GASOMETERS GO UP WITH A BANG

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 1

GASOMETERS GO UP WITH A BANG

FEARFUL EXPLOSION AT MANCHESTEREIGHTEEN INJURED

By Cable. —Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 10.43 a.m. LONDON, Tuesday. Two gasometers, each containing 2,000,000 cubic feet of gas, exploded with terrific force at the Manchester gasworks. The noise was heard five miles distant. Eighteen people in the vicinity were injured, and there were remarkable escapes from death. The two explosions came in rapid succession and fragments c f iron were hurled 500 yards. Many windows were smashed. A workman 200 yards distant was lifted 18 inches in the air. Cars rushed the victims to the hospital, and a strong force of police and firemen cleared the adjacent streets and closed shops and schools. Another gasometer near by, said to be the largest in the world, escaped. A. and N.Z. “Like a combined typhoon and earthquake,is how eye-witnesses describe the terrific explosion. The explosion tore a great hole in one gasometer and a gigantic sheet or flame shot skyward. The second gasometer was fired and blazed fiercely. Walls 400 yards distant were thrown down, and a woman was blown from her bed and workmen were flung down. Coke lorries near the gasometers were fired and the drivers badly burned. A dense green pall hung over the city. The fire brigade was able to confine the flames to the burning gasometers, although six others are in danger. The manager denies that the explosion is connected with the Sacco agitation. The gasworks were only recently reconstructed at a cost of £900,000. A. and N.Z-Sun.