HEAVY DEATH ROLL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1942, Page 3

HEAVY DEATH ROLL

NEWFOUNDLALND DANCE MALI. TRAGEDY WOODEN BUILDING BECOMES BLAZING PYRE. DOZENS OF MEN & WOMEN CRUSHED TO DEATH. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) ST. JOHN’S (Newfoundland), December 13. At least 104 died and 130 were admitted to hospital when fire swept the Knights of Columbus Hostel, which was jammed with 500 service men and others enjoying the regular Saturday night dance. The cause is obscure, but flames raced through the wooden structure with incredible rapidity, trapping the panic-stricken dancers. Dozens were crushed to death as screaming men and women blocked the exits fighting to reach safety. Rescue workers later found piles of bodies inside all the doorways, similar to the Coconut Grove disaster in Boston exactly a fortnight ago. The Government announced that some Canadian service men were among the dead. The blaze started at 11 p.m. The fire station was only 200 yards away, butthe building was a blazing pyre before the firemen arrived. The fire was finally brought under control at 2 a.m. Public halls were immediately opened to receive the dead and injured, as morgues and hospitals were quickly overcrowded. A steady procession of relatives and friends filed through the grim improvised morgues seeking to identify the dead.