They took a lot of lives.
About the accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig mankind will never forget. An explosion and fire occurred on 20 April 2010 in 80 kilometers from the coast of Louisiana in the Macondo field. The oil spill was the largest in U.S. history and virtually ruined the Gulf of Mexico. We remembered the greatest man-made and environmental disasters of the world, some of which are almost worse than the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon.
Was it possible to avoid the accident? Technological disasters often occur as a result of natural disasters, but also — due to worn out equipment, greed, negligence, carelessness… the Memory of them serves as an important lesson for humanity, because natural disasters can damage people, but not the planet, but manmade are a threat to brand the outside world.
15. The explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, 15 dead
April 17, 2013 explosion at the plant fertilizer in West Texas. The explosion occurred at 19:50 local time and it completely destroyed the factory, which belonged to a local company Adair Grain Inc. The explosion was destroyed located near the plant school and a nursing home. Seriously injured about 75 buildings in the city West. The explosion killed 15 people, about 200 people were injured. Initially, the plant caught fire, but the explosion happened at a time when firefighters were trying to cope with the fire. At least 11 firefighters were killed.
According to eyewitnesses, explosion was so strong that it was heard around 70 km from the plant, and the US Geological survey recorded tremors of a magnitude of 2.1. “It was like an atomic bomb explosion,” – said eyewitnesses. Residents of some areas near the West evacuated because of a leak of ammonia used in the manufacture of fertilizers, the authorities warned everyone about the leak of toxic substances. Over the West had imposed a no-fly zone up to 1 km and the Town resembled a war zone…
In may 2013, the explosion was a criminal case. The investigation revealed that the company had kept the chemical that caused the explosion, with the violation of security requirements. The Committee on chemical safety the United States established that the company has not taken the necessary measures to prevent fire and explosion. In addition, at that time there was no rulebook that would prohibit the storage of ammonium nitrate near settlements.
14. Flooding Boston with molasses — 21 victim
Flooding Boston with molasses happened January 15, 1919, after Boston’s North end exploded in a giant tank of molasses and the sugar-containing liquid wave swept through the streets of the city with great speed. 21 people were killed, about 150 were in the hospital. The accident occurred in the alcohol Purity Distilling Company factory in the times of “dry law” (fermented molasses at the time was widely used for the production of ethanol). On the eve of the introduction of a complete ban, the owners tried to do as much rum…
Apparently because of metal fatigue in a crowded tank with 8700 m3 of molasses sold United by rivets sheets of metal. The earth trembled, and the streets were a flood of molasses up to 2 meters. The pressure wave was so great that moved with the track freight train. Nearby buildings were flooded in three feet high, and some collapsed. People, horses, dogs stuck in the sticky wave and died from suffocation.
In the area of disaster was deployed mobile hospital of the red cross, entered the city unit of the US Navy — the rescue operation lasted a week. Molasses was cleaned with sand, which has absorbed the viscous mass. Although the owners of the factory were blamed in the bombing of the anarchists, the townspeople have made them payments totaling $ 600 thousand (now about $ 8.5 million). According to Bostonians, even now in the hottest days of the old houses comes a sickly smell of caramel…
13. The explosion at the Phillips chemical plant in 1989 -23 victims
The explosion at the chemical plant Phillips Petroleum Company happened on 23 October 1989, in Pasadena, Texas. Because of negligence of the employees was a large leakage of fuel gas, and there was a powerful explosion equivalent to two and a half tons of dynamite. A tank with 20,000 gallons of gas isobutane exploded and a chain reaction caused another 4 explosion.
During the scheduled maintenance on the valves accidentally closed the ducts. Thus, in the control room displayed that the valve is opened, while he was as closed. This led to the formation of clouds of steam, which exploded at the slightest spark. The initial blast was equal to 3.5 points on the Richter scale and the pieces of the explosion were found within a radius of 6 miles from the explosion.
Many of the fire hydrants out of order, greatly decreased the water pressure in the remaining hydrants. Firefighters took more than ten hours to bring the situation under control and fully extinguish the flames. 23 people were killed, and another 314 injured.
12. A fire at a pyrotechnics factory in Enschede in 2000 to 23 victims
May 13, 2000 as a result of the fire at pyrotechnic factory S. F. Fireworks in the Dutch city of Enschede (Enshede) the explosion occurred, killing 23 people, including four firefighters. The fire started in the main building and spread to two full containers of fireworks illegally stored outside of the building. Several subsequent explosions occurred with the largest explosion felt as far away as 19 miles.
