MUNITIONS EXPLOSION.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1917, Page 5

MUNITIONS EXPLOSION.

OREAT LONDON DISASTER. : IMPRESSIONS OF WITNESSES. The narratives 0/ several eye-wit* iiosses of the great munitions explosion! wliitli occurred in London on the even* uig_of January 1!), 'were included in ac« t. counts of the disaster published in the' New \ork newspapers, received by the .last mail. According to one of these, an ' hitl'i'vsil of fully lialf an hour elapsed between the discovery of a fire in the factory and the great explosion. The of. ticial announcement,' however,. stated that there was an interval of only "ft few minutes."

Tho development of the original fire and the final explosion were observed ■ by an American business man. "I had i been on a visit to the chemical works," lie said, "and was leaving late in tho a'f- - temoou when a policeman 011 duty outside the gate called my attention to a, ,j small lire that had just started inside ' the huge enclosure, which embraced nu« meroiis buildings, huts and tanas, Bj| - £i ; :M> 1 ,,n - '"re apparatus had begun art' riving from the outside, in addition tot ' the brigade maintained witlrin the plant, It soon became evident that tho dames were gaining on the Are lighters, and \ tho alarm began to spread along the r stiects that the lire might involve ' 1 neighboring plants. < ' ~ INDESCRIBABLE DETONATION. I hau waited nearly half an hour, in* ; ! terestedly watching tho gradually £1 creasing activity of the fire fighters, when the explosion came, followed .' mediately by a flare of flame. Tomethd " explosion seemed to come from flVflry* ■ where around. Tho sound it is impow u siblo to describe. The air was full of debris almost instantaneously, and thq crash of falling timbers, collapsing build* ings, and breaking glass continued like -- 'i an echo of the first crash for seven or eight is' minutes. The great flash of flame had its result in sparks that filled the sky; for many minutes as far as the eyh could reach. The atmosphere immediately became heavy with the smell of gas, and the faces «f people in the' ! mi.kliiig turned a dull, sickly yellow# The air, too, was yellow, not the-grey yellow of a London fog, hut a peculiar ' death-like yellow—sombre, lustreless, ' * heavy, which eyes and nostrils alike re* ' sented.'' "■ hre rages six hours. , , The visitor joined a volunteer ambn* lance corps. ''Flames from the burning < buildings, which grew brighter as time went on, gave us a fair light tlirouglf ' the, pall of smoke, fog, and dust/' ha continued. The surprising thing was the * large number of persona whose injuries at lirst appeared to be serious owing to ■ f the fact that they were dazed and suffer* ■' ing from a species of shell shock, but -'■) who later responded to our first-aid at- ■" 4 tempts and walked off fairly sound, with bandaged arm or head, to asßist in the .' / relief work. "The fire was under control ■ about midnight, but the work of the re- '■' lief force continued until dawn, whsn the volunteers were replaced by the military and Red Cross workers." A young army officer who was home on leave told a correspondent that ,he had J "' ■been through heavy fighting on tho *<'■ Somme front, but that nothing lie eii. perieneed there came so near shaking his nerve at the explosion, which occurred at a point less than half a mile from his home. DESTRUCTION IN A MINUTE

The correspondent of the New York, ; ' Tribune described a "titanic blast which * shook London to its foundations, and in ■ . one minute wiped out one of England's biggest munition plants," He added:' "liy far the greater part of tho destruw tion was accomplished in the minute ofJ the explosion. At (1.52 a brilliant flame '-M was visible from some parts of the city. 1 wenty or thirty seconds 'elapsed before ' i the detonation came. By 8.53 the entire' 'i * chemical works had been wiped off their {-j foundations as if they were so much paper, and the shallow cellars of tho $ surrounding houses were choked with! ft debris." .'..Jul AnolV-

jinol'jor narrative states: "To London k tself tho explosion camo as a dfifip'rcMUv » tasting only seconds, followed by several 'f j loss distinct booms. Only a fleeting mo- ■> ■, ment was the flare of light -visible in •' ''* the eastern Bky. There was little evi- /'i dcnce of panic, on the central thorough- t -" fares the theatre crowds, though 1 j the curiosity was great. With the first ■' A flash of the explosion, according to eyewitnesses near the scene, great masses , i oi (huning liquid and timber were hurled high in the air, and the factory itself ■' < became,a furnace. The nearest houses were engulfed as the flood of fire poured ■ down from above. The entire district ,( was plunged into darkness, except fot the flames' illumination."