GAS EXPLOSION.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19159, 16 November 1927, Page 9

GAS EXPLOSION.

PITTSBURGH DISASTER.

BIG CASUALTY LIST. (BT CABLE— PBE9S ASSOCIATION—COPTBIGHT.) (AVBTBALIAK A.VD N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) VANCOUVER. November 14. At Pittsburgh more than a score are dead and several hundred are lying injured this morning as a result of the explosion of a mammoth natural gas storage tank, containing five million cubic feet. Thirteen bodies at present have been recovered, but it is feared that the death roll will be much higher. Many hundreds of the injured who were rushed to hospital are not expected to live. The explosion shattered windows through a large area of the city and broke water mains, which flooded the streets and prevented rescuers from penetrating the place where lay most of the dead and injured. Houses adjacent to the scene of the disaster were demolished, and it is believed that many women and children were caught in the wreckage. Mothers who left home just before the burst fought policemen and firemen who endeavoured to keep them from the danger zone, the while screaming for the children they had left at home. Great pieces of metal lay half submerged in the flooded streets, twisted like paper for hundreds of feet about the wrecked tank. Many persons far from tho blast were struck by missiles. Electric and telephone wires were reduced to a tangled and twisted debris. The wires operating fire alarms were thrown out of order and caused numerous fire scares in addition to actual outbreaks. Police are guarding the besieged hospitals, but are unable to preserve order. Ambulances and patrol waggons only forced their way through the crowd after great difficulty. Officials are unable to estimate the number of men working on the plant at the time of the explosion. They valued the tank at 750.000 dollars.

INCREASED CASUALTIES. NEW YORK, November 14. The _ known dead total 14, and 500 are injured. It is.believed that other bodies are buried under the wreckage of numerous homes and buildings, scattered over a one-mile area. EYE-WITNESSES' ACCOUNTS. (Received November 15th, 7.50 p.m.) NEW YORK, November 14. The death-roll in the Pitosburg gasometer explosion is now 28, with from 300 to 500 injured. The damage is estimated at 5,000,000 dollars. AVith nightfall temporary morgues were set up near the scene, and army tractors were called in to help to raze the walls. Rescue work was hazardous because of the possibility of torches igniting the gaseous ruins. An eye-witness who was working a quarter of a inilo from the scene said that he heard an explosion, and then saw a great ball of lire 100 ft in diameter rise from the tank into the air. Motorists, over the Ohio River, riding in glass-enclosed cars ftlt the heat of the fireball through the car dors. An eye-witness said : •Weculdn't see a whole man anywhere. ' A man in an office 25 storeys high, across the street, said that he felt the building sway as if an earthquake had occurred. The ■ broken water-mains flooded the streets, making the area inaccessible. More than 400 injured weie treated in hospitals. Legislation is proposed to prohibit gas tanks being erected within city limits.