The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-02-11
FEAR 17ODEAD
IN EXPLOSION
OF GAS TANK
German Industrial City Is
Left in Ruins; 1000
Are Injured.
BLAST FELT $50 MILES
Buildings Are Crushed Like
Cardboard, Bodies Hurled
Hundreds of Feet.
BVI njtcd Press

BU uifcd Press
NEUNKIRCHEN, Germany, Feb.
1.-THE industrial section of Neun-
kirchen was in ruins today after the
explosion of a gas tank that crushed
buildings like cardboard, obliterated
an iron works and a benzol plant,
hurled bodies and debris through
the air for hundreds of feet, and was
felt $50 miles away.
Police. firemen, soldiers, and
volunteers rescue workers had re-
covered fifty bodies from the ruins
early today Police estimated that
the death roll would reach at least
ITO, with 900 injured. Two hundred
and eighty survivors we're taken to
hospitals in serious condition.
Seven persons were killed by the
stones, pieces of steel, wood, glass,
and miscellaneous parts of buildings
hurled over the town. The top OF
the gas tank was found half mile
away on a railroad track The top
was about $50 feet in diameter.
Supplies Are Communicated
The blast left remaining only the
chassis of a street car, which was
passing the iron works and Benzol
plant when the explosion happened.
The tank supplied the entire dis
trict with gas.
An adjacent settlement of work
mems houses was flattened, trap
ping women and children.
A second explosion followed the
first blast.
Emergency hospitals and first aid
stations were set up after the regu-
lar hospitals were filled. Medical
supplies were Communicated and
urgent appeals sent to nearby cities
for doctors and nurses.
Many Flee for Miles
Many residents of the district fled
for several miles into the country.
Five hundred men we're known to
have been working in various plants
near the gas tank. Police estimated
that most of today would be re-
uuired to make an accurate check of
the dead.
Il saw ten houses knocked fiat
simultaneously by the explosion" an
injured survivor told the United
Press. In one street, every house
was wrecked. Inhabitants of all
parts of the city fled from their
homes, believing at first that Sc
riouS earthquake had followed re-
cent minor earth shocks here.
MANY women and children were
trampled in the stampede. Thou
sands of windows were shattered'
and chimney pots tumbled into the
streets. 1 saw doctors performing
operations in the streets, and priests
administering the last sacrament to
the dying
Blast Felt $50 Miles
Buildings wrecked included the
railroad station, part of hospital,
a telephone exchange, and the
alter which was unoccupied.
The first explosion was felt at
Cologne Basic, and other cities
within a range of $50 miles. The
second occurred an hour later, when
fire spread to a gasoline station.
Police reserves were forced to fight
back a crowd from the danger zone
as members of families of workmen.
mostly women and children, rushed
to the scene.
While doctors and nurses worked
frantically amid great confusion,
the clergy did its best to calm the
population.
Fragments of heavy freight cars
were found seven miles from Neun-
kirchen.
The cause of the blast was not
determined, but it was believed that
a minor explosion at the benzol
plant started a fire which spread
to gas pipes and finally ignited the
Gas tank. Unconfirmed reports laid
the explosion to sabotage.
Grewsome Scene Described
Immediately after the explosion
there was a dead silence one sur
vivor said. then people began run
ming about mad with fear. Many
who came from the direction OF the
benzol plant muttered and Stam-
mered in utter panic.
when I got to where the iron
works had been, I found nothing
but ruins and bodies. Terrible cries
and groans came from the debris,
Then I saw a stream of blazing
LIQUID appear from the site of the
benzol plant, and soon fire appeared
in all parts of the ruins
Members of a rescue party re-
ported that an injured woman died
in their arms after they forced
their way through the debris of her
home. The woman was able to MUIR
muir only, Eight of us, drinking
coffee" before she died. Seven
other members of her family were
believed buried in the ruins.
Passengers on a street car blown
to pieces were so mutilated that it
was impossible to determine how
MANY people had been on the car,