RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1901, 9 November 1918, Page 3

RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

MAIN TRUNK TRAIN DERAILED. SEA r ERAL PERSONS KILLED; OTHERS INJURED. The Auckland to Wellington express ran into a slip, a mile and alialf north of Mataroa, at G.lO a.m. —broad daylight —on Thursday, telescoping the mail van and one sec-ond-class carriage. A coffin containing' a corpse was recovered practically uninjured. The two mail agents were dead when their bodies were recovered from the wreckage. Seven pasosngers were badly injured, and were conveyed with all speed to the Taihape Hospital. One of the passengers died while being taken there. The line in the vicinity of the slip is a. succession of curves, winding along the banks of the Hautapu River, The weather there has been very bad for some time, and the indications are that the train came suddenly on to the slip while rounding a curve. The speed limit at that point is under twenty miles an hour, otherwise the result might have been very much more serious. Telegrams received by the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department state that the postal van was smashed to pieces and the correspondence was strewn in all directions. The mail agents killed were Messrs J. H. AA’illiams (married) and R. Martin (single). LIST OF INJURED. The Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department received a telegram yesterday afternoon stating that the injured passenger who died on his wav to the hospital had in his pocket a receipt from Gilmour and Co., Hastings, in the name of If. AA’elcli, and a railway ticket from Franklon Junction to Hastings. He was about 70 years of age. The injured are: William Burrows, Wellington, broken leg; F. J. Johnston, AYangamii, broken jaw and injury to head; Henry M’Cabo, New Plymouth, broken hg: Mrs A. Carter, Castleclill', seriously injured; two others (unnamed) slightly injured. .Vs far as can he gathered the above arc all the casualties. Motor lories are nimble to get within a mile of the slip, under which the engine is buried. Mi ss Massey, daughter of the Prime Minister, was on board the train, hut escaped injury. Taihape, Last Night. AA’hile the uninjured passengers wore attending the wounded, a cry was raised: “Another slip is coming!” Suddenly down it came, bringing the whole hill-side with it, immense trees and huge papa roclcs burying the engine. Traffic in the north has been suspended, excepting the express both ways. Passengers, mails and luggage are to be transhipped. Intending passengers are advised (o carry little luggage. It is believed (he department will lay a deviation line round the huge mass of fallen earth. Passengers tell most startling stories of hair-breadth escapes. After the engine crashed into the mass of fallen earth, trees and rock, pandemonium reigned. If (he mortuary car next to (he engine had not acted as a buffer, the results would have proved much more serious. The coffin was pushed through the postal van and lay uninjured, while both cars Avero crushed to pieces. A woman and child were rescued through a Avimlow, and a man had to he extricated Avilh an axe. Dorhridgo, the engine-driver, and Fireman Jamieson. Avere only a little bruised. Those in hospital appear to he progressing favourably, although little difference is observable, Gangs of men are working alternately day and night in culling a road through the slip, and there is a prospect of the line being clear by Alonday night.