ENG-1948 — Page 16

Disasters.

This has been a bad year for disasters in which large numbers of people lost their lives.

The worst of these, the worst perhaps in the history of the Colony, was the fire which broke out in the Wing On Company's godowns at West Point just after 8 o'clock in the morning of 22nd September in which no fewer than 173 persons lost their lives, most of them with the first few minutes. The fire itself was not under control until the afternoon of the following day and was not fully extinguished until almost a week later. Rapid action by the Fire Brigade was successful in rescuing about sixty people by means of a turntable ladder and jumping sheet. A Commission appointed to enquire into the cause and resposibility for the loss of life and damage and to make recommendations as to measures to be taken to prevent a

similar occurrence in future

was still sitting at the end of the year. Another fire had occurred earlier in the year on board the river steamer 'Kwangtung' which was lying alongside a wharf. Although the fire itself was small, thirty people lost their lives and thirty six others injured as a result of a panic in which many passengers jumped or were pushed overboard in the confusion. Other fires of varying severity occurred in groups of squatters' huts. Several lives were lost and many huts were completely destroyed.

Two major air crashes occurred during the year.

were

In one

a Catalina flying boat crashed into the sea en route from Macau to Hong Kong, twenty two of the twenty three passengers and all the crew of four being killed. It has been alleged that the crash was caused as a result of a frustrated attempt by a gang to rob the passengers-probably the first air piracy in history. Later in the year, a C. Ñ. A. C. Skymaster which was attempting to fly into Hong Kong from Shanghai at a very low altitude under very bad weather conditions crashed into high ground on Basalt Island. All passengers and crew, totalling 35, lost their This was the first occasion in the history of Hong Kong civil aviation on which any fare paying passenger has been killed in an accident to a civil aircraft within the boundaries of the Colony.

lives.

A disaster directly affecting although not within the boundaries of the Colony occurred on 3rd September, 1948 proceeding from Canton to Kowloon was derailed just north of the border, with the result that 29 people The wounded were brought to the Colony for

when a train

were killed.

treatment.

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