Top 10 Greatest Industrial Accidents in World History

The world has seen a large number of industrial accidents happening across every corner of the earth. Some of them have been extremely disrupting, damaging the social and economic conditions of many countries. These industrial accidents not only cause harm to the lives of people, but also cause a huge amount of destruction to property, land and the environment. The environment gets destroyed for sure at large, but even worse cases have shown that the industrial accidents which have taken place in some countries still continue to have their after effects on generations of people even till date. Due to the devastating impacts of such accidents, people in some parts of these victimized countries are still born crippled and with some major or minor deformity. In this way, the industrial accidents have proven to be a major downfall socially as well as mentally for people and there are people still on a large scale who have been trying to get over the impacts of these disasters till date. Here is a list of some of the worst and greatest industrial accidents which have taken place across the globe and have left a mark for themselves in the pages of world history.

10. The Exxon Valdez (United States of America)

The Exxon Valdez was basically an Exxon Corporation tanker containing crude oil inside it. The incident took place on March 24, 1989, in Prince William Sound, an inlet in the Gulf of Alaska, ran aground on the Bligh Reef during one of its voyages from Alaska to California. The spill saw the dispersion of almost 11 million gallons of crude oil over more than 100 miles of the Alaska shoreline. This crude oil spill destructed huge amount of wildlife resources, salmon fishes, sharks and whales. Capt. Joseph Hazelwood was mainly blamed for this oil spill accident as he had apparently been drinking and it was due to his carelessness that the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground and destroyed natural resources at large. The Exxon Corporation ended up paying a huge amount of more than 2 billion dollars for the clean-up of the spill.

9. The Triangle Fire (United States of America)

This incident took place in the United States of America on March 25, 1911. This accident luckily didn’t seem many lives being lost with the number of death report to be 150, this accident is basically renowned for the Triangle fire instigated the masses of the U.S to demand for safer and healthier working condition for people in factories. One unfortunate day saw fire setting people ablaze in the Triangle shirtwaist factory. The workers found themselves trapped inside a close room with the doors locked as the factory owners has concern with theft and safety of the worker. But after fire consumed in the factory, there was nothing one could do but see the workers fighting restlessly to save their lives, but people were terrified at the sight of young girls and boys leaping to death from the upper floors of the building.

8. Deepwater Horizon (Gulf of Mexico)

A massive explosion which took place on the April 20, 2010, had rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and that’s when the biggest marine oil spill began to take place. No one knew, and no one realized  until in the next few months till September, one notices at least thousands of barrels of oil being leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, turning the whole water body into dark brownish colour, indicating the presence of oil. By the time the oil well was sealed and obstructed in September 2010, almost 5 million barrels of oil had already destroyed the economy and ecology of the Gulf area, spilling large amounts of oil and destroying marine life.

7. Courrieres (Europe)

This place has been a witness to one of the worst mining disasters and accidents which took place on March 10, 1906. The Courrieres mine which is located near the Pas-de-Calais hills went through a massive explosion, leading to the death of more than a 1000 men and injuring several more others. Reports claimed that toxic gas and smoke was already mixing in the air days before the explosion actually took place, but the miners continued their work at the mine. When the explosion finally took place, the mine owners couldn’t trace a lot of their men, who were found dead after a couple of days of their search. There was an unrest and huge criticism about this mining accident, where survivors were seen coming out of the mine, badly injured and in worse shape, even after 20 days of the explosion.

6. Fukushima Daiichi (Japan)

The Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan gave the world one of the worst and biggest nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011. The complex’s backup power generators were damaged by the tsunami waves, which was triggered by an earthquake, leading to a widespread havoc and the release of substantial and good amount of radioactive material. The waves disturbed the power and backup system of the plant greatly, though the reactors were shut down so that the cooling system of the plant could work. But the cooling system failed due to the great waves of tsunami, leading to a high rise and ejection of radioactive substances. More than tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the nearby areas and the workers spent almost a month trying to make things fall in place and eliminating the radioactive leakage from the areas.

5. Oppau Explosion (Germany)

The Oppau explosion which took place on the 21^st September, 1921, in Oppau, Germany, saw a heavy loss of lives and property, and major destruction and damage to the social and economic condition of Germany. The BASF plant located in Oppau saw the explosion of their storing tank, which contained huge amount of Ammonium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulphate. The explosion led to the release of these chemicals, destroying all building and resources in that particular area and also in the areas nearby, leading to the death of all workers and a lot many people around the plant. Reports say that the sound of the explosion could be heard at a range of more than 300 kilometres away from the plant.

4. Monongah (United States of America)

Another worst mining disaster took place in a coal mine in Monongah, West Virginia. One of the worst accidents in the history of U.S., an explosion took place in this coal mine on December 6, 1907, leading to the blockage of ventilation systems. The main entrance of the coal mine had collapsed due to the explosion, and the ventilation systems had got damaged due to which the workers were suffocated to death. This happened on one of the busiest working days at the coal mine, when poisonous gases leaked out in the mine leading to the death of many young people, the number rounding up to almost 400 people.

3. Three Mile Island (United States of America)

Another nuclear power accident took place in Pennsylvania, United States, on March 28, 1979. A malfunction in the Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor led to the release of many toxic and poisonous gases, mainly containing huge amounts of the deadly hydrogen gas into the atmosphere. This nuclear accident mainly took place due to some unexplained decision regarding the function of the nuclear reactor, failure of equipment and inefficiency in operational procedures. In this case, the reactor core of the nuclear plant had got exposed, reacting with the superheated steam surrounding the plant, leading to the formation of poisonous gases. It not only led to some harmful effects to the environment impacting the lives of people, but also had a drastic impact on the American nuclear power industry.

2. Chernobyl Disaster (Europe)

The Chernobyl Disaster which took place in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine can undoubtedly be considered one of the worst accidents in the history of mankind, which witness the death of more than ten thousand people on the 26^th of April, 1986. A simple explosion led to some highly radioactive and reactive gases into the atmosphere, leading to the death of many lives and major damage to property and environment. Such is the impact of the Chernobyl disaster that the effects of it are faced by people in that country till date, as due to the release of the concentrated and highly reactive radioactive substances, people are still born with deformities and illnesses, leading to a really sad story of generations still facing the impact of this dreaded disaster.

1. Bhopal Gas Tragedy (India)

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy which took place on December 3, 1984 saw the highest death toll, ranging from the death of 15000-20000 people. This occurred when the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal leaked out one of the most dangerous chemical gas named methyl isocyanate, leading to immediate deaths in the city. This tragedy has seen the highest number of deaths and injured people, where the victims were found to suffer with respiratory problems, blindness and eye redness and irritation. People were killed at large and ten thousands of them fled the city of Bhopal immediately.

Tags: bligh reef, crude oil spill, dispersion, exxon, exxon corporation, exxon valdez tanker, gulf of alaska, industrial accidents, joseph hazelwood, prince william, prince william sound