CROSSING SMASH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1943, Page 4

CROSSING SMASH

TRAIN HITS BUS • , A WOMAN KILLED AT KAIAPOI. SEVERAL PASSENGERS INJURED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, April 13. A woman was killed and 10 people were injured when a bus, owned by Midland Motorways Services, Limited, was shtruck by a train on a level crossing at Kaiapoi this morning. The victims were: KILLED Mrs Florence Margaret Stewart, aged 35, of Kaiapoi; Women's Personal Officer to the National Service Department; married, with one child. 'INJURED Vickery Maxwell Busby, aged 20, soldier, Kaiapoi; concussion, lacerated scalp, and abrasions; condition satisfactory. Leonard Seymour P. Hopkins, aged 58, wool dealer, Kaiapoi; concussion, lacerated scalp, fractured ribs; condition satisfactory. Arthur Hopkins, aged 33, Kaiapoi; concussion, fractured shoulder blade; condition satisfactory. Thomas Bugg, aged 16, Kaiapoi; slight concussion, scalp wounds. George David Hungerford, Christchurch, driver of the bus; head injuries, shock; condition not serious. George Watts, Riccarton; injuries not known. Arthur Shaw, Kaiapoi; injuries not known. Leila Wyatt, aged about 15, Kaiapoi; injuries not known: condition serious. Valerie Barker, aged 20, Woodend; injuries not known; condition fairly serious. Peggy Dixon, aged 14, slight concussion, wound on head; treated as an outpatient. The train, which was travelling from Rangiora to Christchurch, smashed into the bus amidships, and carried it 30 or 40 yards along the line toward the station and then threw it through a shrubbery and across the roadway leading from the main road to the station. The driving gear and braking system of the engine were damaged and the train was unable to pull up. It plunged ahead, wrenching part of the side off the bus as it was thrown clear, and came to a stop half-way along the station platform. The crossing is equipped with a wigwag warning device and bell, but it was reported that the batteries necessary for the proper functioning of the warning signal had been stolen before the accident.