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The Tangiwai Disaster
Manawatū HeritageApril 19, 20192020-03-23T18:05:51+00:00New Zealand's worst rail disaster occurred at Tangiwai on the 24th of September 1953 on the North Island Main Trunk.
An express train travelling from Wellington to Auckland carrying 285 passengers and crew drove over the Whangaehu River bridge when it collapsed because of a lahar flow from the crater lake on Mount Ruapehu. Six carriages were derailed and sent into the river below. The death toll of 151 consisted of 148 second-class passengers, one first-class passenger, the locomotive engineer and fireman.