Ohio derailment is just the latest serious industrial accident in the U.S.
After a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and started a fire in East Palestine, Ohio, authorities ordered evacuations and conducted a controlled release of the chemicals.
The February 3 derailment sparked investigations and raised questions about how severe its impact will be on local residents and the environment.
Although no one was injured or killed as a result of the derailment, experts say it’s too early to know whether the disaster will cause fatalities, serious illnesses or widespread environmental damage.
As alarming as the news of the accident in East Palestine is, a look back in history shows that it is not unprecedented. Over the past century, dozens of workplace accidents have killed thousands of Americans.
Here we have collected some of the most serious examples of the past decades. Although the list is not exhaustive, the first section contains a selection of industrial accidents that resulted in several fatalities and injuries. The second section lists incidents that had a significant impact on the environment and, in some cases, involved fatalities. We have separately provided an overview of US railroad accidents.
Selected accidents at work in the USA
1919: Great Molasses Flood, Boston. 22 dead, 150 injured. A storage tank collapsed, sending a 15- to 40-foot wave of molasses through the city’s North End neighborhood, destroying several city blocks and drowning pedestrians.
Heavy black smoke billows after fires raged at a refinery and oil storage tank area in Texas City, Texas on April 17, 1947 following a ship explosion. (AP)
Black smoke rises from the roof of the exploded DeBruce Grain elevator near Haysville, Kansas June 12, 1998. (AP
Selected environmental incidents in the United States
The central business district in Donora, Pennsylvania is shrouded in smog on October 30, 1948, with sunlight virtually obliterated by thick, low-lying pollution. (AP)
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns on April 21, 2010. (AP)
2010: Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The largest oil spill at sea in history, caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that killed 11 and injured 17.
2013: Honolulu molasses spill. Approximately 233,000 gallons of cane molasses flowed into the Port of Honolulu during ship loading. The discharge killed around 25,000 fish in the harbor and damaged coral reefs.
2014: Elk River chemical spill, Charleston, West Virginia. About 10,000 gallons of an industrial chemical flowed into the Elk River upstream from the Kanawha County municipal water intake in Charleston, West Virginia, which served nearly 300,000 people.
2015: Gold King Mine spill near Silverton, Colorado. An Environmental Protection Agency crew accidentally released 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater from the mine, which washed through Durango and eventually into Lake Powell about 300 miles away.
2015: Train derailment in Mt. Carbon, West Virginia. A train loaded with crude oil derailed.