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Historys Deadliest with Ving Rhames - Season 1 - Episode 02: Explosions
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00:10History is full of killer stories, people, places, and events so downright shocking that we just can't forget them.
00:20Tonight, one mistake turns an oil rig into hell.
00:29You really only have two choices. You burn to death, or you jump.
00:34A luxury airship is actually a floating bomb.
00:41Some do survive the jump, but they're too injured to move as the burning Hindenburg descends above them.
00:49A once-sleepy mountain unleashes more fury than any bomb in history.
00:56It blots out the sun. Day turns to night. It's apocalyptic.
01:04These are the explosions so destructive, so disastrous, and so devastating, they can only be among history's deadliest.
01:19Many explosions happen completely by accident.
01:24But at the port of Beirut, a series of bad choices sparks an explosive catastrophe.
01:33The port of Beirut is the most important port in Lebanon.
01:38It is a vital artery in the eastern Mediterranean.
01:42It connects Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
01:45In 2014, a ship named the Rosas comes into the port of Beirut.
01:50It's actually headed to Mozambique.
01:52Its cargo is 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate.
01:55Officials impound the Rosas over unpaid debts, and they take that 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate and stash it
02:06in Warehouse 12.
02:08Ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer, but with the right catalyst, it also makes one hell of a bomb.
02:18The location of Warehouse 12 is absolutely critical.
02:22It's only about 300 feet from the harbor and another 300 feet from a large grain warehouse.
02:27So that puts it right at the epicenter of the economic heart of the city of Beirut.
02:32And that's where the ammonium nitrate sits for the next six years.
02:39For reasons that no one can explain,
02:43Right next to the ammonium nitrate in Warehouse 12 is a huge store of fireworks.
02:52On August 4th, 2020, a fire breaks out at Warehouse 12.
02:57We're not sure exactly what caused it,
02:59but some say that there was a welder working on some of the warehouse doors,
03:03and that could have set off some sparks.
03:07Firefighters respond to the call thinking this is just a normal fire in a normal warehouse,
03:13something that a single crew, a single engine can take care of.
03:16But this is a fire involving 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate,
03:22and this is anything but routine.
03:25Ammonium nitrate is a white powder.
03:27If you heat it up very, very quickly, you have an explosion.
03:33At 6.07 p.m., an explosion rocks the warehouse.
03:37It's not tremendously huge, but it looks like there are fireworks mixed in there.
03:44Everyone's starting to take pictures and take video of the event.
03:48Just, you know, something, oh, wow, this thing happened, right?
03:5033 seconds after the initial explosion,
03:56you have this massive explosion.
04:07This is no ordinary explosion.
04:11The energy released is equivalent to 1,100 tons of TNT.
04:18That's the same as a small nuclear bomb.
04:24Onlookers who are seeing it, they feel the shockwave first.
04:31And then they actually hear it.
04:34The people in the path of this shockwave get struck by a compressed wave of air.
04:44When you get hit by a wave of this magnitude, there's extreme amounts of trauma to your brain.
04:51Your bones get shattered.
04:53Your organs can just get, like, turned into jelly, can get liquefied.
04:56You're not walking away from this.
04:59The aftermath is shocking.
05:02Over 200 dead, 6,000 injured, and 77,000 homes destroyed.
05:08The hospitals are completely overwhelmed.
05:14The explosion leaves behind a crater 400 feet wide.
05:20Along with the destruction are those grain silos.
05:25With the 15,000 tons of grain.
05:28So in an instant, a huge portion of Lebanon's grain reserves are obliterated.
05:36Lebanon is already struggling with internal turmoil and financial difficulties.
05:43And this explosion deals a crippling blow to the government.
05:48And the political fallout from the explosion in the port of Beirut becomes global news.
05:58The Beirut explosion was years in the making.
06:02But the most destructive blast can take centuries to build.
06:10Indonesia's Sunda Strait lies in one of the most geologically active parts of the world.
06:15It's in a place called the Pacific Ring of Fire.
06:19The Ring of Fire spans about 25,000 miles
06:22and contains about 75% of the world's volcanoes.
06:27And in the heart of the Sunda Strait
06:30is a long-dormant volcano, Krakatoa.
06:35For about 200 years, Krakatoa has been a sleeping giant.
06:41But in the 1880s, it starts to make some noise.
06:45Nobody pays attention.
06:47As a matter of fact, some people are even taking boats out to view the volcano at close range.
06:53But if those people could see what was happening deep in the heart of the mountain,
06:59they wouldn't want to get any closer.
