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The Tangiwai disaster

Name: The Tangiwai disaster
Start: 1953-12-24
Location: Whangaehu River rail bridge, Tangiwai, Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand

Whangaehu River rail bridge, Tangiwai · Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand · 1953-12-24

A lahar from Mount Ruapehu weakened the bridge minutes before the Wellington-Auckland express crossed; 151 people died on Christmas Eve.

The record

Date	1953-12-24
Place	Whangaehu River rail bridge, Tangiwai, Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand
Coordinates	-39.33, 175.66 (landmark-level precision)
Scope	Local interest
Sources	Wikipedia
Added	2026-08-14 · source: editors

Coordinates are given at landmark level. A landmark-level coordinate points at the structure; a city-level one points at the settlement, not at a parcel.

Finding photographs

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The reference article — its own illustrations, and its citations to archives.
Image search filtered to reusable licences — useful for tracing which institution holds a picture.
National and municipal archives of New Zealand, and the picture desks of newspapers published there at the time.

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Footage

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Seeded by the editors. This entry was compiled by us from public reference works and is labelled as such, not presented as a reader’s contribution. Sources are listed on the entry. If you know more, or we have it wrong, tell us — corrections are published.

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Nearby in Australia and Oceania

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