21 DEAD

Grey River Argus, 7 June 1943, Page 6

21 DEAD

OTAGO RAIL SMASH 41 INJURED Two Succumb in Hospital PA DUNEDIN, June 7. The death roll in the tragic railway smash at Hyde on rriday aiteinbon mounted to 20 at the A further body was recovered from the wreckage on Saturday afternoon, and two seriously injured men dieci in the Ranfurly. Hospital. The work of clearing the line or debris went on oyer the week-end it is now considered extremely unlikely that any more bodies remain in me VV AU^the’dead have been identified One of the injured women in tne Ranfurly Hospital, Mrs. K. Maskell o'i Dunedin, whose leg was bioken and crushed, had her leg amputated, tout, her condition is reported as fair. In the first list of dead issued on the night of the disaster it was stated Maureen Tyrrell, ot Makarora, had been killed. This was incorrect but she is among the injured in the Kanfurly Hospital. . Additions to the death roll in the Central Otago railway accident are: ■Mr. Robert Carr, Patearoa; Mr. Charles Douglas, c/o Mrs. A. B. Hore, Kyeburn; Mr. Thomas B. Connor Kyeburn; John Black Connor son of Mr, T. B. Connor; John Maskell, aged two years, whose mother is in hospital: a middle aged man with rail ticket Alexandra to Timaru; an elderly man; two of the victims are stul to be accounted for. Among the injured were:— In Ranfurly Hospital: Mr. John Wright, Ranfurly, compound fractures of leg and arm and internal injuries. Dangerously ill; Mr. J. O’Connell, Hyde, fractured jaw and ankle, and injuries to hip and ribs. Mrs R. J- Hanrahan, Ranfurly, bruises; Mr. R. J. Little, Moutere, fractured leg; Valerie Smolensk!, Hyde, bruises; Mrs. R. Maskell, Dun edin fractured leg; Mrs. John prater Alexandra, fractured leg; Mr J. Corcoran, engine driver, severe scalds and injury to arm; Mr. S. G. Hollow, fireman, severe scalds; Mrs. Kearney, Ranfurly, abrasions; Mrs. R. J. Little, Moutere,’ injuries to back; Mr. J. Lynch, Ranfurly, injuries to back and chest; Mr. J. Geoffrey ’ T ,y\ e S l '' burn, leg injuries; Murray Rawcliffe, Kokonga. 11 years, injuries to chest. Mr. A. Kane, Becks, leg injury; Mr. J E Kearney, Ranfurly, abrasions, Miss’Lorna Hore, Naseby,lB years, fractured jaw; Mr. J. Stuart, Na s e 60 years, bruises; Mr. R. Helm, Gimmerburn, fractured leg; Mr. ■ Pringle Ranfurly, injuries to shoulder- Mr' G. McMillan, Naseby. Angers crushed; Mr. E. D. Lambie Mayfield, Ashburton, scalp wound; Mr. S. d. Little, Centre Bush, Southland, fractured arm; Mr. D. Connor Kyeburn, fractured arm and leg; Mr. C. A, Woods, Main South Road, Hornby, injuries to spine; Ray Tait, Naseby, 16 years, scalp wounds; Maureen Tyrrell, Makarora, 14 years, abrasions; Pearl Jenkins, Kahuika. 15 years, abrasions; Mr. H. Strode. Kyeburn, 46 years, fractured leg. The following are at Dunedin Hos-i pltal: Mrs. A. R. Wright, Musselburgh, aged 30 years, bruised hip and abrasions: Miss E. Knight, Abbotsford, injuries and abrasions; Mr. C R Crutchley, Kyeburn, injuries to back and face: Mrs. Mavis Sawers, Alexandra, aged 39 years, fractured left leg and severe shock; Mr. A. Sarginson, Gimmerburn, aged 53 years crushed upper ribs and shock. Discharged after treatment: Mr. L. Lauder, hip and facial injuries; Mr. G. A. Hansen, Cromwell, abrasions; Mr. P. McCarthy, Waikouaiti. fractured right forearm.

