A TRAIN DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 26 August 1927, Page 3

A TRAIN DISASTER

(Australian & X.Z. Cable Association.) GHASTLY NIGHT Tit VGEDY. LONDON. Aug. 25. The railway accident accounts ot those first on the scene describe an entire lack of panic and screaming though many wornn were travelling. One of tho householders fronting the line emphasised the deadly silence there was after the crash. There was a ghastly scene of twisted metal and splintered wood. The dead were mostly in Pullman cars which were on the strewn permanent way. Those injured included Viscount and Viscountess Lewisham Aster. The injured persons staggered to the bank and waited with wonderful courage till assistance arrived. Crowds were ouiekly on the snot, seeking for friends and relatives. Hundreds watched the breakdown gangs working with night flares. After midnight two bodies were still inextricable. The deaths include six women. A boy aged about six died on the way to the hospital. The fireman escaped with a broken arm, and the driver of the train was unhurt. Several of the injured are not expected to recover. It is suspected tlml the cause nl tho accident was a subsidence, due to heavy rains. It is reported that (be speed of the train after the descent of a steep inrlin was over seventy miles an hour. This train averages nearlv fifty miles hourly over the ninety mile trip 1k:tween London and Dean. THE DEATH ISOLD. (Received this day at 9.150 a.in.) LONDON, Aug. 25. Seven Oaks train .smash death roll is now 13.

CAUSE OF DISASTER. ‘'Deceived tins day at 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, A ue;. 25. Pending an official inquiry being opened, Seven Oaks disaster remains unexplained. One theory is a subsidence following prolonged rain, but ibis is discounted by the Company’s experts. After an inspection it was officially stated there were no signs of a subsidence and it is not thought the rains contributed.. Signs were discovered that for six hundred yards before the actual crash, one of the wheels of the engine was running out of position. Sleepers and rails revealed the flange bad been riding on top of the rail for twenty yards on the London side of the bridge till dummy points swung the engine oil' the line. Undoubtedly the presence of the bridge intensified the disaster. It is believed tho engine grazed the side, causing the coaches to swing and a .second" one swung hard against the side of the bridge, while a. third oscillated and hit the opposite side. The Pullman thereupon swung broad-side on to the entrance to tho arch. ' BLOOD' TRANSFUSION. LONDON. Aug. 25. A blood transfusion operation for the benefit of a broken legged victim of Seven Oaks Railway disaster discloses the existence of a Bed C ross Society Blood Transfusion Service, which has available 150 people graded into blood groups, willing to submit to transfusion to assist sufferers. A blood donor promptly reached the hosrita 1 in response to a telephone call from tho Society, to which he returned in fivo hours reporting everything satisfactory. His blood lias been drawn otf in a bottle and transfused. Meanwhile the donor was fed and recuperated. Tho Secretary explains the whole system is impersonal, the names of donors never being given. The status includes professional men. bourers, independent ladies and charwomen.