07:05Krakatoa is sitting on what's called a tectonic fault.
07:08In this case, you have the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.
07:11In this particular instance, one is diving down underneath the other.
07:16And as that crust goes deeper into the earth,
07:19it heats up, melts, forms this magma,
07:23and the gases within that magma now want to expand and come to the surface.
07:29By dawn on August 27th,
07:32the pressure building under Krakatoa can no longer be contained.
07:39Molten rock forces its way through a sealed vent.
07:43That causes an explosion that's heard 200 miles away.
07:47The force of that blast is so strong, it creates a tsunami 50 feet high.
07:52This tsunami propagates out away from the volcano
07:55and obliterates fishing villages along the shore
07:58in places like West Java and Southern Sumatra.
08:02And a lot of people think that this first eruption is it.
08:06It was the explosion of Krakatoa.
08:09The blast is destructive,
08:11but it's only a warm-up for what's to come.
08:15At 644, a second explosion happens,
08:19and this one sends ash and rock 65,000 feet up into the air,
08:25up into the stratosphere.
08:28Now, the volcano is destabilized.
08:31People have no idea what's about to come next.
08:37At 10.02 a.m., there's a third explosion.
08:48The mountain basically self-destructs.
08:52The force of this blast is so powerful
08:56that it's equivalent to over 200 megatons of TNT.
09:02That's four times the destructive force
09:04of the most powerful nuclear bomb ever built.
09:08It's the loudest sound ever heard in history.
09:12There are people 3,000 miles away in Mauritius and Australia
09:16that hear what they think are cannon blasts.
09:21Entire portions of the mountain
09:24simply collapse into the ocean.
09:27It's a process called caldera formation.
09:30This collapse creates a massive void
09:33where the island once existed,
09:35and only the ocean can fill it.
09:38All of that ocean water rushing into the volcano
09:41immediately becomes superheated and flashes to steam.
09:45If you've ever held a scalding hot pan
09:47underneath some running water,
09:49you know that it just sort of violently explodes into steam,
09:52and that's what's happening in Krakatoa.
09:55The superheated gas and debris
09:58shoot out at over 1,600 miles per hour.
10:02These flows reach the mainland.
10:05They're over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
10:08and they essentially incinerate anything they touch.
10:12As if all this rock, ash, and searing heat isn't enough,
10:16Krakatoa has got another trick up its sleeve.
10:19A second, much, much larger tsunami.
10:22You have a wall of water about 120 feet high
10:25that races out from this volcano.
10:30Anything caught in the path of this tsunami
10:32turns into a deadly projectile.
10:35Houses, trees, chunks of the volcano itself.
10:39There's no escape.
10:41By the time the eruption ends,
10:44more than 36,000 people are dead.
10:47This eruption is so massive
10:49that it changes weather patterns around the world,
10:53and the particulate matter in the sky
10:55left behind by the volcano
10:57creates these beautiful orange and red sunsets.
11:01In fact, it's even suggested
11:03that the very famous painting by Edvard Munch
11:05called The Scream
11:06was inspired by the events of Krakatoa.
11:10Today, one of the most devastating volcanoes in history
11:14is quietly rebuilding.
11:16There's an island where Krakatoa used to live
11:19called Anak Krakatau,
11:20which means child of Krakatoa.
11:23And even though it's erupting
11:25with small explosions these days,
11:27it's only a matter of time
11:28before it has another big one.
11:37It's 1917, and the world is at war.
11:41German submarines patrol all over the North Atlantic,
11:45including a key port in Nova Scotia.
11:52Halifax Harbor is by far
11:54one of the busiest ports in the world.
11:56And during World War I,
11:57it is moving everything from Canadian troops
12:01to supplies to ammunition
12:02in and out of the harbor on a regular basis.
12:06Ordinarily, ships are not allowed to bring massive cargo
12:10full of explosives into the harbor.
12:12But during war,
12:14when we're afraid of these German submarines coming in,
12:17they do change the rules.
12:20Typically, when a ship would come into port,
12:22they would usually raise some sort of flag
12:24or some sort of warning saying,
12:25we're carrying X type of cargo.
12:27But when the cargo is high explosives,
12:30you need to be more discreet.
12:32None of these flags are ever flown,
12:34so no one's really sure
12:35of what type of cargo it is that they're carrying.
12:40It's the morning of December 6th, 1917.
12:43The SS Montblanc enters harbor at sunrise,
12:47and beneath deck,
12:48there are thousands of wooden crates
12:50packed with explosives,
12:52like TNT, picric acid, and gun cotton.
