LONDON SENSATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1923, Page 2

LONDON SENSATION.

TUBE RAILWAY COLLAPSE. VeSTRALIAN ANTI N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. LONDON. Nov. 28. A remarkable accident occurred at South London last night. \) bile a tube train was passing under Newington Causeway, earth and stone began to fall on top of the carriages. The driver raced to the next station, where it was found that every carriage was covered with debris. Meantime the tube rout and walls collapsed at the point mentioned, where the subsidence had hurst the gas and water mains, causing a great explosion, which tore up the load, leaving a crater like a war mine in the roadway.

The hole was large enough to lake two omnibuses. A fierce column ol flame shot 30 feet from the roadway, resembling a burning oil well. Paving stones were hurled into tile air, and the tramway lines were twisted with a white heal. Tranicars were pulled up oil each side of the crater.

The passers-by had a surprising escape. Water from the broken mains poured into the hole to a depth of 56 feet, extinguishing the ilanies.

Thousands of tons of earth subsided into the tube, one thousand yards of which collapsed. At midnight, pumps wore working from the roadway, while workmen below shovelled the- earth into trucks. Workmen had lately been enlarging this tube. The Daily Express states the collapse occurred when they struck a running river of sand.