APRIL 1947

The Texas City Disaster, the deadliest industrial accident in US history, occurred on April 16, when a fire aboard the Liberty ship SS Grandcamp caused the vessel’s 2,200-ton cargo of ammonium nitrate to explode, killing at least 581 people. The explosion also resulted in the destruction of two other nearby ships - the SS High Flyer and the SS Wilson B. Keene. Two sightseeing planes had their wings shorn off by the blast, and the Grandcamp’s two-ton anchor was found nearly two miles from the centre of the explosion.