TRAIN IN A RIVER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 7

TRAIN IN A RIVER.

PLUNGE FROM A BRIDGE IN THE DARK.

. FIFTY LIVES LOST. fnf w ribl °, acc W< SQt x occurred un:"a thick in ? r oA awa °n, Governljer 23 on the ill-fated Statertwncd'/.' Western --Raifwhv oi 1* ranco.: „■ .1 j Woakeiitid '"lyt ,v 'flboas or th« °T- er th i t niver Thouet| i ,i , ■ ' ID9 - between'' 'Aikers tnlbf I rs ' colla P s «d bsneath- tho weight of a passongoa- train and the two engmes a.lugguge van. and three car, nagas tell into fclie swollen stream in tiie darkness. It was "estimated that fifty lives v,-ere lost. ' * The train left Angers at about five o clock in the morning. It consisted of one first-class and three third-class car- ■ nnH?;, 1 ? lt l . a . lu S?fS? in front and another l>ehmd. Owing to tho incessant lain the little River 'iliouet, which tho , tate railway crosses by a bridge sixty vards long near Montreuil-Bellay, wns iii high flood. .Last night the bridge, which is said to bo one of tho oldest on tho system, was m part washed away. As it is situated in a little-frenuented region, the condition of tho bridge was not known to the authorities at Vauldenaj;, and tho Poitiers train was unhesitatingly allowed to pass in tho early hours of the morning. It was pitch dark , and a dense fog prc-vniled. 1110 instant tho front engine .was on the bndgo the metal work collapsed, and •Jr ng {,"° P luu S cd headlong into tho, swiftiy flowing stream, dragging with it tho other locomotive, the front luggage van, and three carriages, and leaving the rest of tho train, standing on the metals, Only one of the 'carriages remained \fith its top omerging from tho bubbling waters. , 0 A scene of indescribable ■ horror ensu t 0 'i , rr , ho passengers in the carriages which had escaped sprang to the ground, and fiod. shrieking with terror into the surrounding darkness while from tho swirling torrent below came piercing cries, mingled with resounding crashes as the current swept parts of the wreck against the piles of tho bridge. Those of the escaped passengers who had preserved their presonce of mind stood on the edgo of tho yawning hole in the bridge, and, powerless to render assistance, watched men and women drown before their eyes. The boats which are generally moored at the foot' of the bridge had been carried off by the stream during tho night. Some gallant but futilo attempts at rescue were niade,_ a;ud an heroic passenger named Bouiliet was drowned in trying to lend assistance to the passengers struggling in the river. Ono after the other tho passengers, grasping at the sides of railway carriages or snatching at trees or fragments of tho wreckage, were relentlessly swept down stream and vanished in tho murky waters.

Iresently a little band of survivors, eleven in number, assembled gpn tho top of the carriage which still emerged from the river. There was a man, subsequently known to be the Count de Loiraj-, a little girl, and men and womon of different ages and stations. Thoir hair and garments were dripping with water. They lifted their arms imploringly to the watchors on the river bank. It was not until this ovening that thoy were at last brought to safety by the rescuers. , •In tho meantime a telephone message sent from tho station nearest the bridge had summoned a relief train from Saumur, and a largo forco of railway employees, with doctors and rescue appliances, was quickly on the scene. Villagers camo up from all directions, many arriving in boats from Montreuil-Bellay. Tho rescuo operations wcro extremely difficult owing to tho force of tho current, and two of the rescue boats wefo jammed against tho bridge and held there. A raft was made with planks and barrels, and a number of corpses were recovered, including the bodies of three nuns. The gliard of tho train was among tho (lead, but the stoker was rcscued after ho had remained hanging to a tree for two hours. The gravo charge is made against tho administration of the State railway that for the past two years tho engineers of tho lino nave reported the dangerous condition of tho bridge, and have mado 110 secret of thoir apprehension that a catastrophe was inevitable. A high oflicfftl 0* the Western ltailway said, according to the correspondent of the "Intransigeant," tiiat it was all very well to talk about tho flood, but that the Thouet bridge was one of the oldest 011 the line, and was originally built for engines of 50 tons, and not for the 120-ton machines now in usn. Coming after a chain of deplorable accidents on the State-owned railway, nearly all of which have been caused by the faulty condition of the system, the accident has produced a most profound impression.