EXPLOSION PLOUGHS STREET

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 543, 21 December 1928, Page 1

EXPLOSION PLOUGHS STREET

AMAZING OCCURRENCE IN HOLBORN MANHOLES BLOW UP LIKE MINES (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 10.15 a.m. LONDON, Thursday. AN extraordinary gas explosion occurred at High Holborn at 8 o’clock this morning, when business men and women were coming into the city.

Half a mile of roadway was torn up, and kerbstones were lifted like feathers.

Pedestrians were flung into the air, and a horse was killed, and a taxicab overturned.

A number of manholes exploded with a noise resembling exploding bombs. Several Post Office workmen were seen lying in the ruins of a manhole, which was ablaze when the explosion ended.

Fire brigades and ambulances were quickly on the spot, and the men were removed to hospital. It Is astonishing that the loss of life is not serious.

People were blown out of their beds in the neighbourhood. There are no fatalities, though many mix-aculous escapes were made. Gas covered a wide area, which the police cleared. Several people on the outskirts were overcome by the fumes, and taken to hospital. The underground railway was not affected. The police had difficulty in clearing the streets of the people, who believed that the underground railway had blown up. Deep fissures nan the whole way along the line. Huge craters were blown in the roadway. Ton blocks of solid concrete were hurled aside, and shops were damaged. Parts of tlie roadway dropped several feet. At one point the gas is still afire.

A water main burst, flooding many basements. It appears that a linesman de-

scendetl a manhole to connect a blower with a switch. A few minutes later a sheet of flame rushed up. The man managed to scramble out with liis trousers afire, but he ■was terribly burnt. UNPRECEDENTED THING WORST DISLOCATION IN LONDON’S HISTORY BUSINESS AT STANDSTILL (United Service) Reed. 11.5 a.m. LONDON, Thursday. Britain has not known anything to equal the High Holborn explosion. A district of a mile long and half a mile wide is deprived of every public service for some weeks. The traffic dislocation is the worst in London’s history. Business is at a standstill. Repairs will cost £50,000. Seventeen victims have been taken to hospital. A manhole-cover weighing 4cwt was thrown into the air and crashed through the roof of a three-storey house and came to rest on a bed on the first floor.

A torrent of fire roared 50ft into the air from a crater. A High Street fissure several hundred yards long spouted fire.