During the fire burned and destroyed a substantial part of Rumbek — burned 15 streets, damaged 1,500 homes and destroying 400 houses. In addition to the deaths of 23 people and 947 people were injured and 1250 people were left homeless. Fire brigades came from Germany to help fight the fire.
When S. F. built pyrotechnic Fireworks factory in 1977, it was located far from the city. As the city grew, a new affordable housing surrounded the warehouse, which caused terrible destruction, injury and death. Most locals had no idea that they lived in such close proximity pyrotechnic warehouse.
11. The explosion at the chemical plant in Foxboro — 64 victims
In Foxboro, England on 1 June 1974, an explosion occurred, killing 28 people. The accident happened at the plant “Nipro”, which is engaged in the production of ammonium. The accident caused material damage to the enormous sum of 36 million pounds. This disaster, British industry still did not know. Chemical plant in Foxboro practically ceased to exist.
A chemical plant near the village of Foxboro specialized in the production of caprolactam — a starting material for producing synthetic fibers.
The accident happened like this: ruptured bypass pipe connecting reactors 4 and 6, and steam began to escape from the taps. Formed a vapour cloud of cyclohexane containing a few tens of tons of the substance. Source of ignition of the cloud was likely a hydrogen torch setup. Because of the accident at the plant in the air was thrown the explosive mass of heated vapour to ignite which was enough the slightest spark. 45 minutes after the accident, when the mushroom cloud reached the hydrogen plant, a powerful explosion occurred. The explosion in its destructive power was equivalent to the explosion of 45 tons of TNT, shattered at altitude 45 m.
About 2,000 of the buildings were outside the establishment were damaged. In the village of Alcotts, located on the other side of the river Trent, from 77 was badly damaged 73 houses. In Foxboro located at a distance of 1200 m from the center of the explosion, 79 houses were destroyed and 72. The explosion and subsequent fire killed 64 people, 75 people in the company and outside it have got traumas of various severity.
Engineers of the plant under pressure from the owners of the company “Nipro” often went to retreat from the established technological regulations, ignored safety requirements. The sad experience of this disaster found that chemical plants need to have high-speed automatic fire-extinguishing system, which allows no more than 3 seconds to eliminate ogaranya solid chemicals.
10. Molten steel spill — 35 victims
On 18 April 2007, 32 people were killed and 6 were injured when a ladle containing molten steel, fell on the plant Qinghe Special Steel Corporation in China. Thirty tonnes of liquid steel, which is heated to 1500 degrees Celsius fell from an overhead conveyor. Molten steel broke through doors and Windows into the next room, where the workers of the duty shift.
Perhaps the most frightening was the fact discovered during the investigation of this disaster that it could have been prevented. The immediate cause of the accident was improper use of substandard equipment. The investigation concluded that there were a number of flaws and security breaches that contributed to the accident.
When emergency services reached the crash site, they were stopped by the heat of the molten steel, and they had long been unable to reach victims. After the steel began to cool, they found the 32 victims. Surprisingly, 6 people miraculously survived the crash with severe burns was taken to the hospital.
9. The collapse of the oil composition in Lac-mégantic — 47 victims
The explosion of the oil composition occurred on the evening of July 6, 2013 in the town of Lac-mégantic in Quebec. A train owned by The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and carrying 74 of the tank with crude oil, derailed. As a result, several tanks caught fire and exploded. Know about the 42 dead, 5 people missing. The fire that engulfed the city, about half of the buildings in downtown were destroyed.
In October 2012 locomotive GE C30-7 #5017 in the repair of the engine, in order to quickly complete the repair were applied epoxy materials. In subsequent operation, these materials have been destroyed, the locomotive began to smoke heavily. The attendant combustive-lubricating materials accumulate in the housing of the turbocharger which resulted in a fire on the night of the crash.
The train was operated by the train driver Tom Harding. At 23:00 the train stopped at the station of Nantes, on the main route. Tom contacted the Manager and informed about the problems with diesel, strong black exhaust; solution of the locomotive was delayed until the morning, and the driver went to the hotel to sleep. The train wound up with a locomotive and cargo was left at night unattended station. At 23:50 911 received a report of a fire on the head locomotive. It was the compressor, and the brake pressure was reduced. At 00:56, the pressure fell to such a level that the handbrake could not hold the wagon and uncontrollable train left downhill to Lac-Megantic. In the 00:14 train at the speed of 105 km/h derailed and ended up in the center of the city. The cars derailed, followed by explosions and burning oil spilled along the railway.
