PICNIC TRAIN SMASH

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 May 1947, Page 5

PICNIC TRAIN SMASH

Queensland Disaster Worst State Has Had

Received 8.30 p.m. BRISBANE, May 5 Eleven persons were killed, five are missing and more than 50 were injured in the State’s worst train disaster, 14 miles from Brisbane today.

A special May Day pienie t the Customs and Excise Departr left the rails in a cutting a mile fr line, about 10 a.m. and the engi scoped. „ Picnickers, including many v among the wreckage and trapped citers. with crowbars, axes and it' dug their way into the debris to Farmers, detectives and’motor-1 ists from the city tore into the | wreckage, some with their bare| hands, to rescue children whosei faint cries could be heard under tons of debris. Ambulance waggons were rushed to the locality and police reserves brought into service. The rescuers had to work far into the night, under lights provided by an army mobile searchlight unit, to dig all the injured out. The disaster occurred < n a down grade approaching a siding near the venue of the outing. The first intimation of the smash was .given passengers when the packed train began to -way in the low cutting. Soon afterwards the engine lett the rails and clashed in a small embankment. The first carriage and half ot the second, both full of passengers, were telescoped on top of the engine. Panic-stricken passengers were hurled in all directions. Some escaped, but many were injured as splintered carriages toppled over. The enginedriver was trapped under the sandbox of the engine. For fully half an hour after the crash survivors worked without aid to release the dead and injured. Doctors who rushed to the scene gave injections to the badly injured in the carriages as volunteers attempted to free them. Cigarettes were rolled for men caught in the wreckage. Moaning women were passed glasses of water as they were lifted from the wreckage and placed on stretchers, or doors, to be carried clear to the first-aid assembly point. Ambulances rushed the badly injured to hospital, and the bearers tended others in the shade of trees beside the wreck. To get to the scene ambulances had to travel a rough road over creek beds, thick grass and across the railway line to the area where the injured were assembled. The first eight ambulances

train, carrying 451) employees of ment, their families ami friends, rom a wayside station on Dayboio ine and two carriages were telewomen and children, were buried i for hours while hundreds of resronwork from the damaged train, free the victims. I brought 21 injured to the Brisbane I Hospital, and throughout the afternoon and into the night they brought | in dozens more. i An emergency casualty room at the hospital resembled a battle clearing station as fleeting ambulances ana cars disgorged the injured. There were heart-rending scenes as relatives and friends inquired anxiously of the fate of those on the train. One woman broke down and wept when told her husband was believed killed. As the pressure of arrivals at the hospital eased, more doctors were sent to the scene of the accident to ease the pressure there. Cars brought people from all parts of Brisbane to the scene. Advance parties for the picnic who had arrived at the venue early, were advised of the smash and assisted in rescuing friends and relatives trapped in the wreckage. Oxyacetelyne torches were used to cut through the ironwork imprisoning injured. Survivors told graphic stories, one who was in the fourth carriage said the train seemed to swing from side to side as it started down the incline and women began to scream. Suddenly there was a crash and passengers were hurled from their seats. Another, who had friends trapped, . said the front carriage was complete- ■ ly wrecked and the contents reduced I to matchwood. A passenger in the second carriage, with a wife and child, had a lucky esi cape. As the train rocked violently ; they were thrown against an open i window from which they climbed to • safety. , A man said the train appeared to be travelling too fast to negotiate a i bend, and he thought the brakes i failed. ! Weeping relatives and friends > gathered near the wreckage to iden--1 tify the victims as they were dragged : clear. Buses were used to transport i those suffering only minor injuries, ■ and the uninjured passengers, back to 1 Brisbane.