THE BRAYBROOK ACCIDENT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9126, 22 April 1908, Page 5

THE BRAYBROOK ACCIDENT.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE DEAD

• PAINFUL SCENES

Melbourne, April 21

Little or no information as to the identity of the killed could be ascertained this morning owing to the great 1 , difficulty of identifying the bodies, which were almost as inextricably mixed up as they were in the wrecked and shattered carriages.

The officials at Sunshine had to leave the work of identification to relatives when the first mortuary train arrived at Spencer Street. Meantime an army of cabs had arrived at the station. Waggons were drawn up in readiness, and doctors, nurses, and ambulance men were waiting to render aid. Anxious friends were patiently standing in groups all making a weird picture in the dim moonlight. The bodies as they lay ranged round the walls of the Spencer Street Station presented an awful spectacle. The majority were shockingly mutilated. In the course of identification, some heartrending scenes were witnessed, and it was’ pitiable to see grief stricken relatives led away as their sad business was ended. As soon as identifications were completed the bodies were placed in coffins, and removed for burial. Some of the cases of injuries were so terrible that the doctors had to administer morphia and strychnine before the wounds were dressed.

The majority of cases were very serious, more than the usual percentage consisting of fractured limbs, shattered hips and thighs, and injuries to the spine, in addition to the inevitable shock. Ur.::."

- There were’ahout 60 victims in the first relief ~train.”* Eight of them were dead, jj

The second and 11 wounded. Very few of the sufferers were able to be sent to their homes.

One particularly bad case was a man with a fractured thigh, who had to death. There were a great many fractured legs, arms, hips and thighs. In some cases the eyes of victims had been put out. There were many cases of spinal injury and a great deal of shock.

The sights which met the gaze of anxious spectators as the first relief began to discharge its freight were enough to touch the stoutest heart with their pathos and tragedy. The spectacle suggested a battlefield with its tale of victims. First aid had been rendered at Sunshine. Broken limbs were in splints, and bruised heads in bandages. Some victims were apparently unconscious. Some showed the livid pallor of death in their countenances. The faces of some were covered with blood and here and there a poor broken head showed through an'extemporised handkerchief bandage. Pathetic groans broke from the “lips of some of the worst cases as they were lifted into stretchers, evidencing the intense pain they were]] enduring. FIRE BRIGADE AT WORK. When the Sunshine Fire Brigade turned out to extinguish the burning carriages, the first man to reach the station was auxiliary fireman Laffau. He worked energetically to put out the flaming debris and, when it was possible, to remove the imprisoned passengers.

Amongst the first bodies recovered were those of two of his sisters. .Legs and arms that had been cut off were lying around, and in the wrecked carriages some people were found with the life crushed out of them, hanging by their chins from the hat-rack, against which they had been jammed when the Bendigo engine ploughed its way into the train. A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. Dr. Vox, the first medical man to arrive on the scene, graphically described his inspection of the dead and wounded while they were lying on the Sunshine railway platform. The spectacle that met his eye was awful. There were telescoped carriages from which railway officials were extricating dead bodies and living. His attention was first called to a carriage in wnich an injured man was totally jammed between three partitions of the car that had been smashed together i concertina fashion.

It was one of the most ghastly sights he ever witnessed. Every third or fourth person he came up to appeared to be dead. Amongst the first examined quite 15 or so were lifeless, and the bulk of the wounded were suffering from very serious injury. The dead in particular appeared to have received shocking injuries, which must have killed them (^utright. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT. ? Mr Tait, Chief Commissioner of Railwajs, interviewed, stated that all the signals and points at Sunshine interlocked, and the trains were working on the block system. There appears no question that the signals were against the Sendigo train.

The driver of the leading engine on the Bendigo train (Milburn) claims that when he saw a distant signal at caution he. applied the brakes, intending to stop at the

home signal if, on reaching it, he found it at danger. Milium also statfis that when the home signal was not_clear he applied the brakes, but they failed to act, and the collision occurred. Shortly after the accident the brakes were tested, and disclosed ample braking power, and the brakes were in good order. The guard of the Bendigo train states that the .brakes worked satisfactorily. Mr Tait added that the night was clear and the signals burning properly. As the Bendigo line was straight for more than three miles west of Sunshine, and there were no obstructions, the engineman on the approaching train should have had a clear view of the signals. THE DEATH ROLL. r ] The corrected list makes the total killed as 37. THE DRIVER DISTRACTED. NO PREPARATONS FOR RELIEF. Received April 22, 101.7 a.m. Melbourne, April 33. The total number of dead is 43, seriously injured 49, slightly injured 100. The driver of the Bendigo train had been drving for 30 years and was one of the most capable in the service. He is almost distracted over the disaster.

The driver of the second enigne felt the brakes go on but they were suddenly released again and the train bounded forward on its errand of destruction. Bitter comments are made at the utter want of preparedness of the department to cope with accidents. It took a hour and threequarters atfer the summons to get a relief train

away. It is believed compensation will cost £120,000.