People in a nearby café, feeling the tremors of the earth have decided that the earthquake began and hid under tables, in the end they could not escape from the fire… This train accident has become one of the deadliest in Canada.
8. The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station — at least 75 victims
The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station — industrial technological disaster that occurred on 17 August 2009 — “black day” for Russian hydropower. The accident killed 75 people, equipment and premises of the station suffered serious damage, the production of electricity is suspended. The consequences of the accident affected the ecological environment of the area adjacent to the hydroelectric power station on the social and economic spheres of the region.
At the time of the accident HPP carried the load 4100 MW from 10 generating units were operating 9. At 8:13 local time on 17 August was the destruction of unit 2 with the receipt through the shaft under high pressure of large volumes of water. The staff of the plants that were in the engine room, heard a loud Bang and saw the release of a powerful column of water.
The flow of water quickly flooded the engine room and the space under it. All hydraulic units, the power plant was flooded, while working HA there is a short circuit (flash visible in Amateur video of the disaster), vyvedshie them down.
The non-obviousness of the causes of the accident (according to Russian energy Minister Shmatko said, “this is the most ambitious and strange accident hydropower, which has only been in the world”) caused a number of versions, not found confirmation (from terrorism to water hammer). The most probable cause of the accident is called the fatigue failure of studs, incurred during the operation of unit 2 with a temporary impeller and an unacceptable vibration level in 1981-83.
7. The explosion on “Piper alpha” — 167 victims
6 July 1988 the platform for oil production in the North sea under the name of “Piper alpha” was destroyed in the explosion. Platform “Piper alpha”, installed in 1976, Bala largest structure on the site, “Piper” owned by the Scottish company “Occidental petroleum”. The platform was placed in 200 km North-East of Aberdeen and served as the control center of oil production on the court.On the platform was a helipad and living quarters for 200 of the companies operating in shifts. On 6 July on “Piper alpha” came an unexpected explosion. The fire that engulfed the platform, gave the staff a chance to send a SOS.
In the result of a gas leak and subsequent explosion killed 167 of the 226 people who were at that moment on the platform, only 59 survived. It took 3 weeks to extinguish the fire, with the strongest winds (80 mph) and 70-foot waves. The final cause of the explosion to install and failed. According to the most popular version on the platform for a gas leak, resulting in fire had a small spark. The accident at the platform Piper Alpha led to serious criticism and subsequent revision of the rules of safety in oil production in the North sea.
6. Fire in Tianjin Binhai 170 victims
On the night of August 12, 2015, two explosions erupted at the site of container storage in the port of Tianjin. At 22:50 local time we began to receive reports of a fire located in the port of Tianjin warehouses of the company “Zhuyhay” engaged in the transportation of hazardous chemicals. As found by later investigators, the cause was the spontaneous combustion of the dried up and hot in the summer sun nitrocellulose. Within 30 seconds after the first explosion, there was a second container with ammonium nitrate. The local seismological service estimated the power of the first explosion in 3 tons of TNT equivalent, second is 21 ton. Arrived firefighters could not stop the spread of fire. The fires raged for several days and happened 8 explosions. The explosions created a huge crater.
The explosions resulted in the deaths of 173 people, 797 wounded, and 8 missing. . Thousands of cars Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen, Kia and Hyundai have been damaged. 7,533 containers 12,428 cars and 304 buildings were destroyed or damaged. In addition to death and destruction, the damage amounted to $ 9 billion. it turned Out that three apartment houses were built within a radius of one kilometer from the warehouse of chemical substances which is prohibited by Chinese law. Authorities indicted 11 officials from Tianjin on the case of explosion. They are accused of negligence and abuse of power.
5. Val di Stava, the dam is 268 victims
In the North of Italy above the village of Stava, collapsed dam Val di Stava 19 July 1985. The accident destroyed 8 bridges, 63 building, killing 268 people. After the accident, in the course of the investigation it was established that took place poor maintenance and low margin of operating safety.
