GERMAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 July 1927, Page 3

GERMAN NEWS.

DEATH BOLL INCREASES

(Australian & N.Z. Cable Assoei ation.) (Received this day at 9.110 a.in.) LONDON, .Inly 11. A British United Dross message from Dresden say.s the deaths due to the cloudburst are now estimated at. 200. The death roll is mounting steadily, as bodies arc recovered in out of the way pi'aces. Many are so mutilated as to he unrecognizable. The damage is estimated at £BOO,OOO sterling. It will lie months before reconstruction work will he complete, especially on many railway lines. Hundreds of people arc forlornly roaming the mountain siitcs, creeks, and valleys, searching with lanterns lor missing relations, while on the mountain slopes the wlioi'e night, through thousands maintain a vigil at stations where corpses arc collected. Here heart-rending scenes arc witnessed. One mother became insane on recognizing the bodies of three children.

Fresh horror was added to the disaster in Mneglitz and Gottlauhc Vallies, owing to the fear of an outbreak of disease through the destruction of the water mains and the contamination of creeks by corpses. Doctors are being rushed to the scene to apply safeguards. while firemen have surrounded the stricken area where the chaos and filth arc indescribable.