On this day 62 years ago: OMGWTFBBQ!!!101!!@!@

[SaltBoy]

http://www.wired.com/science/d...2009/04/dayintech_0416

The fires were not put out until April 18. Bodies and parts of bodies were strewn all over town. "Blood and guts" was not just a phrase. At least one survivor reported getting stuck in a slippery tangle and looking down to see that it was human intestines.

:Q:Q:Q:Q:Q

 

[tranceport]

Holy cow

 

[DrPizza]

Whoa.

 

[ViviTheMage]

wow...

 

[BoomerD]

I've read about that before and seen a documentary about it.

Pretty awesome. (not for the people who were caught in the blast obviously, but from an outsider's perspective)

Ammonium nitrate has some amazing potential stored in those granules. It's the same stuff McVey used to bring down the Oklahome City Federal Building...the same stuff used in mining and quarry work all over the world. Mixed with a bit of diesel fuel...<BOOM!>

 

[Ramma2]

Here's a short clip about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TworcINhDhQ

 

[Schadenfroh]

I recall my grandparents speaking of that, fortunately they moved to that area a while after that incident. Really large explosion.

Pepcon was another really bad explosion (6-million pounds of rocket fuel)

 

[shocksyde]

That's... unfortunate.

 

[Dari]

All to save $500 worth of cargo😕

 

[sdifox]

Meh, it's got nothing on Halifax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

 

[TallBill]

Hyuge

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
I recall my grandparents speaking of that, fortunately they moved to that area a while after that incident. Really large explosion.

Pepcon was another really bad explosion (6-million pounds of rocket fuel)

Damn - seeing those shockwaves is amazing.

 

[Kaido]

Wow, I've never heard of that before :Q

 

[DrawninwarD]

Originally posted by: sdifox
Meh, it's got nothing on Halifax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

Now that's something. Explosion was heard 220 miles away.

 

[Pheran]

A cargo ship explodes at dockside in Texas City, Texas. The blast and the fires that follow kill about 600 people and injure 3,500 more. Six decades later, it remains the deadliest explosion and worst industrial disaster in U.S. history.

Check this section:

The ship's carpenter smelled smoke in the No. 4 hold around 8 a.m. on April 16 and found that a few bags of fertilizer were on fire. He tried dousing it with a few buckets of water, then a fire extinguisher. When he called for a hose, the ship's captain forbade it, fearful that water would destroy the $500 worth of cargo that was on fire.

Holy epic failure batman!

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: DrawninwarD

Originally posted by: sdifox
Meh, it's got nothing on Halifax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

Now that's something. Explosion was heard 220 miles away.

Estimated to be 3 Kiloton of TNT in 1917...Little boy was only 13 Kiloton...

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Wow, I've never heard of that before :Q

Any place with a big concentration of chemical plants / refineries will have some history.

The BP explosion a few years ago that killed a bunch of contractors was in Texas City.

 

[dainthomas]

Two airplanes circling overhead were blown apart by the heavy shrapnel.

Yikes!