The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-20
CADIz BLAST
Continued from Page One)

search of the tumbled piles OF
masonry in the city and the ashes
of scores of fires, the last Of which
was not put out until $3.50 p. m. to-
day.
Mayor Sanchez Cossic estimated
that 200 were killed and 5,OOO to
G, 900 injured. Newspapermen sur.
vevine the ruins believed that at
least 500 must have died as ex-
blossoms shook the countryside like
earthquakes and fires roared un-
checked.
An undetermined number of TOO
workers on the night shift in the
torpedo factory, where the explo-
sion started, were buried. A de-
tachment of soldiers %quartered be-
tween the San Severino and San
lose districts - the two devastated
areas and the main part OF the
city were reported to have "dlsap-
~peared."
The main part of Cadiz, which
the Phoenicians were supposed to
have started building as early as
HOO B. c., escaped serious dam
age. It is on a marrow spit that
extends about three miles into
the sea, while the San Severino
and San Jose districts lie between
it and the mainland.
Mayor Sanchez Cossio said the
explosions started in the state tor
pedo factory, about $50 last night.
Near it was a submarine defense
base where the mines, of the ball
like. horned type, were stored. To
the left of the submarine defense
base was a shipyard, where a co.
OOO. 900 Pesota (about $500, 0O0
tanker under construction was de-
stroyed.
Fires mounted high into the sky.
The mines started to explode as
more buildings were shaken down
and more fires started. They
quickly spread into the San Sew
erino and San Jose district, where
1000 people, most of them poor,
lived. ,
The water supply and electrical
power failed. In response to a
tic appeals from a single radio
transmitter, soldiers and police
from the mainland were rushed in.
Rescue workers and fireflghters
came by ship from nearby ports.
But because of the lack OF water
and continual explosions, 1t was
difficult to fight the fires.
Correspondents of a Spanish
News agency reported that a ma
ternity home was destroyed, that
the Cadiz cathedral was damaged
and its sacred images broken.
They said an old peoples home
was destroyed, along with the
municipal bull-fighting stadium
and that the explosion blew an
army officer from his bed into
the water. :,
Mayor Sanchez Cossio said it
was the worst disaster of its kind
in Spain since 1893, when the ship
| Cabo de Machichaco, loaded with
dynamite, blew up in Santander
harbor and killed Or injured 400
persons. =,
The explosions and fire brought
panic among the people OF me
San Severino and San Jose dis
tricts. Many of them fled and re-
ports from neighboring towns said
"dozens' of wounded had arrived
,rJ ,,,oro baipo treated
It still was chaotic in Cadlz TO-
night. Hundreds of rescue workers
with picks and shovels were work
' ing frantically amid the ruins,
honing that some injured might
be rescued before they died.
Naval experts said it was i'm
possible for them to tell what
caused the torp!edoes to explode.
They said torpedoes were notorl-
ously unstable and required con
slant care. For instance, they SAID.
thew had-to be constantly wiped TO
get away drippings they exuded'
and failure to wipe them or care.
lessness in wiping them might
have caused an explosion.
sIn view of So many other pos
sibilities," they said, it would take
an exhaustive examination to tell
whether there was any indication
of sabotage.
Cadiz is Spain's main southern
port. and in 1910 had a population
OF 81. 767. In its day, it was M OF
the greatest ports in the world.
EAnIZ ON Page TWO