BURST INTO FLAME

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 494, 30 March 1933, Page 5

BURST INTO FLAME

EXPLOSION IN TANK Rec. March 29. London, March 29. It has been ascertained that the air liner burst into flames in midair, apparently owing to an explosion in the fuel tanlc after leaving the aerodrome. The wreekage covered 600 square yards. The bodies so far recovered are almost unrecogn'isa.ble. They have been taken to the Dixmude morgue. The others are still in the debris. It is believed the pilot was killed when the engine exploded. The machine fell 600 feet. Of the twelve passengers eight were British, three German and one Belgian. Miss Yass, a Cologne schoolgirl was about to complete her education in England. Mr. Charles Rowsall, a mining director, was taking his first air trip. A detached wing of the aeroplane nearly killed two little girls in the field in which it fell. The airliner was of the Argosy type, and the first of that type to be concerned in an accident involving injury to passengei's. The pilot, Captain Leleu, was born in 1897. Ple gained his commission in the war-time and joined the Airways in 1926. He had flown 4000 hours. Major Brackley, the air superintendent of Imperial Airways, has flown to the scene whither other officials, and also Belgian officials have gone hy motor. Much of the luggage has been recovered intact. It is stated that four bodies were found some distance away, indicating that they jumped as the plane fell. Three mail bags were found intact, and were taken charge of by the local authorities.