PHILLIPAR DISASTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 117, 20 May 1932, Page 7

PHILLIPAR DISASTER

NINETY-ONE MISSING THRILLING STORY OF RESCUE LONDON, May 18. Tho arrival of the Andie Lebon at Djibouti with survivors, including Captai in Vicq, enabled the Messageries Marihmes to state that there were altogether 769 passengers and crew on board the Georges Phillipar. Thus far 678 have been accounted for, therefore 91 are missing. Those missing include M. Albert Loudrvs, a well-known Paris journalist, also the daughter and r.on-in-law of the Chief Justice of Indo-China. Mesdames Vincente and Bouvier arc convinced that many first-class passengers were burnt to death. They discovered their own escape cut off when the last boat left without them. “We screamed but the roar of the flames drowned our voices, so we rushed to the bridge and clanged the ship’s bell until the boat put back and rescued us through a porthole near the water’s edge. A passenger named Brault, who helped to rescue the 80 children on board thinks that nearly all were saved. He saw Alvis Wendling jump into the sea with the three-year-old Jacquot Bernard in his arms. The Sovietskaia picked up both. Wendling is now fathering the child, who cries for his missing mother, but will not leave his rescuer for women who wish to take care of him. All accounts emphasise the amazing rapidity of the fire spreading. There is no explanation why it could not be isolated.

DRAMATIC STORY. ACCOUNT OF THE OUTBREAK LONDON, May 18. The Otranto and Kaiserhind have wirelessed that they have none of the Georges Phillipar survivors on board. Reports reaching Paris indicate that approximately 100 passengers are not accounted for, including Dr. Sze. An Aden message says that the Georges Phillipar is still burning. A dramatic story of how the alarm v*as raised is told by Madame Valentin. The fire started in her cabin. She had been on dock. On returning at 2 o’clock in the morning to her cabin, the lights went out. She rang for the stewiird, but the switch dropped off in her hand. The ends of the wires felt hot. She rushed to call the officer on watch. Sho returned to her cabin and heard crackling wires inside the wall. The cabin was soon filled with smoko, and flames burst through the walls. In the adjacent cabins some of the passengers must have been trapped by the flames, which spread with amazing •apidity. ‘lt is recalled that music, gaiety, and dances prevented most of the passengers hearing the fire alarm. The loss of valuable minutes added to the difficulties of escape. An epic story is told of a brave stewardess ITclbut, vainly darting into the burning cabins to find the parents of a badly burned girl of 12, who was afterwards lowered into a boat and died en rn;itc to the Mahbud. Mdllc. Helbut later succoured two burned men all the way to Aden and then herself collapsed from shock and exposure.