FATAL TRAM ACCIDENT

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 29 May 1917, Page 6

FATAL TRAM ACCIDENT

ONE PASSENGER KILLED AND EIGHTEEN INJURED.

AUCKLAND, May 26

A tramway accident, unfortunately attended by fatal results, .occurred af Onehunga this evening. It appears 'that a car which left town shortly after five o’clock, while running down the hill from Trafalgar Street into Queen Street, the main street of Onehunga, got out of control and, instead of taking the right-angled curve, dashed across the roadway at terrific speed and crashed into the embankment which skirts the roadway at that point, about eight yards from the tramline.

The car was telescoped by the force of the impact, and much of the woodwork was reduced to splinters. The car was thrown on its side.

The passengers, to the number of about eighteen, were hurled from their seats against the sides and

floor ,of the car, all being more or less seriously injured. They were taken out through the broken sides of the car, and were taken to neighbouring houses, where they were attended to by Drs. Watson and Tresidder. One woman, Mrs. Burch, who resided in Upper Queen Street, Onehunga, was so seriously injured that she died shortly after being extricated. Her daughter bad her thigh broken. Another woman, whose name is not available, sustained a fractured skull and was taken, with several other sufferers, to the Auckland Hospital. Another passenger sustained a broken arm, while the motorman was severely cut about by flying glass and by impact with the iron work in the front of the car.