FOURTEEN KILLED

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1932, Page 6

FOURTEEN KILLED

GAS TANK EXPLODES SIX OTHER CASUALTIES. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received this o--.y at 10.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, March 9. An official of the Public Service Electric and Gas' Company at Camden, ■New Jersey, said that fourteen workmen were killed by an explosion in a purifying box at the company’s plant to-day. Foui; were injured, and two seriously injured, while one escaped. Residences for blocks nearby were shaken. The scene of the explosion is a mile from the central city area, and the blast was made harrowing by the cries of relatives of the doomed men. The explosion was caused by a spark, either as the result of a blow on the metal of the inner shell of the tank, or by a lighted match that ignited the gas collected within. A tremendous roar announced the accident; while practically all the workmen, many earning their first pay in weeks, were trapped below. A fierce, torchlike flame followed, but was speedily extinguished by firemen. ' The tank is a. square, steel structure, twenty by twenty feet, and fifteen feet dedp, and is, raised from the ground on steel girders, fifteen feet in height. The metal interior was coated with a mixture of charcoal, sawdust, and sulphuric acid, and other acids were used in purifying the gas. A composition collects and, several times a year, it is necessary to clean it.