This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
A quayside accident in Lisbon, Portugal, yesterday during a courtesy visit by the venerable battleship HMS Nelson caused one civilian to be killed and another 25 seriously injured, reports the Times. Nelson was opened to public view at about 1.30pm, but neither the British nor Portuguese authorities had anticipated the level of popular interest there would be; within an hour 6,000 people were on board, with a queue alongside the ship at least a mile long. By mid-afternoon it was decided for safety reasons that no more people could be taken onboard, and sailors were instructed to close the entrances. In response, many Portuguese visitors climbed onto four elevated gangways to get a better view of the ship; though constructed from iron and concrete, these were of a flimsy design and they were never intended to take the weight that was now placed on them. One of the gangways crumpled up, throwing people pell-mell more than fifty feet into the packed crowd below. The assembled onlookers, more than 30,000 strong at this point, were thrown into a state of panic, but fortunately the authorities were able to restore order before more lives were lost.
Admiral Syfret, the commander-in-chief of the Home Fleet, has issued an official statement confirming the facts of the event; the Portuguese Ministry of the Interior is investigating.
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