EXPLOSION ON LINER

Chronicle (Levin), 13 September 1947, Page 5

EXPLOSION ON LINER

(N.Z.P.A.

— Reuter.

Niaeteen Killed ; 34 Badly Injured

, Qopyright)

Received Saturday, 10 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 12. Nineteen were killed and 34 seriously injured in an explosion in the engine room of the liner Reina del Pacifico, about seven miles off the Copeland Islands, near the mouth of Belfast Lough. The liner was undergping trials after .reconditioning in Belfast. The bodies of the killed were landed at Belfast and the injured were taken to hospital. A doctor said 15 were killed by the explosion and four more died before landing. He doubted whether all of the 34 injured, many of whom were terribly burne'd, would survivp. AVilliam Corry, a rigger's . helper aboard the ship, said twelve men were killed instantly by the explosion. Helpers brought out the injured by means of a tackle, and tregted them before transferring them to the steamer Duchess of Abercorn, which drew alongside. A Pacific Navigation- Company ofhcial said the whole thing was a mystery. There was no suggesbion of sabotage. A skeleton crew was aboard in preparation for taking the vessel over, but mosi of the men were employees of Harland and Wolff Shipyard. The ship's engines were diesels, which had been overhauled during the refit. Planes from Liverpool carried suppli'es of dried plasma to Belfast today for treating the injured. The owners' representatiyes flew from Liverpool in a specip,lly chartered plane. The Reina del Pacifico was taken into Belfast this morning.