TWELVE DEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 246, 7 January 1928, Page 1

TWELVE DEAD

disastrous explosion IN BERLIN SLEEPERS BURIED Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. BERIMIN', Thursday. The disastrous explosion which occurred in a five-storeyed tenement house in Berlin early yesterday morning came without warning. A flarae shot up for 20ft, and in a moment the people who were sleeping on the various floors were engulfed, beds and all, in 30ft of debris on the ground level. The bodies of 12 dead people have already been recovered, and at least jour are still buried. The search continues with the aid of searchlights. Twenty people were seriously injured. It was a miracle that anyone escaped, as some masses of debris were hurled for a quarter of a mile. To rescue the burled inmates was a task 0 J extreme danger, as crumbling masonry was continually crashing down. The police and firemen were very plucky, and several were injured. The building was a large concrete jtructure, and was occupied by 99 persons, representing 28 families. Just before the catastrophe 30 guests vho had been merrymaking tit a birthday party left the building. but their host and hostess were killed. dog and master A small dog was heard whining in the darkness during the rescue operations. and firemen sawed through a beam to save it. Their acetylene lamps revealed the dog’s master, who was hanging head downwards among the bricks and mortar, where he had fallen from an upper floor. He asked the firemen first to extricate his wife, but the firemen found that she was dead. The explosion is ascribed to a mishap to the refrigerator, which did service for the premises, or to an escape of coal gas.—A. and N.Z.