In the upper of the two dams, because of the rain pipe for drainage became less effective, it was clogged. The water continued to flow into the reservoir and the pressure in the damaged pipe has increased, it also caused pressure on the coastal rock. The water began to penetrate into the soil, be accomplished in the mud and weaken the Bank until it finally did not happen erosion. Just 30 seconds later, the water and mud flows of the upper dam broke and flooded into the lower dam.
4. The collapse of waste heaps in Nambia — 300 victims
By 1990 Nambia, a mining village in the South-East of Ecuador had the reputation of “aggressive ecocracy”. The local mountains were covered with miners, riddled with holes from mining, the air is damp and filled with chemicals, toxic gases from the mine and a huge slag heap.
May 9, 1993, a large part of the mountains of coal slag in the end of the valley collapsed and the landslide killed about 300 people. 10,000 people lived in the village on an area of about 1 square mile. Most of the houses of the town were built right at the entrance to the tunnel to the mine. Experts have long warned that the mountain was practically hollow. They said that further coal mining will lead to landslides, and after several days of heavy rains softened the soil, and the worst predictions came true.
3. Texas explosion — 581 victim
A man-made disaster occurred on April 16 1947 in the port city of Texas city, USA. The fire on Board the French ship “Grandcamp” (Grandcamp) led to the detonation of about 2100 tons of ammonium nitrate (ammonium nitrate), which resulted in a chain reaction of fires and explosions on nearby ships and storage tanks.
As a result of the tragedy killed at least 581 people (including all, except one, employees of fire protection of Texas city), more than 5,000 people were injured, 1784 were in the hospital. The port and much of the city was completely destroyed, many businesses were razed to the ground or burned. Over 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars wrecked and property damage estimated at $ 100 million. These events triggered the first class action lawsuit against the U.S. government.
The court found the Federal government guilty of criminal negligence committed by government agencies and their representatives, involved in the production, packaging, and labeling of ammonium nitrate, compounded by gross errors in its transportation, storage, handling and fire prevention measures. 1,394 was paid compensation in total amount of about $17 million.
2. The Bhopal disaster —up to 160,000 victims
This is one of the most terrible technogenic catastrophe happened in the Indian city of Bhopal. As a result of the accident at a chemical factory owned by us chemical company Union Carbide, and producing pesticides, there was an emission of toxic substances methylisocyanate. It was stored at the plant in three partially underground tanks, each of which could accommodate around 60,000 liters of fluid.
The cause of the tragedy was the accidental discharge of vapors methylisocyanate that in the factory tank is heated above the boiling point, which led to the increase in pressure and rupture of the emergency valve. By 3 December 1984, the atmosphere was thrown about 42 tonnes of poisonous fumes. Cloud methylisocyanate covered nearby slums and the train station is 2 km away.
The Bhopal disaster — the largest number of victims in modern history, resulting in the immediate death of at least 18 thousand people, of which 3 people died on the day of the accident, and 15 thousand — in future years. According to others, the total number of victims is estimated at 150-600 thousand people. A large number of casualties due to high population density, delays in informing residents about the accident, shortage of staff, as well as adverse weather conditions — a cloud of heavy vapour resounded in the wind.
Union Carbide, responsible for this tragedy, in 1987, in the framework of court settlement paid to victims $ 470 million in exchange for the waiver. In 2010, an Indian court found seven former executives of the Indian branch of Union Carbide guilty of negligence that caused death of people. The prisoners were sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 100 thousand rupees (about $ 2,100).
1. The tragedy at the dam Banqiao — 171 000 dead
This disaster can’t even blame the designers of the dam, it was designed for floods, but this was completely unprecedented. In August 1975, in the Western part of China, during a Typhoon burst dam Banqiao— killed about 171,000 people. The dam was built in the 1950-ies to produce electricity and prevent floods. Engineers have designed it with a margin of safety for a thousand years.
But in those fateful days in early August 1975, Typhoon Nina immediately made more than 40 inches of precipitation, which exceeded the annual total amount of precipitation in this area in just one day. After several days of heavy rains, the dam could not resist and was washed out August 8.
Dam breach caused a wave 33 feet high, 7 miles wide, which ran at a speed of 30 miles per hour. A total of more than 60 additional dams and reservoirs were destroyed due to the destruction of the Banqiao dam. The flood destroyed 5,960,000 buildings immediately killed 26,000 people, and another 145,000 died later as a result of hunger and epidemics due to natural disasters.
