OPPAU EXPLOSION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 310, 24 September 1921, Page 7

OPPAU EXPLOSION

850 BODIES RECOVERED INJURED EXCEED FIRST ESTIMATES GERMANY’S GRATITUBE TO FRANCE FOR AID The death roll and lhe number of injured as the result of the explosion at the aniline works at Oppau are believed to be much greater than at first estimated. The deaths ,are set down now at 1509, while 2500 people have been treated for injuries. By Teleg.aph—Press Amooiotlon— Oopyrlgtrt Berlin, Soptrmbci' 22. ' The explosion at. Oppau killed numbers of French soldiers who were guarding Oppau, and also injured a number who were boating on the Rhine. It is estimated that the damags to tho aniline, works is 150 million marks. Rescue patties are searching the ruins, and 750 bodies have 'been recovered. The injui'sd exceed the first estimates, and already 2500 have been treated. The whole of the available medical personnel of the French Army of the Rhine is assisting. Ths French High Commissioner has also arranged for the distribution of food, and has given 75,000 marks to the trades unions to assist in the relief of distress. The explosion caused the collapsa of a factory to Mannheim. Three people were killed and fourteen injured. A German hospital train took large numbers of the injured to Frankfort, and a French hospital train took others to Treves. The German authorities have asked the French Commissioner to convey to die French Government Germany’s gratitude for the prompt and efficacious aid of the French troops. Tho German and French soldiers are acting in closest collaboration in the rescue work. _ One version is that the explosion was the outcome of tests of compressing a new gas, tho properties of which were imperfectly known. —Router.

DEATH-ROLL BELIEVED TO BE 1500

DAMAGE 71 MILLIONS STERLING. (Rec. September 23, 7 25 p.m.) Parii, September 22. The Oppau district resembles a tract of country that has been bombarded bv big guns and then swept In- an earthquake. The scone of the central explosion is a funnel-shaped hole 130 yarns square and 45 yards deep. Elsewhere there are big craters filled with uprooted trees and sections of roofs, bench ch which arms, legs, and heads of victims am continually being found. Ths Adds for milf® around resemble a shambles. A detachment of French soldiers is on duty at Oppau.’ Every building in Oppau without exception has collapsed or been unroofed. Ludwigshaisn is o vast hospital. All the schools have been converted into hospitals ar mortuaries, ns 850 bodice have already been removed from the ruins. It is believed that the death-roll will ba 1500. and the damage st least 7,500,000 sterling.-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. HUGS STOCK OF FXri-OSIVES SERIOUS BLOW TO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY (Rec. September 23, 8.40 p.m.) ■ Berlin, September 23. The magnitude of the explosion can be gathered from the fact that in addition io 4000 tons of explosives, nine gasometers went hurling into the air, each containing 50,000 cubic metres of gaa. The disaster,has given the chemical Industry such a serious blow that re? storation will require as much energy as its creation. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. FRENCH ARMY "SUPERVISING RELIEF POISON GAS OVERCLOUDING EVERYTHING. (Rec. September 23, 8.40 p.m ) Paris, September 23. The French army in occupation is already supervising relief. The men work in green poison gas, which overclouds everything, necessitating the wealing of masks. The dead include large numbers of children. The surviving families are camping in the fields.—A.is.N.Z. Cable Assn. WORLD’S SUPPLiES~OF EXPLOSIVES 'AND GAS DANGER OF ONE NATION HAVING A MONOPOLY. (Rec. September 23, 8.40 p.m ) Paris. September 23. Alajor organiser of the wartime Inter-Allied Commission ot chemical and munition experts, writing in the “Daily News,” emphasises the danger to anv nation having a monopoly of tho world’s supplies of potential explosives and poison gas. Ho adds*. 1 fail to see how any disarmament attempts at tho Washington comeronce or the League of Nations will be effective linlesn this problem is dealt with H the disaster serves to attract the worl s attention io the hitherto ignored issue of chemical disarmament, it vnU Im. far-reaching and beneficial results in the would.”—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.