12:56But because it's not flying that flag,
12:59most people on shore have no idea about this.
13:01At the same time,
13:03you have another ship
13:03that's trying to leave Halifax Harbor,
13:05which is a Dutch ship called the Imoat.
13:08The Imoat is trying to make up time,
13:10so it is moving way faster
13:12than the allotted five knots.
13:13And it interacts with the Clara,
13:15which is a tugboat.
13:17It's on the wrong side,
13:18so the Imoat goes further on the wrong side
13:20and passes the tugboat on the starboard side.
13:23Now, at this point,
13:24the Imoat and the Montblanc
13:25come like this toward each other,
13:27and the Imoat whips right across
13:29the front of the Montblanc.
13:31The ships do hit each other,
13:33but barely.
13:35It doesn't seem like the kind of impact
13:37that could cause real damage.
13:40Except for the fact
13:41that it knocks over benzyl containers.
13:44Benzyl is a tar-like flammable substance
13:47that's kind of like napalm.
13:48The benzoa tips over
13:50and is leaking across the ship,
13:52and it only takes a small spark.
13:55And suddenly, you have a big fire.
13:58The captain of the Montblanc tells his crew,
14:01lifeboats, abandon ship, get off now,
14:03because we know what's going to happen.
14:05The residents of Halifax,
14:06all they know is that there's a fire
14:08that's occurring on board the Montblanc,
14:10and people start to come out
14:12and look at the fire.
14:14Meanwhile, firefighters are rushing
14:16toward the blaze to put it out.
14:18They have no idea what they're getting into.
14:21Eventually, when you have this much heat
14:23sitting inside of a confined space
14:26with all of this explosive material,
14:28you're basically creating the conditions
14:29for a super bomb.
14:38The massive explosion is far more powerful
14:42than anything used in combats.
14:45The entire ship is vaporized in a second.
14:48The shockwave flattens about 500 acres of Halifax.
14:54The explosion is so powerful
14:57that the anchor, which weighs about 1,100 pounds,
15:00is thrown 2 1⁄2 miles away from the harbor.
15:04The injuries are horrible.
15:06People are watching this inside through windows.
15:09But when the wave of compressed air hits them,
15:12it shatters the glass.
15:145,000 people are injured by flying glass,
15:17and 40 are permanently blinded.
15:20Entire neighborhoods are just
15:22completely wiped off the map.
15:24In the aftermath of the explosion,
15:26you have around 2,000 people who are dead
15:29and about 10,000 people who are injured.
15:33Halifax ultimately becomes a war zone without a war.
15:38Colliding boats cause disaster in Halifax.
15:42By the end of the Civil War,
15:43one greedy boat captain creates a calamity
15:47that costs hundreds of lives.
15:52For Union soldiers who have been held as POWs,
15:56they've survived the war,
15:58and now they've just got that last leg of the journey home.
16:02April 24, 1865,
16:05the Sultana, a side-wheeled steamboat,
16:07is being prepped to bring 2,000 Union POWs
16:10north from Vicksburg, Mississippi.
16:12The Sultana isn't a big ship.
16:14It's meant to hold no more than 376 passengers.
16:18But on that day,
16:19over 2,000 Union soldiers are packed in,
16:23cheek to jowl,
16:24filling every available space.
16:27It's outright inhumane
16:29to treat these soldiers this way.
16:30But the Sultana's captain,
16:33J. Cass Mason,
16:34sees this as a great money-making opportunity.
16:37The government is offering $5
16:39for every enlisted man transported north
16:41and $10 for every officer.
16:44So for Mason,
16:45nothing's going to stop him from leaving that dock,
16:47including the questionable condition
16:50of the ship's boilers.
16:53When the Sultana docks at Vicksburg
16:55to pick up the troops,
16:57the chief engineer notifies Captain Mason
16:59that the boiler's cracked
17:01and it needs repair.
17:03But Mason needs to get moving
17:05if he's going to collect on a big payday.
17:09He ignores the engineer's warning
17:11and swings the steamboat
17:13up the Mississippi River.
17:15The Mississippi is swollen
17:16with the spring runoff.
17:18And so right away,
17:19the Sultana is struggling against the current.
17:23The engines on the overloaded Sultana
17:26fight to keep her moving upriver.
17:29They're pushed to their limits for hours.
17:33As pressure builds,
17:34it's not going to hold up.
17:40And it explodes.
