EXPLOSION KILLS ELEVEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1016, 5 July 1930, Page 1

EXPLOSION KILLS ELEVEN

Chemical Works Blown Up debris thrown for miles Twenty Injured By Flying Glass A TERRIFIC explosion, preceded by a gigantic sheet of flame, killed 11 persons and injured 20 others at a chemical works at Castleford, England, Debris was scattered for three miles and neighbouring towns were shaken by the reverberations. Harrowing scenes during the rescue work over the devastated area are reported. One man was blown into the river and drowned.

tnltcd PA. —Bit Telegraph Copyright Peed. 10.4’’ a.m. LONDON, Friday. Heraldel by a pall of yellow fumes, Sue to a fire in the middle of the works, which hung over a nitration plant, a huge sheet of flame was fol lowed by a terrific explosion, and several minor ones, in which 1 1 persons were killed and 20 injured. All of them were employees of the chemical works of Hicksons, Ltd., at Castleford, near Leeds. The explosion blew John Morris, who w-as walking along the bank, into the river, and drowned him. It razed the nitration building to the ground. Those killed included Frank Hodgson, whose brother was killed in an explosion at the same works in 1926. The scene of the tragedy covers eight acres, containing eight chemi-

cal plauts, which present the appearance of a devastated area during wartime in France. Many people were injured by flying glass from the windows. Debris was scattered over the town for a rudius of two miles. The explosion is believed to have originated in a nitric acid mixer, the contents of which caught fire, bursting the boiler. The reverberation of the explosion was felt in a town three miles away. There were many harrowing sights as the injured were rescued. HUNDREDS HOMELESS Five hundred persons are homeless owing to their houses being uninhabitable or unsafe. Dozens of streets afford harrowing scenes as families gaze on their ruined dwellings.