ILL-FATED SHIP

Hokitika Guardian, 18 May 1932, Page 6

ILL-FATED SHIP

SURVIVORS ESCAPES

SOME MISSING

(United Press Association —By Electric

leiegrapn. —oogynguM

(Received this day at 11.15 a.m.) ADEN, May, 1/

There were scenes oi ai.feo.su at Aueu pier when the survivors on both the Contractor and Mahsud searched .or relatives. A mother was thus uniteu with her two daughters; and was almost delirious with joy. Others were disappointed, but il -' c still. hoping tnat tlieir lost ones are aboard the Andre Leboii. Those rescued include a child with a baby in her arms, both having lost then. - parents. Louis ALred, Chief Justice of In do-, China and his wife, had remarkable escapes. They were trapped in their cabin, and almost surrounded by flames, through which Allred 1 ought his way. and lowered an overcoat to the porthole of the cabin and pulled lis wife to salety, but his daughter and son-in-law aie missing.

AWFUL EXPERIENCE.

PARTICULARS OF TRAGEDY

ADEN, May 17.- '

Passengers relate awful experiences in on© of the most extraordinary sea tragedies 'of recent times. The • fir© in the empty cabin, had such a." firm hold before it was discovered, that- all the chemical extinguishers and hoses were inadequate, it. is feared occupants of neighbouring cabins perished in tlie flames, which devastated a wide area, including the wireless room, before an S.O.S. could he despatched.

The first message concerning- the catastrophe was sent by the Contractor which saw the flames from a distance of thirty-five miles.

The confusion and panic were indescribable, when the passengers were aroused and told to make their way forward. Smoke, sparks and flames resulting in the destruction of a number of lifeboats rendered it impossible for the passengers to take their boat dr.l. positions. Consequently husbands were separated from their wives, and children' from their parents.* There were increasing agonies of apprehension because the Sovietskara was prevented from approaching, owing to the latter’s explosive cargo, but 4-20 passengers and crew were ferried on rafts, which were plentiful, or rescued from the sea into which; they jumped.

The Contractor arrived three hours later and found the surxivors perilously erouped in the forequarter of the Phil: lipar. ■-