17:42The explosion triggers a chain reaction,
17:46causing two of the other three boilers
17:49to also explode.
17:52The blast wave rips through the entire ship.
17:56The blast sends men
17:58into the fast-moving current
18:00of the Mississippi River.
18:04Arkansas locals see the flash
18:06and hear the boom,
18:08and they rush to help.
18:09In an incredible act of selflessness,
18:12these former Confederates
18:14pull these Union survivors
18:16out of the water into safety.
18:18These soldiers,
18:19who only a few weeks ago
18:21were literally trying to kill each other.
18:23But even with these rescue efforts,
18:26this becomes the worst maritime disaster
18:29in U.S. history.
18:34According to the U.S. Customs Service,
18:37over 1,500 men lose their lives,
18:40making this a worse disaster
18:41than the Titanic.
18:44Many bodies float down the river for weeks.
18:47Some are never recovered,
18:49including that of the captain,
18:51J. Cass Mason.
18:51It's heartbreaking to think
18:54that so many of these soldiers
18:56who survived the bloodiest conflict
18:59on American soil
19:00end up losing their lives
19:02on their way home,
19:03so close to being done with the war.
19:11In 1936,
19:13Germany launches a symbol of Nazi pride,
19:16the Hindenburg.
19:18But the rich passengers on board
19:20have no idea the airship
19:22is another tragedy
19:24waiting to happen.
19:26The Hindenburg is massive.
19:29It is the largest airship ever built.
19:32It is over 800 feet long.
19:34It is equivalent to putting
19:36three Boeing 747s
19:38nose-to-tail together.
19:41By 1937,
19:43the Hindenburg has already had 62 flights.
19:46And for 62 flights,
19:48the Hindenburg completes
19:4910 transatlantic crossings
19:51without a hitch.
19:53On May 6th,
19:55the Hindenburg has just traveled
19:56for 61 hours
19:57from Frankfurt, Germany
19:59to Lakehurst, New Jersey.
20:02As it slowly glides
20:04to the landing field,
20:05all eyes are on the airship.
20:08It is a marvel
20:09of German engineering
20:10and, let's be honest,
20:13a piece of Nazi propaganda.
20:16While they're building the airship,
20:18they intend to use helium
20:19in these 16 massive cotton bags
20:22that are placed
20:23between 15 different metal structures
20:25inside the airship.
20:28Unfortunately,
20:29due to the embargo
20:29of the United States,
20:30Germany isn't able
20:31to get their hands on helium,
20:33so instead,
20:34they switch to hydrogen.
20:35Hydrogen is light.
20:37It's also the most flammable gas
20:39on the planet.
20:42When they go to dock,
20:43all the ropes are dropped
20:44and port side is tightened up
20:46a little bit too much,
20:48just enough
20:49that something happened.
20:52Eyewitnesses on the ground
20:53report seeing something,
20:56almost like a flash,
20:57happening in the tail section
20:59of the ship.
21:00And then mere seconds later,
21:03the entire Hindenburg explodes.
21:10The fireball is staggering.
21:13Seven million cubic feet
21:15of hydrogen igniting in an instant.
21:20The outer skin burns up
21:22almost immediately,
21:23exposing the framework,
21:24which is a lightweight aluminum alloy
21:28called duralumin.
21:30Duralumin's a marvel
21:31for air travel
21:32because it's so lightweight,
21:33but it has a melting temperature
21:36of about 600 degrees Fahrenheit.
21:38And that's not great
21:40when the flames coming off
21:42of this hydrogen bomb
21:43are over 1,000 degrees.
21:45The Hindenburg's frame
21:47starts to melt
21:48as flames spread along it.
21:50Passengers and crew
21:51are seeing everything
21:53inside the ship burn up.
21:55Some of them are tempted
21:56to escape out of the windows
21:58and make a jump for it,
22:00but the ship is still
22:01150 feet off the ground.
22:04Some of them do survive the jump,
22:06but they become too injured
22:08to move as the massive airframe
22:10of the burning Hindenburg
22:12descends above them.
22:14Others are luckier.
22:16They wait until the last second
22:18to jump,
22:19and when they do,
22:20they run.
22:21In just 34 seconds,
22:24the Hindenburg crashes
22:26to the ground.
22:27It's smoldering
22:28and melting frame,
22:30crushing many of those beneath it.
22:33Of the 97 passengers
22:36and crew aboard,
22:3736 perish.
22:41This is terrible.
22:42This is one of the worst
22:43catastrophes in the world.
22:45All the humanity.
