On Christmas Eve 60 years ago, 151 people died in the Tangiwai railway disaster. A dramatic mudflow, or lahar, was unleashed from Mt Ruapehu when the crater lake's wall collapsed.
It surged down the Whangaehu River, destroying the
railway bridge at Tangiwai. The Wellington to Auckland overnight express
plunged into the raging torrent.
The driver, fireman, one first class passenger, and 148
of the 176 second class passengers died.
Among the few from the second-class carriages to survive
was Richard Edward Brett, 18, known to all as Ted, who somehow avoided being
swept to his death down the flooded river.
''The water was completely blinding,'' he would later
recall.
''It was full of sulphur, engine oil, and other muck and
debris.''
The only survivor from the second carriage, he made notes
on the disaster and gave two unpublished interviews before he died in 2008.
Here, for the first time, is his story.
He called December 24, 1953 as ''the turning point of my
life''. He was travelling from Masterton to Auckland for Christmas with his
friend John Cockburn, 17, and John's 12-year-old brother, Douglas.
When the trio boarded, they found their first class seats
occupied by an elderly couple.
A guard promised the boys they could have the seats once
the couple disembarked; in the meantime they sat in the second carriage.
Almost everybody aboard was travelling for Christmas.
Excitement was particularly high as many hoped to see Queen Elizabeth 2 in
Auckland, the first visit of a reigning monarch to New Zealand.
Click on the link at the top and read the rest of the story. New Zealand was shaken to the core.
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