TRAIN CRASH AT NIGHT

Chronicle (Levin), 1 July 1948, Page 5

TRAIN CRASH AT NIGHT

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Fonr Kfflei ; Twenty-five Injured

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R-eceivedi Weduesciay, 7 jkm. ; ° - S YHfsE Y, June 30. TThe cteathJ'Qil in (in: u^efdeut. to tlie- Seu-thi "West Mail ti'aiu is fouj,. '•] vyitk at least 25- injuredi, many i set'iously. The eBt^toe anj f'ollow- -! ing' cawiages cTashed diawh a 2.5.- i foot embankment neai' Harden,. 237 mile» suuth oi Syduey.- i The leading carrdage imua.ediately b.ehind the engiue was.! telescoped, All voui' killed and;:: many oi the injured were in this s carriage, oue end oi which was completely torn away. Through r : fhe opening tke oeeupants wer-e; ' eatapulted down the em-bank-uient. - Rescuers raeed across padd,ocks and waded creeks to. reach the scene which .ambulanee- men described as shoeking. Ambulanee offieers emphasise the serious nature of the injuries in some cases and say the death roll , may i increase. -A dead. woman has been ' iden,tified„ but the identities oi ! the three male victims have not yet been traced. The injuries in-. elude broken backs, arms and' legs and head injuries. The train, whieh left Rydney last. night, carried 123 passengersand mai'l in nine earriages and' ^ vans. The first carriage was eaught between the engiue and two mail vans which were also shattered. Another carriage was damaged and oue of the remaining five was derailed. The d'river, Ernest Nolan, who suffered severe "abrasions, and head injuries^- said -that oue minute the train was running normally in the darkness, and fhe next he regained consciousness to fiud Ihe fireman, Norman Jeffrey, digg'ing him out from under the eoals of the capsized engine. Jeffrey lit a hurrieane lamp. and with the aid of a Sydney dn.etor, who was a passenger in the un7 damaged carriage,. set about extricating the casualties and rend- : eriug firet aid. Another passenger ran for- help and a resident drove his qar into Harden with the news.. Ambulanees raced to the scene, but after dawu the injured were still being located and released. Some remarkable escapes ai'e recordecl, oue woman with a six-months-old baby being flung on to the rock at tfie bottom of the embaukment without either reeeiving a scratch. Another woman with six chih dren was trapped for over an hour but when released all were found uninjured, An official report says that where the accident occurred there was a slight down grade and that ,the oause is as yet unhnpwn.