22:48In the end,
22:49it's not only
22:50the Hindenburg's death toll
22:52that makes history.
22:53It's the horror
22:54captured on film.
22:56Footage of the Hindenburg
22:57is so terrifying
22:59that the demand
23:00for travel by airship
23:02is completely over.
23:03No one is willing
23:05to step into
23:06a floating hydrogen bomb
23:07after seeing that.
23:12Using the wrong material
23:14blows up the Hindenburg.
23:1650 years later,
23:18a careless mistake
23:19blows up an oil rig
23:21in the North Sea.
23:27The Piper Alpha oil rig
23:29sits in the North Sea,
23:31about 120 miles northeast
23:32of Scotland.
23:34This rig brings up
23:35about 120,000 pounds
23:37barrels of crude oil
23:39every single day.
23:41On July 6, 1988,
23:43there is a minor repair
23:44that has to happen
23:45to one of the gas
23:46compression pumps.
23:47The valve in the gas line
23:49has been removed.
23:50There's a temporary cover
23:51on the gas line
23:52that isn't fully sealed,
23:54but the shift ends.
23:56And so everyone leaves
23:58and it now converts
23:58to the night shift,
23:59but there is no communication
24:01to let them know that,
24:03hey, this repair
24:04is still in process.
24:06Later that night,
24:07the crew starts up the pump
24:09and gas immediately
24:10begins to leak
24:11and fills in
24:12a cramped section
24:13of the platform.
24:14On an oil rig,
24:16everything smells like gas.
24:17So for the 226 workers,
24:21there's no warning.
24:26At 10 p.m.,
24:27the explosion tears
24:28through the rig.
24:29Unfortunately,
24:30the control room
24:31happens to sit
24:32right above
24:33where the leak was.
24:34They were in the wrong place
24:36at the wrong time,
24:37and it's obliterated.
24:39The destruction
24:40is just getting started.
24:43Minutes later,
24:44the heat ruptures
24:45a second gas line.
24:48The second explosion
24:49is catastrophic.
24:52Flames shoot into the air,
24:54completely engulfing
24:55the platform,
24:56and temperatures soar
24:57to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
25:00When you get a fire
25:01of this temperature,
25:03even the massive steel girders
25:05that form this platform
25:07are vulnerable.
25:09Some workers are able
25:10to climb down
25:11to the lower platform
25:12below the flames,
25:14but others are not so lucky.
25:16They're trapped up above.
25:20You really only have
25:21two choices at that point.
25:23Either you burn to death
25:24or you jump
25:27175 feet
25:29into the freezing North Sea.
25:32Many choose to jump,
25:34and from that height,
25:35it's like slamming
25:36into a slab of concrete.
25:39It's frigid cold.
25:41Hypothermia sets in fast,
25:42and many of these workers
25:44die before rescue boats
25:45can reach them.
25:4781 workers are still
25:48in the living quarters
25:49of the Piper Alpha.
25:51Any and all evacuation routes
25:53that these men
25:53are attempting to find
25:54are all blocked off.
25:55About almost two hours
25:57after the initial explosion,
25:58the living quarters themselves
25:59actually fall beneath
26:00the waves of the North Sea,
26:02and all 81 workers
26:04that are in those living quarters
26:05slip beneath the waves,
26:07and they all just disappear.
26:11By the time the fires burn out,
26:14Piper Alpha is a twisted
26:16smoking skeleton.
26:20Of the 226 workers
26:22on board that day,
26:25167 of them died.
26:28It's the deadliest offshore
26:30oil rig disaster in history.
26:36There are 140 miles of wiring
26:39on a 747 aircraft,
26:41and if just one of them
26:42goes wrong,
26:43it can lead to disaster.
26:49It's the final boarding call
26:51for TWA Flight 800
26:53from New York's JFK
26:55to Paris, France.
26:58TWA Flight 800
27:00takes off from JFK
27:02at 8.19 p.m.
27:04A few minutes later,
27:05the plane passes over Long Island,
27:08carrying 230 passengers.
27:1211 minutes into the flight,
27:14the 747 is climbing steadily
27:16into the air.
27:19Then, without any warning,
27:25a massive fireball explodes
27:27and blows apart the aircraft.
27:32Some eyewitnesses
27:33look up to see
27:34flaming wreckage
27:36coming down out of the sky.
27:42First to the scene
27:43is Major Fred Meyer
27:45of the Air National Guard.
27:47He steers his helicopter
27:48to the debris field,
27:49and he gets there so quickly
27:51that he can still
27:52watch wreckage
27:53and even bodies
27:55falling from the sky.
