GAS EXPLOSION.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20493, 11 March 1932, Page 11

GAS EXPLOSION.

FOURTEEN WORKMEN KILLED. ACCIDENT IN NEW JERSEY. (united press association—bt electric TELEGB APH—COPYRIGHT ) BOSTON (Mass.), March 9. An official of the Public Service Electric and Gas Company at Calden (New Jersey) said 14 workmen were killed by an explosion in the purifying box at the company's plant to-day. Four were injured, two seriously,, and one escaped. Residences for blocks wete shaken. The scene of the explosion is a mile from the central city area. The blast was made harrowing by the cries of the relatives of the doomed men. The explosion was caused by a spark, either as the result of a blow on the metal inner shell -of the tank or a lighted match that ignited the gas collected within. A tremendous roar announced the accident, while practically _ all tho workmen, many earning their first pay in weeks, were trapped below the fierce torch-like flame which fallowed, but which was speodily extinguished by firemen. The tank is a square steel structure, 20ft by 20ft, and loft deep, raised from the ground on steel girders 15ft in height. The metal interior was coated wtlh a mixture of charcoal, sawdust, and sulphuric dnd other acids used in purifying the gas. In tho sawdust composition the gas collects, and several times a year it is necessary to clean it.