The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-02-11
German Industrial City Is
Left in Ruins; 1000
Are Injured.
BLAST FELT $50 MILES
Buildings Are Crushed Like
Cardboard, Bodies Hurled
Hundreds of Feet.
BY JEAN JACQUES KREMER,
United Press Special Correspondent

NEONkltCC1EN5 OeIIldIlyi rev
1-Thirty thousand men and wOm-
en-, deprived of their livelihood by
the gas tank explosion which
wrecked the city, and took ar esti-
mated toll of ITO dead and 1000
injured, wandered in daze through
their shattered homes today.
Force of the the blast Friday was
felt $50 miles away. Bodies were
hurled hundreds of feet.
Many persons, their clothing tat
tered and torn had to be restrained
by police from rushing in to the
charred and ruined area seeking
lost relatives.
Others, huddled together in the
cold, rushed forward each time res
cue workers brought a new body
from the debris-looking for miss
ing father or brother.
Scene Like Wartime Panic
II was scene like wartime desc
lation. A long line Of fire engines
and ambulances, advanced as
though to a front-line trench.
Haggard men, women and chill
dren were wandering ten kilometerS
from Neunkirchen. Their clothes
were torn and burned.
Six kilometers from the city the
wave of fugitives fleeing from the
stricken area became so dense L was
forced to cut across country to reach
the town.
From hill Friday night looked
down on a sight of indescribable
misery, illuminated by giant col
umns of flame from the benzlne
plant.
The shadowy forms Of hundreds
of panic stricken men and women
were outlined against the tongues
of flame as they ran between col
lapsed houses while police sought to
maintain order.
Face Unemployment Problem
The worst desolation prevailed in
Sarrebruck street, where twenty
eight houses, each sheltering three
of four families, were destroyed.
Later when I entered one of the
houses at dawn with rescue workers,
I found the entire family-father
mother. and two babies-cruShed
under the wall.
Once the panic subsidies, a most
serious employment problem faces
the city officials doubt if the dam
age to the RACED iron works and
benzol plant can be repaired in less
than a year.
Police. firemen, soldiers, and
volunteer rescue workers had re-
covered SiXty-one bodies from the
ruins by noon today.
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 f1attened, trap
ping women and children.
A second explosion followed the
first blast.
Many residents of the district fed
for several miles into the country
Five hundred men were known to
have been working in various plants
near the gas tank. Police estimated
that most of today would be re-
quired to make an accurate check of
the dead.
Houses Knocked Flat
ct saw ten houses knocked fiat
simultaneously by the explosion" an
injured survivor said.
In one street, every house was
wrecked Inhabitants of all parts
of the city fled from their homes,
believing at first that a serious
earthquake had followed recent
MINOR eaTll SIlOCkS llSLt.
Many women and children were
trampled in the stampede. Thou
sands of windows we're shattered,
and chimney pots tumbled into the
streets. I saw doctors performing
operations in the streets, and priests
administering the last sacrament to
the dying
Buildings wrecked included the
railroad station, part of a hospital,
a telephone exchange, and the
alter which was unoccupied.
Wreckage Hurled Miles
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.
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 fire which spread
TO gas pipes and finally ignited the
gas tank. Unconfirmed reports laid
the explosion TO sabotage.
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"