THREE KILLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1939, Page 5

THREE KILLED

IN MELBOURNE MUNITIONS WORKS EXPLOSION IN CARTRIDGE HOUSE. HEARD TWENTY MILES AWAY. MELBOURNE, September 25. Two women ami a man were killed in a terrific explosion which destroyed a cartrid”-c house in the ammunition packing section of • Imperial Chemical Industries (Nobel Australasia Limited) at Deer Park this afternoon. The explosion was heard throughout the metropolitan area and for a radius of 20 miles. It broke windows a mile away. There are about 300 employees, mostly girls, in this section of the works. They were blinded by smoke as they fled from the buildings in a shower of splintered wood, iron and concrete. None were seriously injured. Those killed were: Francis O’Gorman, aged 25 years; Lilian Gordon, aged 34; and Ethel Foster, aged 29. All were killed instantly.

Fearing the explosion was the result of sabotage, military guards quickly surrounded the premises, but tonight it was officially announced that the cause was accidental. A sheet of flame rose 100 feet above the works when the explosion occurred. It was feared thdt the whole works would go up. Hundreds of screaming girls ran from the works, some being hit by falling debris. The girls were sent home for the day, but will resume work this morning.