CROSSING SMASH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 June 1939, Page 2

CROSSING SMASH

TRAIN HITS MOTOR CAR. FOUR PEOPLE INJURED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) PALMERSTON N.. June 12. Four people were injured, one seriously, when the motor-car in which they were travelling was struck by the Wellington-Napier express on the Longburn level-crossing just after midday today. The victims were: — William Walter Gosling, farmer, Aokautere; broken leg, broken wrist, and severe facial injuries; condition series. Mrs Gosling, his wife, fractured ribs, cuts and abrasions to the body; condition satisfactory. Mrs Tui Mitchell, daughter of Mr and Mrs Gosling, condition satisfactory. Rosemary Mitchell, aged six, daughter of Mrs Mitchell; broken collarbone, extreme shock; condition satisfactory. The car, which was being driven by Mr Gosling, was about to cross the railway line when it was struck on the bonnet by the locomotive and thrown to one side. Mr Gosling was thrown from the car to the road. Mrs Gosling, who was also in the front seat, was forced through the windscreen. The car was extensively damaged.

An eye-witness of the accident said the front portion of the car was picked up by the cow-catcher of the engine and lifted into the air. The car then slewed round on its rear wheels and landed clear of the carriages of the train, facing in the opposite direction to that in which it had been travelling. The train pulled up in its own length.

Men engaged on the construction of the new overhead bridge alongside the temporary crossing rushed to the assistance of the injured people and quickly summoned an ambulance. The two women were taken to the home of Mr C. Prouse nearby till the arrival of an ambulance, when all were taken to Palmerston North Hospital.