Evening star., 1946-12-29
.Eire Crash Fatal
To o4From Here
Still Mystery
II Die, II Survive
In TWA Wreck in
Bog Near Shannon
TWO KILLED, 19 INJURED in air.
liner crash in Indiana. Page AS
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
SHANNON AIRPORT, Fire,
Dec. 28.-What caused the crash
of a Trans World Airline Con-
stellation that killed IL persons
and injured II others was still
not known tonight after more
than 100 persons had waded in
waist deep mud to bring out the
last of the survivors.
(Among the dead were three
crewmen and one passenger from
the Washington area and pas
senger who was former WASH
ingtonian Three critically in
jured crewmen also live in this
area.
One airport official said it was
truly a miracle" that six of the
nine-crew members and five of the
IA passengers survived when the
Paris-New York luxury airliner
Star of Cairo" crashed in flame
of wreckage on boggy island 2 miles
short of a mist-shrouded runway.
On Washington, TWA Presi-
dent Frye said preliminary state
ments by Capt. Herbert w. Tan
sey of Falls Church, Va, pilot OF
the plane, indicate with certainty
that weather resulting in ragged
ceilings and varying visibility was
a direct factor causing the un-
fortunate accident There Is no
indication that mechanical de-
fects were involved.D
Scattered Over Wide Area.
Here the airline Office said "pri-
mary cause of accident is still un-
known. The marks indicate the
plane travelled some distance in con-
tact with the ground until there was
an explosion, followed by a fire in
portions of the scattered wreckage.
Passengers and crew members were
scattered over a considerable area
and rescue work was made extreme
ly difficult due to darkness and in
accessibility of the crash area"
The crash occurred at 2 am.
% pm. Friday, EST, but it was
nightfall before the last survivors
were removed. One of the dead was
Pierre N. Dreyfus. identified by a
brother-in-law in New York as the
son of the late Capt. Alfred Dreyfus,
whose conviction as a, French mill
tary traitor in 1894 provoked a
worldwide protest and led to his
exoneration.
Eyewitnesses said the four engine
plane crashed with a binding ex-
plosion which shattered the machine.
Only q 40-foot portion of the rear
of the fuselage was recognizable.
Engine parts were strewn for several
hundred yards. The big wings con-
| tanning gasoline tanks disintegrated.
Burned FierceIy for Hours.
The plane plowed for 500 or 600
yards along the grassy surface of
the island. The grass was singed
on each side of the cash cut by the
plane in the soft earth.
At the spot where it stopped slid
ing, the ship burned f1ercely for
many hours, trapping hopelessly the
persons caught inside. For those
who lost their lives, an investigator
said, death was mercifully swift.
Some survived because of the
explosion, which threw them clear of
both the wreckage and flames.
Among those blasted to safety was
four -months-old Bruce Waterbury
and his 19-year-old French mother,
Mrs. Edith Delaby Waterbury, who
were on their way to Newark, N. j.,
to join their father and husband,
Charles, a former American soldier.
The mother was among those criti-
cally injured.
The youngster was found, crying
and hurt, by an Irish servant lad,
Michael Donelan.
"I fell over bodies Of dead people
as ran in the direction of spot
where I heard the cries of a baby"
said Michael.
THE child was lying in the
rushes by the river. AS I ap-
preached, the hostess took the baby
in her arms and examined its in
juries quickly.
Hostess Acclaimed as Heroine.
"A number of other people then
arrived, including DR.. O'Boyle OF
the airport. He hurt his leg when
he tripped in hole while crossing
the mud fiat. But he carried on,
taking care of the injured.
by the light of the burning plane
T could see the white faces OF the
people in the flaming wreckage.
Some bodies were twisting on the
ground"
The hostess was Miss Vina Fergu-
son. 25, a native of Dell Rapids, S.
D., and former De Pauw University
student, now living in jackson
Heights, N. Y. She was being ac-
claimed as a heroine for the re-
sourcefulness and efficiency with
which she set about helping the in
jured.
She dragged unconscious persons
away from the fire, bandaged.
wounds and directed the rescuers
when they came She worked on
despite a wrenched knee.
But she was working on nerve.
She collapsed as she was being taken
to an ambulance.
Miss Ferguson and the passengers
had no inkling that anything was
ISee SHANNON page AID