THOUSANDS DROWNED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 172, 11 July 1908, Page 4

THOUSANDS DROWNED.

ALL DUE TO A CARELESS OFFICIAL. A private letter from Hankow, dated April 12. gives the following particulars as to the disaster recently briefly reported through Renter's Agency:— "On Thursday (April !)) a dreadful calamity happened on the river. The Han river joins the Yaiigtsc just beyond the native city. On the Han River there is a great trallic with big junks, sampans, and steam launches, besides thousands of houseboats with Chinese families. The heavy rains caused what is called a •freshet,' which came down the river in a solid wall 2(i feet high, dunks, sampans, launches, and househunts were swept into the Yangtse and broken into matchwood, and thousands of people were drowned. "Nine hundred bodies were recovered from the Yangtse down below the settlements in one day, and seven hundred the day following. We have not heard how many more have since been found, but these figures certainly do not represent the half of the people who have been drowned. "All along the Bund on Friday there were hundreds of wrecks washed on shore, and it was a pitiful sight to see some of the poor folks, who had been saVcd, but had lost their boats, etc., camping down hy the side of the water. I saw one lot of live large junks all washed into one corner and being brokc'i to pieces by the waves. While 1 was looking at them one of the large masts fell, nearly killing two men who were still sticking to their boat. Next morning (here was not a single boat leftnothing but spars. H was awful. " This dreadful calamity was caused by some neglect on the part of a Chinese ollicial. It seems that the approach of these freshets ran be telegraphed i'ron) high up country, and when the people get notice of one coming the boats are cleared out of the Han, and so escape damage."