27:57Everyone on board
27:58is killed.
27:59Questions begin
28:01even before
28:02any bodies are recovered.
28:04Was it human error?
28:06Terrorism?
28:07No one knows.
28:10After a four-year investigation,
28:13the National Transportation
28:14Safety Board
28:15makes a ruling.
28:18The center wing fuel tank
28:20sits between the wings
28:22and forward
28:23of the passenger cabin.
28:25And at the time
28:26of the explosion,
28:27it's carrying about
28:2850 gallons of jet fuel,
28:30which ironically
28:32makes it more likely
28:33to lead to an explosion.
28:36It seems counterintuitive,
28:37but the lack of fuel
28:39means that there's vapor
28:41in the tank,
28:41and that vapor
28:42is actually more flammable.
28:45This vapor
28:46was like a bomb.
28:48All it needed
28:49was an ignition source.
28:51Ordinarily,
28:51that wouldn't happen,
28:52but some faulty
28:53electrical wiring
28:54introduced just enough
28:56electrical voltage
28:57to initiate a spark
28:59and then to explode,
29:02causing the front section
29:04of the plane,
29:05the nose,
29:05to fall into the ocean
29:07and for the rear section
29:09to actually go
29:10into a momentary climb
29:11before itself falling
29:13into the ocean.
29:15Technically,
29:17there is one survivor.
29:19A teacher from Wisconsin's
29:21flight is delayed.
29:23She gets to the boarding gate
29:25too late,
29:25and so she watches
29:27Flight 800
29:28take off without her.
29:29But she's going to find out
29:31in just a few minutes
29:32how lucky she really is.
29:36One bad piece of equipment
29:38can rip a jet
29:39out of the sky,
29:40but it takes
29:41a few bad choices
29:42to create a disaster
29:44in the Soviet Union.
29:49Two passenger trains
29:51are traveling
29:52in opposite directions
29:53along the Trans-Siberian Railway,
29:58where explosive gas
29:59is leaking
30:00from a broken pipeline.
30:04That's what's happening
30:05on June 4th, 1989,
30:08with train 211
30:09traveling from
30:10Nova Sebris
30:10to the Black Sea
30:11and train 212
30:13traveling from
30:14the Black Sea
30:14back to Nova Sebris.
30:16And they are careening
30:18toward each other.
30:21The railway runs
30:23for miles of wilderness
30:25and has for decades.
30:26The pipeline
30:27that runs
30:28alongside the tracks
30:30in this part
30:30of the Siberian wilderness
30:32is relatively new.
30:33The pipeline
30:35delivers a hazardous
30:36mix of gases,
30:38propane
30:38and butane.
30:40And when an excavator
30:41accidentally bumps
30:43into it,
30:43nobody notices
30:45the four-foot
30:46hairline crack
30:47in the pipe wall.
30:49The gas quantities
30:50are dropping.
30:51So instead of going out
30:53to investigate,
30:54the engineers assume
30:55there must be
30:55an increase in demand,
30:56so they pump
30:57even more gas
30:58through the pipeline.
30:59And then,
31:00as if by some
31:01cruel twist of fate,
31:03the two trains arrive
31:04at exactly
31:05the wrong moment.
31:08Because the gas
31:09is heavier than air,
31:11it clings to the ground.
31:12And in a short amount
31:14of time,
31:14an enormous cloud
31:15of vapor forms
31:16blanketing the tracks.
31:18The trains
31:19hurdle through the vapor.
31:20Each one weighs
31:21hundreds of tons
31:22and their wheels
31:23are grinding
31:23against the tracks.
31:25Sparks are inevitable
31:26and it only takes one
31:28at the worst possible moment
31:30to set off
31:33a catastrophic explosion.
31:41It throws the trains
31:43away like toys,
31:45crumpling them,
31:46burning them horribly.
31:47It flattens 250 acres
31:49of trees
31:51as if a huge hand
31:52came down
31:52and just wiped
31:53those trees clean.
31:55Inside the train cars,
31:56it is absolute terror.
31:58Passengers are thrown
31:59from their seats
32:00and many of them
32:01start burning alive.
32:03and the almost
32:042,000 degree
32:06Fahrenheit inferno
32:07that follows.
32:09Even experienced
32:10first responders
32:11are shocked
32:12when they arrive
32:13at the scene.
32:17What the rescuers see
32:18is like hell on earth.
32:20They have to make
32:21instant decisions
32:22about who to treat
32:23so that the death toll
32:23does not climb
32:24even higher.
