RAILWAY DISASTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 996, 15 September 1903, Page 4

RAILWAY DISASTER.

HOLOCAUST IN PARIS

(Per R.M.S. Sierra at Auckland.) San Francisco, Aug. 27.

The railway disaster which occurred at Paris on the night of August 10th was most horrible. Twenty cars were consumed, giving out a fierce heat. The flames burst out at the stations Les Couronnes and Melinmonfcanfc. The escape of most of the trainmen was due to their knowledge of the subterranean passages. There were instances of heroism, but tho trainmen did not organise any attempt to rescue the passengers, hence the terrible

P& lt is believed that moro than a hundred persons perished. A great number of bodies were taken out of the tunnel near Les Couronnes. The firemen came upon a great mass of bodies, which wero those of'passengers who attempted to reach the station. The tunnel makes a sharp turn near the scene of tho disaster, and at an angle. The entire mass of humanity apparently became tightly wedged in a panic at this point within the subterranean passago, and in the darkness it must have been terrible. . . The appearance ef the victims was tnat of asphyxiated persons. Women held their children tightly in their arms, and these were happier than other women and children who identified husbands, fathers and children among the charred bodies as they were brought out. Several first-class coaches wero destroyed, and the occupants perished.