DISASTER IN ITALY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1922, Page 5

DISASTER IN ITALY.

A TERRIBLE EXPLOSION. HUNDREDS DEAD. —— VAST DAMAGE CAUSED. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rome, Sept. 28. A violent thunderstorm occurred near Spezzia. Lightning exploded a powder factory and it is feared many workers perished. Several hundred have been i sent to hospital. A number of buildings over a wide area in the vicinity were also destroyed. (Received September 29, 5.5 p.m. Rome, Sept. 28. Forty dead, including an army marshal, have been recovered at Spezzia. As a result of the explosion Fort Falcorana and the villages of San Terenzio and Pitelli were greatly damaged. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. Received Sept. 30, 12.40 a.m. Rome, Sept. 29. Details from Spezzia show that the Falconara explosion was more disastrous than at first expected. One hundred and forty-four bodies have been recovered in San Terenzio alone and the number of dead in other villages is still unkown. The explosion was due to a short circuit and not to lightning.. Fifteen hundred tons of explosives were affected and the devastation covered a radius of seven miles. The villages of Larici, Pugliala, Tlb.ro, Puttello and Muggiano were badly damaged. Some reports state that hundreds of people lost their lives, but a moderate estimate is two hundred killed and five hundred wounded. Immediately after the flash great flames were seen to leap up and the whole magazine seemed to go up in one roar. The workers rushed in a panic from the fort, but before they rea.-hed. safety the explosion came. Many were killed by concussion ana others by falling debris, especially women and children, who were buried when houses collapsed. Ships in Spezzia harbor were tossed about by giant waves. Troops, civilians and -fascist! volunteered for rescue work, but darkness and a raging storm hampered them. The founded were soon arriving in large numbers at Spezzia hospital. Army rescuers have gone to San Terenzo to assist in clearing away the ruins.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.