THOUSANDS HOMELESS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 436, 18 May 1937, Page 2

THOUSANDS HOMELESS

Cat Causes Calamity ■ Bucharest, May 3. A cat chasing a mouse caused! one of the worst fire disasters in Rumanians history. The whole village of Boldu, in the department of M.amni_ i eul-Sarat, was razed to the ground. 20 people ate reported missing, hundreds of cattle were burnt to death, and 350 cot ages were destroyed'. I’leaving nearly 3000 people homeless land ruined. While a maid, by the name ol I Lenutza Dumitrescu, was building a fire with the aid of a few drops of petrol, a saw a mouse in the cocking range. The pursuit had tragic consequences. In her jump the cat knocked over, the oil can at the very moment when Lenutza was lighting a match. The house was soon ablaze, and a powerful wind spread the flames to rhe neighbouring cottages. Nothing could be done to save the village, since it had no firemen. Lenutaa. who was badly burnt, described shortly before her death how the disaster occurred.