GHASTLY AND HARROWING DETAILS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 23 January 1917, Page 5

GHASTLY AND HARROWING DETAILS.

:« • it* LONDON, Jan. 22. I .Sightseers flocked in such numbers on Sunday to the scene of the explosion that the railways discontinued the bookings at certain stations. The authorities diverted the traffic in various ways in order to leave the search parties unhampered. Despite all precautions, there is enormous congestion in the neighbourhood. (Search parties continue their gruesome task among the ruins, and several more bodies have been found, but days must elapse before t!ie full human toll can be measured. Intercessory services wore held in all the churches and many devotion collections were taken for the relief of the distress. Many pathetic stories, sensational escapes and remarkable incidents are recorded. A cinema was showing the Ancre battle picture when the explosion occurred amidst a volley. The audience loudly applauded, being unaware of the actual facts, though several of the windows wore blown in. !>uch a day as .Sunday has never been known before. In the London hospitals are many victims, alive and dead, who have not yet been identified. Many people journeyed to the hospitals while scanning the lists. The hospitals were transformed with wonderful speed to receive the patients, and all the available space, including the corridors, was utilised. Vehicles of every description arrived with victims disfigured, maimed and limbless. Many critical operations demanded instant performance, and they were treated in such numbers that the usual forms were thrown to the winds. Relatives invaded the wards, and searched unbidden. THE CASUALTY LIST. LONDON, Jan. 22. The explosion casualties up to Bunday night were as follows: Bodies recovered between JO and 40; died in hospital 24; seriously injured 123; slightly injured 453. The list is incomplete. For the purpose of housing the homeless, the authorities have adopted the billetting system. They have also housed numbers in the public buildings. Fully-armed troops with fixed bayonets guarded the ruins on Sunday. It appears that Dr Angell was on the top floor, where the fire started. He ordered the workers out and gave the alarm to the fire brigade, and then retunic dto search for stragglers and was not scon again. When the first eases began to arrive at the hospital, the matron asked the manager of a large firm in the vicinity, “For God's sake tele- , phone, to all the hospitals in London to send all the help possible,” but the; explosion cut off most of the telephonic j communications; the police came to | the rescue. There were several false ! alarms as the flames were caught b\ a stiff brooßC and threatened fresh destruction. The cry arose: " -Here are explosives stored there! ” several stampedes occurred, until the attention •was distracted by the. grim procession i 0 f lorries, motors and ambulances with

their burdens of dead and dying. Not the least terrifying of the sights were the dead on doors and shutters placed on the footways awaiting removal. The day shift at the munition factory left at 5.30, only the laboratory staff of thirty-five employees engaged in special high explosives work, remaining. Though the actual cause is not known ;i semis certain that the fire started on the upper floor. A watchman and two ur throe others who might have thrown some light on the subject were seen preparing the emergency hoses, bur they perished, "hen the explosion occurred, five minutes niter the alarm. The firemen arrived seven minutes from the start. A huge crater fifty yards wide and many feet deep non marks the site of the factory. Among the incidents /connected with the explosion arc the following: A woman was notified in the morning that her husband had been killed in France, la the evening her six children were killed by the explosion. A man, on reaching home, found his wife and two children killed, and the other throe children missing. The ‘‘Daily Mail” estimates the death roll at 300.