You’ve surely seen a lot of explosions in the movies of bombs being detonated, and that’s just what Hollywood wants you to admire as fiction for your amusement. However, explosions are real entities that could really happen in life, and large and by, sure has. There are thousands of explosions that mankind has orchestrated — partly in war and some being a mere case of accident. Here are the top five massive explosions ever recorded in history.
Related media: Dropping The Bomb – Hiroshima
#1. Hiroshima (Nuclear Bomb)
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Date: Monday, August 06, 1945
Detonation: Nuclear weapon
Casualties: 20,000 soldiers; 70,000-126,000 civilians killed
The United States detonated a nuclear weapon for the first time in combat during World War II — with consent of the United Kingdom, as required by the Quebéc Agreement. The Allies prepared for a costly invasion of the Japanese mainland.
The nuke upon detonation killed a staggering 70,000 people, and over the course of a week killed over 126,000 more as a result of the thermal blast injuries. This explosion had an explosive force of 40 kiloton of trinitrotoluene (TNT), and rocked the entire city into a pile of rubble. This detonation has ever since been the most dangerous and massive destruction of a bomb in combat.
The Hiroshima Bombing ranks first as the worst explosion ever.
#2. Nagasaki (Nuclear Bomb)
Location: Nagasaki, Japan
Date: Thursday, August 09, 1945
Detonation: Nuclear weapon
Casualties: 150 soldiers; 39,000-80,000 civilians killed
Again, another nuke was detonated on Japan three days later. This detonation in its destruction did fairly the same damage as that on Hiroshima — killing 39,000 people upon detonation and over 80,000 more in the course of weeks. This explosion also had an explosive force of 40 kilotons of TNT, and devastated the entire city down to a pile of rubble.
The Nagasaki Bombing ranks second as the worst explosion ever.
#3. Halifax (Head-On Collision)
Location: Halifax, Canada
Date: Thursday, December 06, 1917
Detonation: Collision of two ship vessels
Casualties: 1,950 deaths; and approx. 9,000 injured
This explosion was caused by the collision of two ship vessels: The French vessel SS Mont-Blanc (which had cargo of high explosives aboard), and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows — a strait connecting the upper Halifax harbor to Bedford Basin. The explosion killed over a thousand people, and injured an estimate of 9,000 more. This was the largest man-made explosion at the time, which had an explosive force of 2.9 kilotons of TNT.
The Halifax Explosion ranks third as the worst explosion ever.
#4. Beirut (Harbor Explosion)
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Date: Tuesday, August 04, 2020
Detonation: Ammonium nitrate
Casualties: at least 158 dead; 6,000 injured; 21 missing; 300,000 displaced
This explosion is the most recent, which happened at Beirut’s port and probably caused by an unsafely stored ammonium nitrate in a warehouse — although several reports says otherwise. The explosion killed at least 158 people, with over 6,000 more injured, 21 still missing (dead or alive), and has displaced more than 300,000 people. The blast had an explosive force of 1.2 kilotons of TNT.
The Beirut Explosion now ranks fourth as the worst explosion ever.
#5. Texas City (Refinery Explosion)
Location: Texas City, United States
Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Detonation: Hydrocarbon reactions
Casualties: 15 killed; with 180 more injured
This explosion was caused when a hydrocarbon vapor cloud was ignited and violently exploding the ISOM isomerization processing unit at a British Petroleum (BP) refinery in Texas City. The explosion killed 15 workers, injuring 180 others and severely damaging the refinery. The Texas City Oil Refinery was the second largest refinery in the state of Texas, and the third largest in the United States. The explosion had an explosive force of not over a kiloton of TNT.
The Texas City Refinery Explosion ranks fifth as the worst explosion ever.
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Sat, Aug 08, 2020.