ADDITIONAL DEAD. DUNEDIN, June 6/ The full list of dead is now as ±Ol-, I OWS: _ Duncan B. Lindsay;, Wedder-l-urn; Thomas M. Chisholm. Cromwell- Thomas B. Conner, Cromwell; Johan B. Conner, Kyeburn (son ot Thomas Conner); Francis R. Kinney, Hyde; Charles Robert Mackenzie, Alexandra; Vivian Carson, Ranfurly; Duncan MacDonald. Patearoa: Robert Carr, Patearoa; Charles T. Douglas, Ky'eburn; Mrs. Irene E. White, l’imaru; Desmond Edward White (four months son of Mrs. White); John William White, live years, (son of Mrs White); John Maskell, aged tour years; Daniel McDonald, Poolburn; John Wright, Ranfurly; John Martin Nicholas Frater, Alexandra; Mrs Elhel Annie Cassells, Kokonga; John Edward O’Connell. Hyde; Thomas Henry Clare, aged 59, Oamaru. INJURED. The full injured list is as follows: — Rartiond Tait. Naseby, 16 years, scalp wounds; Maureen Tyrrell, Makarora, 14, abrasions; Beryl Jenkins, Kaihiku, abrasions; Harold Strade, Kyeburn, fractured leg;" Albert Kane, Beck, 56 fractured hip and severe cut on wrist; John Edward Kearney, Ranfurly, 56, scalp wounds and bruises; Mrs. Annie Kearney, Ranfurly, 57, abrasions; Mrs. Merlyn Little, C’hatto Creek, 23, fractured arm and concussion; Lorna Hore,, Naseby, 18, fractured jaw and fractured wrist; John Stuart, Naseby, bl), bruised back; James Lynch, Ranfurly, 49, fractured spine (condition not serious); Joseph Geoffrey Wedderburn, 63, multiple injuries;' Francis Murray Rawcliffe, Kokonga, injuries to ribs; Alexander Ross Helm, Gimmerbury, 17, fractured leg; Dorothy Beryl Beel, Hyde, 35, bruises and abrasions; Frank Pringle, Ranfurly, 36, injured shoulder; Donald Grant McMillan, Naseby, 17 crushed fingers, (tips amputated): Eric D. Lambie, Ashburton, 31, .scalp wounds; Stanley F. Little, Centre Bush, 29, fractured arm; David Connor, Kyeburn, 8, deep wound in leg and shock; Charles A. Wood, Hornby, 34, injuries to chest and hips; Mrs. Agnes Hanrahan, Ranfurly, 33, bruises; Robert John Little. Chattp Creek. 34, fractured leg, Valerie Smolensk!,' Hyde, 9, lacerated leg; Mrs. Molly Maskell, Dunedin, oj, leg amputation; Mary Frater, Alexander, 69 years, lacerations; John Patrick Corcoran, the engine driver, Dunedin, fractured arm and severe scalds; Stanley G. Hollow, Dunedin, 21. the fireman, severe scalds: Frederick Christopher, Dunedin 52, head and hip injuries; Dorothy Robinson, Dunedin, 24, injuries to hips;- Mrs. Margureite Avis Ward, Hyde. 25, both legs fractured; Roberta Ward (Mrs. Ward’s baby daughter), slight injuries; James 'Mcßride, Lauder, 19, abrasions and shock; Mrs. Margaret Hansen, Cromwell, 61, fractured ribs: Arthur Wright, Dunedin, 30, bruised hip and abrasions; C. R. Crutchley. Kyeburn, 17, injuries to back and' face (condition serious) ; Mrs. Mavis Sawers, Alexandra, 39, fractured leg and severe shock; Andrew S'arginson, Gimmerbury, b 3, crushed and fractured ribs and strain; Robert Stringer, Gimmerbury, 19/ injuries to arm. Hyde, the scene of the disaster, is 64 miles north-west from Dunedin, on the Otago Central railway. Situated at the foot of the Rock and Pillar Range, and is one mile from the* Taieri River,

The driver of the train was Mr. J. P. Corcoran. Dunedin, and the fireman Mr. S. G. Hollow, Oamaru. Both.

were badly scalded. The guard was Mr. R. Pratt.

The derailment occurred in a deep cutting. No clear indication of the cause of the disaster has yet been obtained.

There were many remarkable escapes from death. Two girls, a£ed about fourteen, were buried to their necks in the matchwood wreckage of the two telescoped carriages. Although they could not be got out until some of the mass of debris had been torn away they smiled and talked to their rescuers.

A young man in the same carriage came out of the wreckage with a few scratches and a blackened eye. It was said that another man was thrown out of his carriage on to the top of the 20ft embankment by the force of the impact. One woman was pinned against her seat by a bar of iron, which had to be cut away with a hacksaw. It was then found that she was also held by the ankle, and nearly two hours elapsed before she was finally released.

A woman passenger Miss K. M. Bennetts, of Dunedin, who was near the back of the train, ■ said that the first indication of trouble was when the train appeared to sway, slow down, then lurch forward, recommence its journey, and finally to give another lurch which brought it to a stop. None of the passengers in her carriage was injured. “The first carriage was reduced to a shambles,” she added. “It drove right past the engine, and the second carriage was jammed tight up the engine. The third carriage was piled up on an embankment.”

Ther e was a pathetic scene outsidel the Railway Road Transport depot in Dunedin as busrloads of passengers began tp arrive shortly after 10 D.m. Relatives and friends had gattered in large numbers, many of them having had no word as to the fate of thos.e for whom they were waiting. “Three minutes before the accident occurred the passengers in my carriage, the second from the engine, were falling about the carriage because of the way it was swaying,” said Mr. Philip Banon, of 23 Grandview Crescent. Opoho, who escaped injury. Mr. Banon, who has been serving in the Merchant Navy, returned about thirteen weeks ago from the Pacific, where he ’was wounded in action.

According to his account, everything happened suddenly; but it seemed to him that the engine had jumped the line. The first carriage telescoped, but the next two were not damagd, although they overturned. and the passengers were able to escape. Those rescuing injured and recovering bodies endured the most harrowing sights. Injured and dead alike lav among a tangled mass of splintered wood and twisted iron, and the. approach to the work of rescue presented problems sufficient to daunt all but the most courageous. Hyde Hall, served as a mortuary. There the initial attempts at identification were made under the direction of Senior-Sergeant Black and Detective R. Berry, who, with three constables from the Dunedin station. left for the scene immediately the news, of the disaster became known. Some of the bodies were badly maimed, and as the assistance of people who might recognise the victims could not be readily obtained, identification in some instances rested on letters and other articles found on the bodies. 21« T VICTIM DIES. P.A. DUNEDIN, June 6. A further victim of the railway disaster, F rederick Christopher, aged 52 years, of Dunedin, died late tonight from, his injuries. WELLINGTON, June 6. The Governor General (Sir Cyril Newall) sent the Minister of Railways (Mr. Semple) a message expressing fiis deep grief on hearing of the tragic ra'ilwav accident in Central Otago. “I will be grateful if you will convey to the relatives of those who lost their lives the heartfelt sympathy of Lady Newall and m> self, and to the injured our best wishes-for a speedy recovery,” he states/.