32:27Of the over 1,200
32:29passengers aboard
32:30both trains,
32:31575.
32:32to perish.
32:33It's one of the world's
32:34deadliest train crashes.
32:36It's absolutely devastating
32:37and it's a national tragedy.
32:44Violent explosions
32:46are part of war.
32:47But in China,
32:48one of the deadliest
32:50blasts of World War II
32:51takes place
32:52far from the battlefield.
32:57It's early morning
32:58on April 26, 1942
33:00at the Benshihu Colliery.
33:03These Chinese miners
33:05are spending
33:0612 hours a day
33:07in brutal work conditions.
33:11At the time,
33:12Japan has basically
33:13colonized
33:14portions of China
33:16during World War II
33:18as a way to strip
33:19the land
33:19of its natural resources.
33:22Early in the morning,
33:23the Benshihu mine
33:24is highly active.
33:26The night shift
33:27that is in full swing,
33:28thousands of workers
33:30are pulling coal
33:31out of this mine.
33:32It's grueling work
33:34in a poorly maintained mine.
33:37If the ventilation
33:38is not being taken care of,
33:40you are at an absolute risk
33:41of having what's considered
33:43a coal dust fire
33:44or a coal dust explosion.
33:46For this to occur,
33:48there's usually
33:48three main pieces.
33:51So the first one
33:52is methane,
33:53and methane
33:53always goes hand-in-hand
33:55when you're extracting coal.
33:56The second piece
33:57is the coal dust.
33:58So while anybody
33:59is mining coal,
34:00it is very natural
34:01to have little tiny specks
34:03that are just floating around
34:04in the environment.
34:06The last thing
34:07for these fires to occur
34:08is an ignition source.
34:10Often, it has to do
34:11with some kind
34:12of electrical equipment
34:13giving off a spark
34:14and if there's enough methane
34:15and coal dust nearby,
34:17those three pieces
34:18can come together
34:19and then boom.
34:21Around 2 a.m.,
34:23a spark deep
34:25in these coal mines
34:26ignites.
34:27And you get
34:28a massive fireball
34:30exploding through
34:31this tunnel network.
34:34The blast causes cave-ins.
34:37Then, flames race
34:38down passageways
34:40and set off
34:40more explosions.
34:42Death is instant.
34:44for a lot of miners
34:45because this fire
34:46instantly obliterates them.
34:48For the miners
34:48that are further away
34:49from the explosion,
34:50they're thinking,
34:51okay, maybe if we just
34:52hurry and scramble,
34:52we can get to safety.
34:54The fires have created
34:56another deadly problem.
34:58So what ends up happening
34:59is this fire,
35:00it burns up all that oxygen
35:01in the air
35:02and all it leaves behind
35:03is carbon monoxide.
35:05For those who are not
35:07in the immediate blast,
35:08now the atmosphere itself
35:11becomes one that is very toxic.
35:14In these instances,
35:15when people are trapped
35:16in a mine
35:16and they cannot get out,
35:18all they are going to do
35:19is continue to breathe
35:20this carbon monoxide in.
35:21Miners that are still alive
35:23at this point
35:23likely experience dizziness,
35:26perhaps a headache,
35:27and eventually they're going
35:28to lose consciousness.
35:30Meanwhile,
35:31families hearing
35:32about the explosion
35:33are now starting
35:34to rush to the site
35:35and to make matters worse,
35:36the Japanese overseers
35:38start putting up fencing
35:39around the mines
35:40so that none of these families
35:41can get in
35:42and get to their loved ones.
35:47When this explosion happens,
35:50the Japanese response
35:51is to simply close
35:53the ventilation system
35:54to prevent the fire
35:55from consuming anything
35:57that's outside of the mine.
35:59But it is doing the men
36:01inside to certain death.
36:05When an explosion
36:06of this magnitude
36:07happens underground,
36:09there's really
36:11almost a 0% chance
36:13of escape.
36:16Incredibly,
36:1753 men
36:19are able to claw
36:20their way to safety.
36:22They are battered,
36:23they are burned,
36:24but they find fresh air.
36:25But ultimately,
36:27when the dust settles,
36:28the death toll
36:29reaches 1,549 people,
36:33mostly all of whom
36:35are these Chinese laborers.
36:41Colombian Independence Day
36:43is supposed to be
36:44a happy event.
36:46But in 1956,
36:48celebration turns to tragedy.
