LINES QUEEN ELIZABETH AFIRE

Chronicle (Levin), 9 March 1946, Page 5

LINES QUEEN ELIZABETH AFIRE

— * OTJl'BRJLAK EXTIN GUISHED POSSIBILITY OF SABOTAGE Received Saturday, 11 a.m. LONDON, March 8. The Queen Eiigaoeon, tne uxggeoi liner in the world, caught fire a: Souti^impton. A column of smoke was seen coming from the liner today and a general alarm was issued to fire brigades. The liner, which is moored in the new docks, this week completed hei war-time trooping service and wa: laying up for refit before entry int. the North Atlantic passenger service. : xne fire started in the bathroom j and lavatory attached to the hos- j pital block, and bedding in the store j of the hospitai was burnt out, saidj ,,he general manager of the Cunard | White Star Line, Mr. F. Craill. The ■ first alarm was given at 9.4 a.m. j and the fire was mastered by 10.30 : a.m. There was considerable dam- 1 age. The hospitai steelwork was tVv-'isted into heaps and the plates of the promenade deck were buck-x.-cl. The ilames at one stage burst throur.h the boatdeck. j klr. Craill, after the prejiminary * inquiry, said: fl don't think there is any reasona'ole explanation fbr the fire. I don't want to say it is sabotage, but certain vifews have been expressed. Home Office scientific experts have joined Scotldnd Yard in in- j vestigating the. fire. Dr. J. B. Firth, 1 director of the Home Office fofen- j sic science laboratory at Preston, ; has been called in. I Firemen with spotlights strapped to their chests entered the biock ; immediately after the fire was ex- j tinguished and searched for clues ; and Scotland Yard has establishfed ! an office aboard the liner. Two ships waiters discovered the j fire and immediately gave the I alarm. Emergency squads held the j fire in check until the brigades, 1 with full equffiment, arrived. ; Members of the crew of thfe Queen j Elizabeth said they would have had ! great difficulty in finding the seat j of the fire if the two waiters had. not discovered just where it was. ! Smoke filled the four deckS. A reporter who boarded the Vbssel said he found it impossible to get through the smoke-fille'd corridors near the fire. Since the Queen Elizabeth arrived at Southampton the normal firewatch has been doubled, and sixty men have been on duty day and night. _____