Nineteen Lose Lives In Plane Crash

Chronicle (Levin), 4 March 1948, Page 2

Nineteen Lose Lives In Plane Crash

-LONDO-N., Mbr 2. / Ninteeu of the. 22 persons abqard urerc bur;»od to (leuth wlieu a Dakota aireraft from Brusseis nose-dived into tlic ground at Heatk Kow airport, exploded and burst into' flames. The tliree other passengers were thrown clear, but badly burned. The plane had earlier sent a radio message that it might have to mahe an emergency landing. Doctors, nurses, B.O.A.U. girls, fire-tenders and. ainbulances rushed to the scehe. The plane crashed in thiek fog. An airport worker forced his way into the blazing aireraft and dragged one passenger out. ■ • The rescuer-said: "There were men and women screaming. and trying to loosep their- safetv belts.'": The plane was reduced to a skcleton, It was impossible at first to ideiitify the passengers or e.oii'lirpi their numbef. j. This is the first major air crash • ar ! Heath Row. The plane belonged to a Belgian airline. ; , • . ji..- . Eleven British passehgers. were 'among the 19 killed. Also killed were two Itali.ans, one Iinssian, .one Ouban, one Pole, and the all Belgian crew ;ot three. The three survivors were British. , * . Most of the dead were frapped in the plane. Firemen wearing oxygen masks and using foam tenders, made desperate rescue attempts but the heat was overpowering. "We did everything we -eould but it was no use," said one. Fireinen worked in extreme danger as one of the petrol tanks still lay in.- the smouldering wreekage. As' efforts to remove bodies pi'dceeded, other firemen played a constant stream of ehemieal fluid on the tank to prevent it exploding. , The crash occurred at 9..14 p.m., but it vyas after midnight before all the bodies were recovered, mostly ch'arred beyond recognition. Some were in f'antastic attitucles with arms raised as though they had been trying to protect •themselves from the. flames. Only a small part of one wing and the aireraft 's tailpane remained. The rest was a charred skeleton. Ihe plane was being guided bv blind fljbig radar. It had .made a-- perfeet run in th rough the dense fog which enveloped the -airport but eoming down to land it nose-dived into the runwav, fell ou its side, exploded, and burst into flames. In a matter of seconds it was a blazing inferno.