FOOT TORN OFF

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 631, 6 April 1929, Page 13

FOOT TORN OFF

.ARBITER hurt in LEVELM CROSSING SMASH EXPRESS strikes motor Press Association TK AWAMUTU, Friday. Crjthing into a light five-seater otei'car in the Te Awamutu stat'on yard, about 11 o'clock this morning, the Daylight Limited exreas reduced it to a heap of tangled wreckage. The driver of the ear, William Warren, had one foot torn off, but escaped other serious injury. The express had passed over the , re l crossing at the northern en- { ance to the station. In the station yard there is another crossing leading ■ (kg goods-shed. The car was following closely behind a lorry, and the driver apparently failed to notice the express. The lorry got clear, but the express hit the rear of the car, reducing it to ,n unrecognisable heap of wreckage, which was entangled in the cowcatcher and carried some distance before the train was brought to a standstill. The express travelled 95 yards from the crossing to the station platform and Anally stopped a further 32 yards along the platform. 1 The only occupant of the car was Wallace Web3ter, aged about 21, a rabbiter, of Parawera. He became entangled In the wreckage, and was not extricated until the express stopped. Women fainted as he was dragged past the station platform. His right foot was tom off at the ankle through betng wedged against the stones forming the run-up to the platform. Medical aid was quickly summoned. The Injured man was conscious throughout. It is stated that, apart from the loss of his right foot, he escaped with only minor bruises. His escape from death was miraculous. The car is twisted beyond recognition, and the debris scattered about the yard. The station signalling apparatus was wrecked, but the permanent way is not damaged. The injured man was removed to the Waikato Hospital.