FRENCH DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 27 December 1933, Page 5

FRENCH DISASTER

220 PERSONS DEAD

TERRIBLE TRAIN SMASH.-'

{United Presi Association—By Electric • Telegraph—Ckipy right.)

■.PARIS, December 24. The- worstyrailway disaster for many years occurred at Lagny, ten.,miles from Paris' where 220vare-dead -and 300 injured;; The. confusion, ms . so great tnat the full; toll -maybe unascertainable for hours.-, f ; i;

The disaster occurred yesterday evening shortly after-n eight o’clock. The trains involved were crowded.-with holiday makers. One. left Paris for Strasburg 'at 7.25 p.m. .whil© the -express left Paris just afterwards , and crashed into the rear of the first train. When the latter stopped,the express, travelling 50 ..miles an . hour, telescoped the earlier. train.. .The noise; of the impact brought helpers to the scene from considerable , distances.- • ■ The . injured include two deputies, and are;being attended at hospital and private houses. Wood fires - were lighted on the side of the railway .track. Bodies ;awaiting transport/; and . . .Christmas presents were scattered everywhere. Human limbs were mixed with the debris.

A preliminary investigation - into the cause of the disaster developed .two hpotheses, that.. the, “stop’,^'signals did not work ; .o t r, that j the engineer, of the * Strasburgf.-.dyer ytjhat■, thundered into the standing express unable tb see the signals-in- the .thick Fog. > The .engineer and fireman of the Strasbourg .train, who ..were arrested, are reported, tb have - become, mentally deranged, as a result of the enormity of the catastrophe. :The speed’indicator shows a travel-, ling speed of 65 miles per hour at the time of the. accident. A. director of the . company states that, fog. and frbsit caused the catastrophe. The driver of - the oncoming express could not see the signals or hear fog .warnings;. ’■ •;

The scenes recalled the'worst 1 days of the war when wounded arrived from the fronF.; Cries; from the wreckage of , five telescopetl cars -iii which scores were; imprisoned’ gravely injured, "reifl the- air, fpr hours' while, gallant rescuers, and s.oldiers were trying to reach them by the aid of-flares and bonfires

The first train left Paris two hours late owing to-'fog. The second ..almost immediately 1 ’following, rammed head• long , through a six coaches/ with such terrific speed that- its leading carriage was turned upside down and’ the impact tied into; knots its 90 feet steel girders ten inches; wide,./ ’W The intense ".cold/and-fi'ost added to the sufferings-6f tlife injured alld hampered the work of the’ rescuers; Among the. debris were a quantity.of’ new toys belonging to - boarding school children in the telescoped, wftggons, sw-ho were proceeding - homeward for.- their / holidays, also a number of , skis owned; by victims going to winter sports/ in . the Alsatian Alps. * - -

Sisters of the Lagny Hospital after caring for hundreds of victims through out the night were just as ' tender and patient to-day as when-the-ordeal began. Ou’6 was followed byan orphaned boy with a bandaged head, who seemed' unable to leave- her. The President of the Republic declared a period c-f public mourning, to-night, and cancelled various Christmas festivities.

The British ambassador extended personal. condolences to President le Brnh. The French Cabinet will attend the collective funeral service at Care de Lest on Boxing Day.