TERRIBLE AVALANCHE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9135, 2 May 1908, Page 7

TERRIBLE AVALANCHE.

TWELVE PERSONS CRUSHED TO DEATH. Considerable damage and loss of life was caused at the village of Goppeustoiu, situated at Loetachberg Tunnel, fby the collapse of a house recently built at the southern entrance to the tunnel and of the offices of the Loetschberg Works. From twenty to thirty persons were buried under the ruins. It appears that ?the destroyed buildings did not lie in the path of the avalanche, but were literally hurled down by the displacement of air caused by the fall of the enormous mass of snow. This displacement of air frequently does more damage than an avalanche itself. A remarkable demonstration of this phenomenon was furnished in 1895, when a mass of four million cubic metres in bulk fell from the Atlas glacier, near Kaudersteg, into the valley beneath. The wood chalets and houses on the opposite side of the valley were all swept away by the rush of air caused by the huge fall. The Gopperstein disaster was due to the same cause. In the same way the quarters of the tunnel staff at the Loetschberg were not struck by the avalanche, hut were destroyed bj 7 the violent atmospheric displacement. The building had only recently been put up by the Tunnel Company for the accommodation of its higher grade emjiloyees, and the disaster occurred just as the engineering and clerical staffs were sitting down to dinner. Suddenly a loud noise o V as heard, and two children rushed ,into the room crying out, “An avalanche, an avalanche.” At the same moment a violent rush of air caused by the fall of the enormous mass wrecked tbmbuildings, burying about thirty persons in the rums. The post office, which was also occu pied by the local police, heeled over to an angle of 45 degrees, and everybody rushed out. The work of rescue, which was immediately commenced by the workmen employed in the tunuel and the inhabitants of’Goppenstein, went on all Saturday night aud Sunday morning, the last body being got out at nine o’clock in the morning, and the last of the injured at one in| the afternoon. In all .where are twelve dead, two of them children, aud 15 injured, who are suffering from broken legs, contusions, etc. Many of the Italian workmen and eight families of engineers have left Goppenstein, as further avalanches are feared.