RHINE DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 24 July 1930, Page 6

RHINE DISASTER

BRIDGE COLLAPSES. FORTY LIVES LOST. 1 (United Prose Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). BERLIN, July 23. The Rhineland Liberation Celebrations at Coblenz have been clouded by a disaster. A crowd of people were watching the illuminations in Ehrenbreitstein, on the opposite bank of the River Rhine, when they became jammed on the pontoon bridge, which collapsed. At least one hundred persons were thrown into the river. Twenty-four bodies had been recovered by midnight. The death roll totals forty. The flares, which, earlier, had illuminated the merry throngs on the banks of the river were now lighting up tlie tragic scene as the weeping relatives identified the bodies, and the police and firemen dragnetted the stream for others. The disaster was not generally known for some time owing to the police having closed the cafes, which had originally been authorised to remain open all night. The flags were then flown at half mast.

A SAD ENDING. TO A BRAVE DAY. LONDON, July 23. The “Times’s” Coblenz correspondent states:—“There were at least one hundred people standing on the small bridge when the disaster occurred. It was situated at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers. The structure crumpled suddenly about 11.15 p.m. Numbers of the people were hit by falling beams and others were drowned in pitch darkness before there was any possibility of rescuers reaching : them. Thus sadly ended a day. of picturesque ceremonial and rejoicings. President Von Hindenburg had travelled down the" Rhine amidst whiteclad rows of children who were gathered along the waterside in front of the historic villages known as the “Romans on the Heights,” whose ruined castles were bedecked with flags. The climax of the journey came when the President reached Coblenz, where he stepped ashore amidst roars of cheering and the bursting of maroons. He drove through packed, tumultuous streets to the Stadthalle. The town fortress dominating ft was illuminated in the evening, and offered a fascinating sight fantastically reflecting in the waters until death stalked suddenly into the scene, with black mourning in its train.

it,.is possible that President Von Hindenburg may now abandon his tour of the Rhineland.