TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

Shannon News, 5 March 1926, Page 3

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

Man and Car Blown to Atoms. GHASTLY ACCIDENT AT TOKOMARU 1 LITTLE TRACE OF CAR OR OCCUPANT. The Shannon countryside is shuddering at the ghastly .details surrounding an .accident which took place on the Okuku road, yesterday morning. William Campbell, foreman on die bridge-building contract of the Makerua Drainage Board paid a visit to the store room situated along the Okuku road, > better known as Lower Kingston road, almost opposite the j Miranui flaxmill, and. about 9.30 pro- ! heeded to return. * ; His car had covered only a short distance from the store-room, when there was a explosion, and the ; car and its occupants were, blown to smithereens, the terrific force behind, the detonation hurling the remains, in some .instances, to a distance of four chains from th'e location of' the accident. A search party from the mill found the feet only of,the-man, the other remains being unr ecognis-; able. As to thecar, the two front wheels were the only traces remaining,. these having been blown some i distance from the scene of the explosion. The oar was a recent acquisition of deceased’s, and had been in use only a. short time before the tragedy. The circumstances are all the more distressing as deceased was a. widower having a. family of ten children, nine of whom are in a home, the tenth and eldest girl is lying seriously ill at present in.the Palmerston North Hospital. Deceased was a wellknown figure in , the Shannon and Tokomaru districts, whose residents are almost stunned by the news ol the catastrophe. At present, the cause underlying the explosion remains a mystery, but the inquest is be held to-day when a little more light may. be thrown on,the circumstances.