GREAT DISASTER

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1921, Page 5

GREAT DISASTER

FEARFUL EXPLOSION. A THOUSAND DEAD. TOWNSHIP WRECKED. PEOPLE IN A PANIC. A thousand workers are believed to be dead, and many more were injured, as the result of a terrible explosion in a chemical factory in the German village of Oppau, on the Rhine. The explosion was so violent that the village was completely wrecked and damage was done in neighboring towns. The disaster is unprecedented in the history of modern science.

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—copyright. London, Sept. 21. A telegram from Mayence (a town in Germany on the left bank of the Rhine) reports that an explosion in the aniline works at Oppau caused a thousand deaths and several thousand persons were irrnred. Of eight hundred workers within the building not one is alive. Received Sept. 22, 7.30 p.m. Paris, Sept. 21. The explosion occurred at 7.30 this “norning. All telephones and telegraphs in the district are destroyed. There was much damage and apparently some loss of life in Ludwigshafen, on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite Mannheim, though details are most difficult to get. Reports suggest that the village of Oppau was completely destroyed. Those inhabitants who are not killed or desperately injured are panic-stricken with the horror of the disaster, and fear further explosions. Windows and doors were smashed over a wide area.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. THE DISASTER DESCRIBED. THOUGHT TO BE EARTHQUAKE. WORKS NOT APPROACHABLE. DEATH ROLL UNCERTAIN.

Received Sept. 22, 7.30 p.m. London, Sept. 21.

The Daily Chronicle’s Mannheim correspondent states that just after work commenced at an Oppau factory a fearful explosion. occurred in the nitrogen department, believed to be due to an explosion in a gas compressor. The population in the district, believing it was an earthquake, poured into the streets in a panic. Dense clouds of smoke were observed over the spot where the works were, but it was impossible to approach. There are all sorts of reports regarding the death roll, the general idea being that at least a thousand were killed, but the authorities beg the people not to accept this estimate until the debris is thoroughly examined. A couple of detonations in the older part of the Badische aniline works heralded a disaster unprecedented in the history of modern science. Other explosions followed, of which the first resulted in No. 56 laboratory being blown into the air. Every house within a radius of eight miles was shaken as though by a violent earthquake, and the people fled into the streets, many even jumping through windows. For hours rescue was impossible. Then parties approached the Badische works to give assistance to the wounded, who lay alongside the dead, many being terribly mangled. Clouds of green smoke enveloped the whole ruins, even after twelve hours. The confusion was so great that it was impossible to get exact information, but all accounts agree that hundreds are dead, many being killed at a considerable distance from the main disaster.

There were heart-rending scenes as women and children sought their husbands and fathers. Mangled forms were taken out of the buildings and laid on the road sides for identification, or, if still alive, left to await omnibuses and motor cars which w?re hurried out from Ludwigshafen and Mannheim as far as the broken roads would allow.

The hospitals in Ludwigshafen, Worms and Mannheim were quickly filled with maimed workers and others. Fortunately it was too early for many people to be about, in the neighboring towns; otherwise many more would have been injured or killed by failing debris. As it was many children were thrown down through the air pressure and badly hurt. At Ludwigshafen the entire roofs of many houses were carried away. All the windows were broken in Worms, which is thirteen miles away. The roads around Oppau are deep in glass and other debris. One story says three workers’ trains were submerged by falling wreckage. The night shift had just been relieved by the day workers when the explosion occurred. It was so violent that all the windows were broken in Mannheim and as far away as Worms. Large pieces of metal rained down on Mannheim, killing one and injuring 55, many seriously. Oppau was totally wrecked. There are now over a thousand dead, and thousands of others are injured. The French Commissioner in the Rhine district is organising relief work.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

TERRIFIC DETONATIONS. FIRES PREVENT RESCUE. Received Sept. 22, 8 p.m. London, Sept. 22. The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin correspondent states that an explosion occurred at the Badische soda factories, where nitrogen compounds are manufactured for agricultural purposes. Terrific detonations in rapid succession startled the district, which is thickly populated, the earth shook violently, houses were unroofed, articles such as typewriters were hurled into the air, and masses of 'metal weighing a hundred kilogrammes were thrown a hundred yards. The detonations were felt at Heidelberg, and window’s were broken at Frankfort, 37 miles distant, where electric trains were interrupted. Firemen and police in the district worked in gas masks assisting

French troops in rescue work, but the. fires which were raging prevented approach to the main buildings.

CAUSE OF THE DISASTER. EXPLOSIVE GAS GENERATED. Received Sept, 22, 8 p.m. Paris, Sept. 21. The aniline works at Oppau were situated within the French zone of occupation, and were under the control of the Badische Aniline and Potash Company, which is connected with the aniline consortium, with a capital of 2,000,000,000 marks. During the war it was the principal centre for the manufacture of asphyxiating gas. Received Sept. 22, 8 p.m. London, Sept. 22. The most likely explanation of the disaster is given by an expert of the Brunner Mond Company, who suggests a leakage of hydrogen is the probable cause. The Oppau [ company has bfeen making an immense quantity of synthetic ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen. During the manufacturing process free hydrogen is formed, and if this escapes and mixes with . air a highly explosive gas is formed*