On April 15, 1947, the French freighter Grandcamp docked at Texas City,
Texas, and took on some 1,400 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser. That
night a fire broke out in the hold of the ship. By dawn, thick black
smoke had port authorities worried because the Monsanto chemical plant
was only 700 ft away. As men stood on the dock watching, tugboats
prepared to tow the freighter out to sea. Suddenly a ball of fire
enveloped the ship. For many it was the last thing they ever saw. A
great wall of flame radiated outward from the wreckage, and within
minutes the Monsanto plant exploded, killing and maiming hundreds of
workers and any spectators who had survived the initial blast. Most of
the business district was devastated, and fires raged along the
waterfront, where huge tanks of butane gas stood imperilled. Shortly
after midnight, a second freighter – also carrying nitrates – exploded,
and the whole sequence began again. More than 500 people died, and
another 1,000 were badly injured.
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