TWO WOMEN KILLED

Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22189, 8 November 1943, Page 2

TWO WOMEN KILLED

FOURTEEN IN HOSPITAL AMERICANS TO RESCUE (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Monday. Disaster overtook the 7.35 Upper Hutt-Wellington suburban passenger train near Ha. yards this morning. Of the eight carriages, four were derailed with the locomotive, and the first was completely smashed. The amazing feature of the accident was the lightness of the casualties. Two women were killed and another woman and man pinned in the wreckage, but a number were less seriously injured and rushed to hospital by ambulance. The victims killed were:— Mrs Ngaire Peal Rowe, of Seddon Street, Upper Hutt, and a young woman not yet identified. The injured include:— Mr P. G. Thomas, of Trentham, left leg amputated and fractured left arm. Mrs Body, of Upper Hutt, leg amputated below the knee. Miss P. Rodgers, of Wallaceville, fractured jaw, lacerated face and injured arm. Mr A. R. Sheridan, railway guard, of Wellington, lacerated face and head and injuries to the back. Mr P. Rodgers, of Wallaceville, lacerated wounds on the head. Mr F. Ward, clerk, Wallaceville, lacerations to face. Miss J. Hutchison, of Trentham, abrasions to the left leg. Miss M. Griffiths, of Trentham, cuts and abrasions. Miss I. Newbrook, of Trentham, injury to fore-arm. The foregoing are at the Wellington Hospital. At the U.S. Navy Hospital are the following:— Mrs Barclay, of Heretaunga, broken ankle. Mr Raymond Harrison, of Haywards, ankle fractured. Miss M. Hine, of Haywards, laceration to right temple. Mr D. R. Newsome, of Silverstream, head injuries.

Mr Gilbert J. Neale, of Stokes Valley, lacerated right wrist and compound fracture of nose, lacerations of scalp and fingers, and possible fracture of skull. His condition is serious.

Six other patients were treated and discharged. The first on the scene was a party of United States Marine Corps Engineers, quickly followed by doctors and nurses from an American Navy hospital and a party of doctors and orderlies from the Trentham military camp and hospital, and also a working party of New Zealand Army railway workers. The police arrived soon afterwards but the wrecking train did not arrive till 10.10.

The first carriage, of the old longseated type, with a guard’s compartment next the locomotive had only

about half a dozen vacant seats. The second carriage roof cut through its upper works from end to end, stripping it to an absolutely bare deck, which lies on the right side of the track. The marvel is that any escaped from this first carriage. The four carriages at the rear regained on the line.

Sudden Traffic Stop One passenger in the first carriage said the speed seemed normal for the stretch of the line. There was a slight jolting when the engine left the rails, followed by a sudden terrific stop. People were thrown in a heap in the middle of the carriage. He found himself in the open-air and just walked off the deck of the carriage. The first rescuers to arrive were Marine Corps Engineers, who came over the hill in heavy trucks at high speed from a camp some miles away.

The American and New Zealand medical sections and nurses shouldered practically all the work of attending to the injured as they were brought out, and during the long endeavour to release a man and woman who were seriously injured from the wreckage they did what they could for them, including giving plasma transfusions. Admiration and appreciation were expressed by all for the magnificent work of service personnel and nurses under the most harrowing conditions.

A girl and a man who were trapped each had a leg amputated to enable them to be extricated. Previous Derailment The accident occurred at almost the identical section as the derailment on August 20 last.

Haywards is a railway siding 15 miles from Wellington on the Upper Hutt line.