Other Chemicals Disasters
by Railroads are a major site of chemical accidents.
When it occurred,the Union Crbide disaster at Bhopal was the worst disaster inthe history of the industry.But there have been other chemical disasters over the years.Here are brief descriptions of some of them:
_A chemical plant in Oppau,Germany,exploded in 1921,leaving 561 people dead and 1,500 injured.The plant itself was destroyed,as were houses up to 4 miles (6 kilometers)away.
_In 1944 a cracked gas tank at the East Ohio Gs COmpany in Cleveland,Ohio,blew up,causing a massive fire.One hundred and thirty-one people were killed.
_While carrying chemicals to the I-G. Farben factory in Germany,a railroad train burst into flames.Two hundred and seven people were killed and 4,000 injured in this 1948 accident.
_Another railroad car exposed in Flixborough,England,in 1974,killing 28 people and destroying the entire NYPRO Ltd. chemical plant.
_In Seveso,Italy,an accident at the Hoffman-La Roche plant in 1976 release a deadly chemical known as dioxin into the surrounding area.No people were killed,but 100,000 animals died and children in the surrounding area contracted a sever skin rash.More than 4,000 acres (1,620 hectares) of vegetation were poisoned.
_A truck filled with flammable gas crashed into a wall not far from more than 700 tourists in San Carlos de la Rapita,Spain,in 1978.Flames struck down people while they were eating and swimming,killing 215.
_Yet another railroad train filled with chemicals jumped the rails,this time in Crestview,Florida,setting off fires and injuring 1,000 people in 1979.
_By 1980,railroad trains were becoming major sites of chemical disasters.This time,in Somerville,Massachussets,a railroad car filled with chemicals ran into anther car.Chemicals gushed out,and 418 people were injured.
_Chlorine gas escaped from a chemical plant in San Juan,Puerto Rico,through a leaky valve,injuring 200 people in 1981.
_A derailed train released chlorine gas in Belle,West Virginia,injuring 13 people in 1982.
_In a preview of the accident at Bhopal,a gas pipeline sprang a leak in Cubatao,Brazil,in February 1984,causing fires that killed 500 people living in a slum area.
_More than 80,000 barrels of natural gas erupted into flames in November 1984,killing 452 people and injuring 4,284 in San Juan Lxhuatepec,Mexico.
_In 1986,a chemical fire in Basel,Switzerland,allowed deadly pesticides to enter the Rhine River.
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