Tangiwai rail disaster

Published: Aug. 30, 2011, 5 a.m.

Tangiwai means 'weeping waters', and the name seemed sadly apt on Christmas Eve 1953, when a lahar (volcanic mud flow) partly destroyed the railway bridge over the Whangaehu River. The Wellington-Auckland passenger express plunged into the river, killing 151 people, in New Zealand's worst rail disaster. Archival audio sourced from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives, http://www.soundarchives.co.nz/. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives (Reference number DCDR 71A).