{"story":["Tangiwai, a name meaning 'weeping waters', is on the Whangaehu River about 10 km west of Waiōuru in the central North Island. The Whangaehu drains the eastern side of Crater Lake on Mt Ruapehu, and the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand lists lahars (volcanic mudflows) down the river in 1861, 1889, 1895, 1903 and 1925. Ruapehu erupted in 1945, and afterwards the crater slowly refilled with water. The mountain did not seem dangerous and was no longer being monitored. By 1953 Crater Lake was 8 metres higher than its level before 1945, held in by an unstable mass of ice and volcanic rubble and ash. A warning from amateur geologists that the state of the crater wall was a reason for concern had largely been ignored by the authorities. The investigation after the disaster also found that the 1925 lahar had substantially weakened the Tangiwai railway bridge.","Christmas Eve 1953 was fine, with little recent rain, and when a goods train crossed the bridge around 7 p.m. the river appeared normal. At about 8 p.m. (NZHistory gives 8.02) the debris at the outlet of Crater Lake collapsed. Te Ara puts the water released at about 340,000 cubic metres; NZHistory says approximately 2 million cubic metres. A wave of water, ice, mud and rocks, 6 metres high according to NZHistory, surged down the Whangaehu and struck the concrete piers of the rail bridge sometime between 10.10 and 10.15 p.m. Cyril Ellis of Taihape had stopped his car at the nearby road bridge, which was under water. When he saw the light of the approaching Wellington–Auckland night express, he ran towards it waving a torch. The driver, Charles Parker, applied the emergency brakes, but at 10.21 p.m. locomotive Ka 949 reached the weakened bridge. As the bridge buckled, the engine plunged into the river, taking all five second-class carriages with it.","The leading first-class carriage, Car Z, teetered on the edge of the ruined bridge. Ellis and the guard, William Inglis, climbed in to move its passengers to the carriage behind, but the coupling snapped and Car Z toppled into the river, rolling until it came to rest on its side. Ellis, Inglis and a passenger, John Holman, got people out through the broken windows, and when the water fell they formed a human chain to reach the bank. NZHistory says 21 of the 22 passengers in Car Z survived; Te Ara says 26 people escaped from it. Arthur Bell, who had also stopped at the road bridge, helped survivors from another carriage that had landed on the riverbank while his wife went to raise the alarm. Forest Service and Ministry of Works staff, police, navy personnel, farmers and other volunteers worked through the night, and the Waiōuru military camp provided manpower, transport and shelter. The last three carriages stayed on the track.","With no newspapers published on Christmas Day, many New Zealanders first heard of the accident when the Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, announced it with 'profound regret' in a radio broadcast from Waiōuru. Of the 285 people on board, 151 died, 148 of them travelling second class. The pathologist, J.O. Mercer, gave the main causes of death as drowning and asphyxiation by silt, and 20 bodies were never recovered. Queen Elizabeth II, then touring New Zealand, ended her Christmas broadcast from Auckland with a message of sympathy, and on 31 December Prince Philip attended the state funeral in Wellington for 21 unidentified victims, who were buried at Karori Cemetery (see The 1953–54 royal tour). Ellis and Holman received the George Medal, and Inglis and Bell the British Empire Medal. In 1954 a board of inquiry concluded that no one was to blame, and there were no prosecutions. The board recommended an early warning system upstream on the Whangaehu.","Tangiwai remains New Zealand's worst railway accident, and it killed more people than all the country's other rail accidents combined. At the time it was the world's eighth-deadliest rail disaster. A worker was killed during the rebuilding of the bridge, which reopened in 1957. The Tangiwai National Memorial at Karori Cemetery was unveiled on 26 March 1957. It holds 16 graves of victims, and the plaques on the eight graves of people whose bodies were never identified read 'Known Unto God'. Since the disaster Ruapehu's Crater Lake has been carefully monitored, and when a lahar came down the Whangaehu on 18 March 2007 the warning system worked and there was little damage. On 7 May 2017 a new memorial was unveiled at the Tangiwai site to mark the courage of the driver, Charles Parker, and the fireman, Lance Redman."],"sources":[{"title":"Tangiwai disaster – Introduction","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-tangiwai-railway-disaster","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Tangiwai disaster – Wrong place at the wrong time","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/tangiwai-railway-disaster/wrong-place","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Tangiwai disaster – Search and rescue","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/responding-to-tragedy/tangiwai-1953","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Tangiwai disaster – Dealing with the dead","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/tangiwai-disaster/dealing-with-death","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Tangiwai disaster – Death at Tangiwai: a class affair","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/tangiwai-disaster/class-affair","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Tangiwai memorial dedication","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/tangiwai-national-memorial-dedication","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Historic volcanic activity – Ruapehu and the Tangiwai disaster","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/historic-volcanic-activity/page-5","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Historic volcanic activity – Ruapehu since 1945","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/historic-volcanic-activity/page-6","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Ruapehu, Mount (1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand)","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/ruapehu-mount","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"The Tangiwai Tragedy (1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand)","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/disasters-and-mishaps-railways","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"}]}