Italian Ship Bombed

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 130, 18 June 1937, Page 5

Italian Ship Bombed

-Press Assn. — C

SPANISH PLANES RESPONSIBLE None Injured, But Vessel Makes Water POSSIBLE REPRISALS

(By Telegraph-

opyright.}

(Received 18, 1.0 p.m ) LONDON, June 17. A cable from Gibraltar reports that the Italian steamer Madda, en route to the Clyde from Port Sudan with a cargo of cotton seed, arrived with its forepeak flooded and the No. l hold leaking, due to concussion as the result of the ship being bombed by Spanish Government aircraft. A member of the crew told the British TJnited Press that while navigating in the nedghbourhood of Oran, two Spanish planes appeared and rained down thirty bombs which fell round the ship, one of which exploded in the forepeak. There were no casualties as most of the crew were below when the last bomb fell. The planes swooped down and rdddled the wooden structures and the decks with machine-gun bullets, after which they departed. The Madda, with men manning the pumps, headed for Gibraltar as fast as possible. The captain reported the incident to the port autliorities who had a

long interview with the Italian Consul, Experts came aboard to ascertain fche extent of the damage. A Rome message states that a Government spokesrnan declares that an official leport has not yet arrived, but if Itaiy is directly eoncerned with a fresh outbreak of Bolshevik interference she will reaet with the utmost energy as entitled to do under the Non-Intervention Agreement.