36:53The mid-1950s,
36:54this is a time period
36:56that Colombia is engaged
36:58in civil war
36:59that's known as
36:59La Violencia.
37:01Most of the fighting
37:02that once occurred
37:03in the city
37:04has now been relegated
37:05to the countryside.
37:06So you do have people
37:07that are coming out
37:08near the center
37:10of Cali,
37:11happy because there is
37:12a presence of soldiers there,
37:13and so it provides you
37:15a sense of security.
37:16Security.
37:17August 7, 1956,
37:20is a special day.
37:21It's a day when Colombians
37:22celebrate their independence
37:24from Spain.
37:25And that's why
37:26no one blinks
37:27when the army parks
37:28seven of its trucks
37:29in the heart of the city.
37:32Inside of them,
37:33they have unusual cargo,
37:34more than 1,000 boxes
37:36of dynamite.
37:40Dynamite has many useful,
37:42peaceful purposes,
37:43like for clearing roads
37:45or for clearing out mines.
37:48It's safe when stored properly,
37:51but this dynamite
37:52is old and unstable.
37:5550,000 sticks of dynamite,
37:59all of them compromised,
38:01all of them degrading,
38:03all of them primed
38:05and ready to explode
38:06should the right circumstances
38:09happen to come along.
38:10And on top of that,
38:12these soldiers,
38:12once they park these trucks
38:13in the center of Cali,
38:15they all get out
38:15and decide,
38:16smoke break.
38:17Let's just go ahead
38:18and ignite these cigarettes
38:19and just, you know,
38:20have a smoke break
38:21and just hang out
38:22near this very, very,
38:23very flammable material.
38:25To be clear,
38:26again, it's not easy
38:27to set off dynamite.
38:28You would need something
38:29like a fuse
38:30or a blast cap
38:31to actually set off
38:32this dynamite.
38:33But when the dynamite
38:34has been degraded
38:36as much as the dynamite
38:37that's being carried around
38:38in these trucks,
38:39the likelihood of an accident
38:40is much more significant.
38:43The ambient temperature
38:45is enough
38:46to cause a massive explosion.
38:48All it takes
38:49is for one stick
38:51of dynamite
38:52to go off
38:53and the other
38:5349,999 sticks
38:56are going to follow suit.
38:57At 1 a.m.,
38:5950,000 sticks
39:01of dynamite
39:02explode.
39:09And that causes
39:10a massive fireball
39:12to rip through
39:1341 city blocks.
39:16The resulting explosion
39:18is instantaneous
39:20and catastrophic.
39:23The blast reduces
39:25homes, businesses,
39:27vehicles
39:28to ashes.
39:30The shockwave
39:32is another beast
39:33altogether.
39:34The force of energy
39:35traveling outwards
39:37from the detonation
39:38reaches speeds
39:39between 3,000
39:40and 6,000 miles
39:41per hour.
39:42This isn't one
39:43of those shockwaves
39:44that you see
39:45in the movies
39:45or in television
39:46where the people
39:47get blown back
39:48about 20 feet,
39:48they get up
39:49and they continue
39:49to run.
39:50No, there's no running.
39:52It's hard to understand
39:54the destructive capacity
39:55of a shockwave itself.
39:57When it interacts
39:58with the human body,
39:59your ears explode,
40:00your eyes explode,
40:02all of these really
40:02horrible things
40:03happen to you,
40:04you're close enough
40:05to the blast
40:06where this shockwave
40:07hits you,
40:08you're going to die.
40:14Those who aren't
40:15killed immediately
40:16by the blast
40:17get buried by it.
40:20Entire neighborhoods
40:21vanish under the rubble.
40:23Buildings are flattened.
40:25Trucks and even trains
40:27are tossed around
40:28like kids' toys.
40:30It forms this massive crater
40:33that is 165 feet wide.
40:36By morning,
40:37the true scope
40:39of the devastation
40:40is clear.
40:42The downtown area
40:43is decimated.
40:451,200 people
40:46lose their lives
40:47and another 4,000
40:49are injured.
40:50Survivors wander
40:51through the wreckage
40:52dazed,
40:53looking for loved ones
40:54and wondering
40:54what happened.
40:58This is one of the
41:00deadliest
41:00non-nuclear explosions
41:02ever recorded
41:03in human history.
41:07From volcanic eruptions
41:09that blot out the sun
41:10to man-made disasters
41:12that level everything
41:13from cities
41:15to oil rigs,
41:16explosions like these
41:18leave a mark
41:19on our world
41:20earning a place
41:21among history's
41:22deadliest.
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