Tangiwai film shot two days after the disaster – clip 5.
Amateur cameraman Edwin Nitschke shot this film on an 8-mm camera on Boxing Day 1953, two days after the Tangiwai disaster. We are grateful to Mr Nitschke’s family for making this available. It has never before been publicly screened. The five minutes (approximately) of total footage shows the wreckage of the train and bridge against a backdrop of the still-swollen Whangaehu River.
Clip 5 shows prime minister Sidney Holland and Labour Party leader Walter Nash viewing the river, broken bridge and general wreckage.
Still shots from the film
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