Australia: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II narrowly escaped disaster in 1970 when a large wooden log was placed on a railroad track in an apparent attempt to derail her train as she traveled across Australia, a retired Australian police detective claimed on Wednesday.
Former New South Wales state detective superintendent Cliff McHardy said the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, were traveling through the Blue Mountains on 29 April in 1970 when their train struck the log, which became stuck under the front wheels.
A Buckingham Palace official on Wednesday said that the royal family's staff were unaware of the incident and did not intend to comment.
A spokeswoman for the New South Wales police said officials were looking into McHardy's story to determine its validity.
McHardy on Wednesday suggested that police investigating the incident at the time had been ordered to keep details quiet to avoid embarrassing Australia.
His claims were first reported in his local paper, the Lithgow Mercury, on January 22.
The retired detective, who was in charge of the Lithgow police force for 11 years and now lives in the Blue Mountains town of Glenbrook, said he was finally speaking out in an attempt to crack the case.
McHardy told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio that he had previously divulged the facts to the former editor of the Lithgow newspaper, Bill Leighton, but asked him to not to publish the story. Leighton has since died.
Len Ashworth, who has edited the newspaper for the past 25 years, said he had long known the story and decided recently that it was time to publish.
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