UNDERGROUND CRASH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 May 1938, Page 7

UNDERGROUND CRASH

TUBE TRAINS COLLIDE IN LONDON Seven Passengers Killed and Fifty Seriously Injured RESCUERS WORK UNDER GREAT DIFFICULTIES By Telegraph—Press Association. —Copyright. (Recd This Day, 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, May 17. Seven passengers were killed and fifty seriously injured, in London s worst underground railway smash, when two trains collided between the Charing Cross and Temple stations. One train partially telescoped, the rear carriage of the other, which was almost at a standstill. A side of the carriage in the front train was ripped almost out. ' The tunnel was plunged into darkness after the crash. The passengers, thrown into heaps, realised the seriousness of the smash on hearing the cries and groans of injured people. They were afraid to move for fear of trampling on those under the wreckage. When there was a sudden flash, accompanied by an explosion, under the carriage, half an hour later, many thought the train was on file and desperately smashed windows and scrambled out on to the track, covered in blood. They staggered to the Charing Cross platform through the tunnel. ■ Guards attempted to prevent an exodus until an order to move was given, an hour after the crash, when the first rescuers, carrying torches, arrived. , ~ Charing ■ Cross was converted into a vast casualty clearing station. Dozens of doctors,' students and nurses were rushed from the Westminster and Charing Cross Hospitals and worked feverishly, by light of flares and torches, to extricate the injured and ease the suffering of those seriously injured. Many of the passengers were buried under debris. Others lying on the track were given injections of morphia. Cylinders of oxygen were carried into the tunnel to revive those most seriously affected by the foul atmosphere. . Forty firemen and railway workers assisted in the extrication of the injured, amid the deafening noise of drills used to cut a way through the wreckage. ■ The police faced an enormous task in controlling thousands of people in the vicinity of Charing Cross Station, where ambulances and fire engines were four deep. The greatest difficulty was experienced in removing the patients because of the crowds. A melancholy procession continued for 150 minutes, after which the last four of those who had been trapped were extricated as the result of superhuman efforts by the rescuers, who, stripped to the waist, were forced to jack up the carriage. Almost the entire resources of Charing Cross Hospital were placed at the disposal of the rescuers. Many patients were removed from their beds to accommodate those who were injured, including the guard of the front train, who suffered a broken leg. The other driver was not injured. Most of the victims were occupants of the front' carriage of the oncoming train. . A member of the railway staff, who was among the first rescuers, said a short circuit after the crash caused a fire, which was put out by carriage extinguishers. The current was then cut off. Mr E. Leslie Burgin, Minister of Transport, and Lord Ashfield, Chairman of the Transport Board, visited the scene of the wreck. The underground railway system has a remarkable safety record and the chances of a colision, as the result of a technical fault, are estimated at a million to one. ? .