ABANDONED LINER.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18640, 19 May 1932, Page 7

ABANDONED LINER.

THE DEATH ROLL. VARIOUS ESTIMATES. BETWEEN 100 AND 200. United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright. LONDON, May 17. The Dailv Mail publishes a message from Aden stating that four French girls died of injuries. The vessel’s owners do not know the exact number of passengers, but the latest estimate is 506. The crew numbered 374. The Rome correspondent of the Times says a message from Mogdishu, near Cape Guardafui, states that the death roll is 100. Other estimates of the missing vary from 114 to 200.

Death either in the flames or in shark-infested waters may have been the fate of some of the missing passengers and crew. Captain Staunton, of the Otranto, in a wireless message, says he offered to take the SOvietskaia’s survivors, but the Russians could not understand his message. He searched for rafts and boats but saw none, so presumed all the survivors had been rescued, and proceeded to Colombo. It is declared that warnings of sabotage on the ill-fated ship were investigated but revealed nothing suspicious. It is believed that the Are was accidental.

LATER. 100 NOT ACCOUNTED FOR. PASSENGER’S DRAMATIC STORY. A BRAVE STEWARDESS. United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright. (Received May 19, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, May 18. The Otranto and the Kaiserihind wirelessed that none of the Phillipar’s survivors is aboard. . . Reports reaching Paris indicate that approximately 100 passengers are not accounted for, including Dr. Sze. An Aden message says the Phillipar is still burning. t A dramatic story of how the alarm was raised was told by Madame Valentin. The fire started in her cabin. She had been on deck, and on returning at two o’clock in the morning tho cabin lights went out. She rang for a steward, but the switch dropped off into her hand. The ends of the wires felt hot, and she rushed to call the officer of the watch.

When she returned to her cabin she heard crackling wires inside the wall. The cabin was soon filled with smoke, and the flames burst through the walls or adjacent cabins.

Some passengers must have been trapped by the flames, which spread with amazing rapidity. It has been revealed that the music and the gaiety of the dancers prevented most of the passengers from hearing the fire alarm. The loss of valuable minutes added to the difficulties of escape.

Bravery of Stewardess. An epic story is told of a brave stewardess named Lelbut, who vainly darted into burning cabins to find tin parents of a badly-burned girl of 12 who was afterwards lowered into a boat but died en route to Masud. Stewardess Lelbut later succoured two burned men all the way to Aden, and then herself collapsed from shock and exposure.

ANDRE LE BON REACHES PORT. NINETY-ONE NOW MISSING. FEARFUL EXPERIENCES. WOMEN NEARLY LEFT ON BOARD. United Tress Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright. (Received May 19, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, May 18. The arrival of the Andre Le Bon at Djibouti with survivors, including Captain Yicq, has enabled the Messagerie s Maritimes Company to state that there were altogether 769 passengers and crew aboard the Georges Philhpar. Thus far 678 have been accounted for, therefore 91 are still missing. ft, is now reported that Dv. Sze debarked at Hongkong. Those missing include M. Albert Londres, a well-known Paris journalist, also the Chinese delegate to Geneva, the daughter and son-in-law of the Chief Justice of Indochina (M. Louis Alfred). ' Mesdames Vincente and Bouvier are convinced that many first-class passengers were burned to death. They discovered their own escape cut off when the last boat left without them. “ We screamed, but Hie roar of the flames drowned our voices, so we rustled to the bridge and clanged the ship’s bell until a boat put back and rescued us through a porthole near the water’s edge.”

A passenger, M. Brault, helped to rescue the 80 children aboard. He thinks nearly all were saved. He saw .At. Alvis Wendling jump into the sea with a three-year-old child, Jacquot Bernard, in his arms. The Sovietskaia picked up both. M. Wendling is now fathering the child, who cries for its missing mother, hut will not leave its rescuer to go In the women, who wish lo lake care of him. All accounts emphasise the amazing rapidity of the lire’s spreading. There was no explanation as to why it could not he isolated.