The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-17
Survivors Flee
Stricken Citv
Police Issue Order To Evacuate City; Chem
ical And Oil Fires Blaze Furiously;
Casualty Lists Impossible
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OdSud1Cy A1StS 1IllPUSSlUlC
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEXAS CITY, Tex, April 1e.-(AP)-A chain
of blasts set off by the explosion of a nitrate-laden ship
smote this gulf port today, killing an estimated 1000
persons and injuring perhaps $500.
1t was the worst American disaster in the past 10
years.
Much of the boom industrial city Of $4,000 popula-
ton was destroyed or damaged. Property loss will run
into millions of dollars.
Fires followed the blasts. Poisonous gas from ex-
ploding chemicals was reported to be filtering through
the area.
The first blast rocked the surrounding region for
$50 miles, ~inflicting heavy damage in Galveston. All
aboard the ship, the French freighter Grandcamp were
killed.
Midwestern headquarters of the Red Cross at St.
Louis reported that 500 bodies had been brought out
of the explosion area late today and that more bodies
were being found constantly.
The estimate of dead was reported by G. B. Finley,
State Highway Commission maintenance engineer, on
information from the disaster area.
"Rescue parties bringing out casualties from the
blast area estimated that about one out of every three
persons had been killed." Finley said, (which indicate
around 1000 dead"
He referred to the dock area, where principal dam
age occurred and where there were some $500 persons
at the time of the major blast.
Like Bomb Blasts
A reporter flying over the scene likened it to bomb
destruction of European cities in the recent war. The
mushrooming cloud of smoke that arose was described
as resembling the aftermath of the atom bombing of
Hiroshima. lt@~ AZ
First eye-witnesses to move into the area after the
explosion saw workers stream from buildings with
blood gushing from noses and ears, the result of con-
cussiOn.
Bodies were tossed about like playing cards" said
a reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Earlier, E. A. Boehler, a Houston city policeman
had reported:
Bodies can be picked up by the dozens in the first
area, but you cannot get in to them" -,. -,
Relief and rescue workers swarmed into the area
from all directions. National Red Cross headquarters
in Washington set aside 1925, 600 for relief work and
sent 30 disaster experts to the scene.
Records of the Metropolitan Life Insurance COM
pany in Washington showed that the disaster was the
country's worst, in lives lost, in the last ten years. The
next worst, the Atlantic coast hurricane of September,
1888, took 682 lives.
Second Disaster
It was Texas second major disaster within a week.
A tornado swept the Panhandle and Northwestern
Oklahoma last Wednesday,, killing 1872 persons in the
two states. Relief workers still stationed in the storm
area rushed to the scene of the new calamity, hun
dreds of miles to the south.
The Sill, O00, 900 plant of the Monsanto Chemical
company, built in wartime to make styrene, an ingre-
dent of synthetic rubber, was reported completely de-
stroyed.
Fires still were raging in the Monsanto plant late
tonight and firefighters could hear the screams of some
workers trapped inside. One MOnsant0 worker esti-
mated that IS employees were imprisoned. Rescue was
impossible because of the heat and flames.
Fire fighters wore gas masks, fearing further ex-
plosions. Company officials said there were stocks of
explosive chemicals in the buildings.
A reporter for the Houston Chronicale who flew
over Texas City for an hour after the initial blast said
there was a fire on the waterfront, another along the
Santa Fe railroad and a third in a gasoline refinery
or residential areas.
Eyewitness Account
The reporter gave this picture:
"Fire trucks were racing up from the south, pre-
sumably Galveston.
"The ship which is said to have started the fire
could not be seen through the smoke.
"Flying toward the blaze, the smoke could be seen
from Ellington Field, approximately 80 miles away. 1t
reached 1000 feet.
One oil tank, about a thousand feet away from
the blaze, was crumpled like a piece of tinfoil.
Buildings along the Santa Fe railroad tracks had
had the ends blown out. The sides were intact. Pieces
of metal could be seen from the air lying at the foot of
the building.
Gan industrial section close to the bay was afire
with the biggest blaze. Smoke was pouring from tanks
and buildings.
"a refinery west of the tracks also was burning.