TERRIBLE GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION IN INDIA.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2638, 22 June 1877, Page 2

TERRIBLE GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION IN INDIA.

The following account of the terrible gunpowder explosion which took, place at Ahmedabad appears in the Bombay Gazette of February 3 :—"An alarm of fire haviug been given, as is usaal in such cases a crowd gathered round the place, which turned out to be a Borah's shop, where ammunition and firearms were sold. The shop had been shut up for the night, consequently the police proceeded to burst into it. As the door new open a large cask of gunpowder, which appears to hare been leaning against'it, Tolled" out''and immediately exploded among the crowd. The scene which followed was indescribable. ,_The house in which, the .shop was, and the next one to it, were so complete'y blown-away that the space where they stood looks as if a clean slice had been cut out of the row. In au instant a great mass of flame, followed by a dense volume of smoke, shot into the air, carrying with it rafters, beams, bricks, and everything. So great was the force of the explosion that though the street is a very wide one, some of the houses opposite caught fire, and most of their windows and doors were smashed," ifi one case a verandah being torn bodily off. The large beam of the Borah's ntop was carried across the street, and now reits on the roof, oL the oppositeUi,ou§e ; s Vv In, front of where the sLiop'had "been, tWstiefet was strewn with the dead and dying,jW|ileJhe air rang with wild, despairing, heartrending "shrieks. Flaming figures wereto be seen rushing frantically about, and someipoor wretches; in the hopeof extinguishing.their burning clothing, sprang jnto> a shallow drinking-tank which rftan4**: near the scene of the accident:: but,. ovdNosicr by exhaustion and fear, fell' Aown," and though the water was only-a foot or two in depth, were drowned before aid could reach them. ' The terrified surtrroirs, fearing a second explosion, would' hoi for some time, venture near the spot to the ftjMjjftaqtf! of the ■injpr.efl, -many ..of. .whom as%ey told fallen, a slight ipa^modic movement of the .head and chest being the only indication that life still remained in their poor, torn, Scorched bodies. It is difficult to ascertain;the exact, numbgr. of sufibrers, for tldugh 53 of the" worst jfcases wereimmed^ately conveyed to the hospital, many of the injured were taketrcbargeof by their' own friend^; Of those{in • the hospital, 15 "died during the uight;* 10 of whom were women; and there is little hope that any will; survive. Some are entirely blinded) and-thoae who may not die from actual hni*lsT are almost certain 06 succumb to the shock. -.-Tha^icone, next morning in the hospital wat heartrending in the extreme. All around were rows of writhing humanity; ]l H tome' cases with wounds^ so awful that all : skin had peeled off their bodies".'^Therei were altogether eight persons "kiflei "on the spot, four of whom of the police force. As ''nearly as^eau be isckohed, there were about-125:-persons more or less injured by the explosion. * '*'■'•". - : 'i>i ■