00:00On December 6, 1917, the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the site of the world's
00:05biggest non-nuclear explosion ever recorded, a catastrophic wartime disaster that completely
00:11reshaped the region. The tragedy unfolded when the SS Mont Blanc, a French cargo ship
00:17packed with highly volatile explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS IMO.
00:22The impact was relatively minor, but it severed fuel barrels on the Mont Blanc,
00:27sparking a fierce upper-deck fire that rapidly spiraled out of control.
00:32As the burning vessel drifted toward the city's busy piers, thousands of spectators gathered along
00:37the shoreline, unaware of the looming danger. Exactly 20 minutes after the collision,
00:43the fire reached the cargo, detonating over 2,500 tons of military-grade explosives.
00:48The resulting blast was devastating, releasing energy equivalent to 3 kilotons of TNT and sending
00:54a blinding white fireball into the sky. The force of the explosion instantly obliterated
00:59everything within a one-mile radius, sending a shockwave traveling at thousands of miles per hour.
01:05Entire neighborhoods were flattened into smoking fields of splintered wood and twisted metal.
01:10The pressure wave shattered windows 50 miles away and was felt across eastern Canada.
01:15The detonation also displaced the harbor water, triggering a massive,
01:1960-foot tsunami that swept over the ruins of the waterfront. Over 1,800 people were killed
01:25instantly, and an estimated 9,000 others were severely injured by flying debris and falling
01:31structures. The Halifax explosion remained the largest man-made blast in human history until the
01:36dawn of the atomic age in 1945. It stands as a grim reminder of how a single maritime error can
01:43trigger
01:43a catastrophe, erasing a city in the blink of an eye.
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