Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-09-23
100 DEAD AND
1900 HURT IN
RHINE BLAST IS
LATE ESTIMATE
DeSoIation and Ruin Alone
Remain of What Was
Once a FIouriShing Town
of 5000 Population,
SOLDIERS CLEARING
AWAY WRECKAGE
Hundreds Of Persons Are
Digging in the Debris for
the Bodies OF Their ReIa-
tiveS or Friends,
(By The Associated Press)

Mannheim, Germany, Sept. %
| (by the Associated ess)-Deso-
lation and ruin are all that remain
of what was once the flourishing
town of Oppau. The town had
$500 residents, of whom a major
ity OF the men engaged in the
chemical works were killed or
wounded. Soldiers in French uni
forms are clearing away the
wreckage, picking up the dead and
injured as after a big battle.
Eleven hundred dead and four
thousand injured is the latest esti-
mate of the disaster yesterday,
which caused more fatalities in the
Mannheim -Ludwigshafeb district
than the four years of the war,
The desolation around Oppau
equals anything seen at Verdun or
in Flanders over a similar area.
Hundreds of persons are digging in
the ruins for the bodies Of rela-
tives or friends, nearly a thousand
of which have been recovered.
Cries of the Wounded.
Thirty-six hours after the explo-
sion from the gaping. funnel-like
hole where the Badische works
formerly stood, there are still to
be heard cries of the wounded,
while the soldiers search for pos
sible survivors.
The vast crater is slowly filling
with water. and it may never be
known how many victims found a
A 10 M 1g
crawling amidst the twisted gird-
ers and blocks of concrete are be-
ing put out of their misery. Fire
men and relief workers continue
to wear their gas masks.
The Thirty-second army corps or
the French army is in charge OF
the area, and every available
French medical officer has arrived
to cooperate with German physi-
clans and surgeons. The French
and German Red Cross are coop
Grating. The German officials
thanked General Degoutte for the
prompt manner in which The
French army came to the assist
ance of the victims.
The French high commissioner
on the Rhine, NJ. Tirard and his
staff took charge of the relief work.
From F'rankenthal, four miles
away, there was a steady exodus or
the population. in which bandaged
heads and arms were conspicuous.
The village of Edigheim was badly
wrecked and it has not been pos
sible to rescue some of the victims.
Whole Families Dend.
At Oppau whole families are
viped out The Mannheim hos
pitals are crowded with injured,
more than 400 persons having suf-
fered from the explosion here.
Several French soldiers were
killed and many wounded when the
French barracks at Eisenheim were
wrecked, A train was blown Off
| the tracks, plowing through the
wooden sheds where the soldiers
were CHARTERED.
Genera! Degoutte decorated a
Moroccan soldier who rescued
eleven wounded from wreckage.
the African being severely burned.
Experts who are inquiring into
the cause said that the explosion
| probably occurred during tests or
the compression of a new gas. the
properties of which were insuftl-
ciently known. ~.
Primarily, it is reported. the DIS
aster was caused by the explosion
of fifteen tons of ammonium sui
phate in the. preparation OF new
gas. in which the pressure or 3oo
atmospheres and a temperature OF
between 500 and 700 degrees cent?
| grade were needed.