DISASTERS

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this nor ever shall be.

—Matt. 24:21

1141 Catastrophes In The US

According to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., there were 35 catastrophes—causing over 100 deaths each—in the US during 1941–75. The two greatest disasters were the Texas City fire and explosion in 1947 which took 561 lives, and the fire in a Boston nightclub in 1942, which caused 492 deaths. More than half of the major US disasters resulted from natural catastrophes of various kinds.

Since 1975, there was Colorado’s Big Thompson River Canyon flash flood on July 31, 1976, when 145 persons perished.

1142 World’s Worst Calamities

The worst natural calamity of the 20th century was the cyclone which hit East Pakistan in November 1970. It killed over 200,000 people. The 19th century worst calamity worldwide was the Yellow River flood in China in 1887. From one to seven million lives were lost.

1143 Worse Airline Crashes

In 1975, the cargo door of a DC-10 jumbo jet blew off while in flight from Paris. The pilot lose control of the aircraft, and 346 persons were killed in the subsequent crash.

In 1977, a collision of two jumbo jets on a runway in the Canary Islands brought in the worst disaster recorded in airline history. Two Boeing 747s crashed into each other, killing 576 passengers.

In 1979, an American Airlines DC-10 jet crashed shortly after take-off at Chicago. All 272 persons aboard died. It was the worst of its kind in US aviation history.

In 1980, Britain’s Dan-Air Flight with 138 passengers and 7 crew members crashed again at Tenerife, Canary Island. There were no survivors. It was the worst crash in the history of British commercial aviation.

1144 Largest Oil Spill In Us

From another area of present-day concern, oil, comes this report.

The Argo Merchant, tanker of Liberian registry, ran aground on shoals off Nantucket Island on Dec. 15, 1976. It broke in half and spilled 7.6 million gallons of heavy fuel oil. It was the largest oil spill ever along US shores and a potential ecological disaster. The Georges Bank fishing grounds and the beaches of Cape Cod were endangered.

1145 Largest Rail Disaster

On March 2, 1944, shortly after 1:00 in the morning, a heavy train with six hundred passengers lumbered into the Galeria delle Armi, Italy. Precisely what went wrong inside the tunnel no one knows for sure. The one certain fact is that when the two locomotives pulling the train reached midtunnel, the drive-wheels began to slip. Sand was sprayed on the tracks but to no avail. The wheels lost traction and the train stopped. All else is speculation, for both engineers died at the controls. Carbon monoxide snuffed out the lives of nearly five hundred passengers. It was perhaps the largest rail disaster in history.

—G. R. Hembree