further details show that the liner Georges Philippar, which was abandoned yesterday in the Gulf of Aden, is still ablaze, with a list to port of 15 degrees. Of the passengers and crew, 698 are known to be saved. The fate of the remaining 200 is a mystery, but possibly some are on board other rescue ships. Captain Owen, of the Contractor, wirelessed: “I reached the Georges Philippar three hours after seeing the fire on the horizon, 35 miles distant. Hundreds of people were on the poop and the forecastle head. I launched my boats and rescued 129. I learned that many first-class passengers were trapped in the cabins. A French engineer told me that the fire began in an empty cabin de luxe, through the short circuit of the electricity. It travelled rapidly through the state rooms. The survivors are in their night clothes, having lost everything. The Contractor is due at Aden to-day. The search for the survivors continues.” Captain Vicq scouts the suggestion that some of the passengers were trapped in the Philippar’s cabins, and says positively that he was the last soul aboard. All the Sovietskaia’s 420 survivors were transhipped to the liner Andre Lebon, which is proceeding at full speed to Djibouti. It is believed that the Otranto has five injured aboard.

HARROWING SCENES. 100 First-class Passengers Trapped. (Received May 18, 11.30 a.m.) ADEN, May 17. The Contractor has arrived. The survivors state that the fire started at two o’clock in the morning in a first-class cabin, through a wire fusing. It is believed that from 80 to 100, mostly first-class passengers, were trapped, and some are dead. The fire spread rapidly and there were harrowing scenes when the boats ■were launched, man)* jumping into the sea, but being unable to reach them.

MANY BURNED TO DEATH. Total Now Missing Placed at 225. (Received May 18, 12.30 p.m.) ADEN, May 17. Death either in the flames or in the shark-infested waters may be the fate of some of the 225 passengers and crew of the Georges Philippar, who are still missing. It had been hoped that when the actual number that the Sovietskaia had rescued was made known the possible death roll would be greatly reduced, but the Sovietskaia’s transference of 420 survivors to the Andre Lebon accounts for only 673. No precise figures regarding the number of passengers and crew have yet been published. It is emphasised that if the Georges Philippar had her full complement she would have been carrying over 1000 persons. Survivors declare that at least 100 first-class passengers were trapped in their staterooms and incinerated. It is still hoped that other ships, including the Otranto and Kaisar-i-Hind, will have picked up some of the survivors. (Continued on Page 7.)