The Braamfontein Explosion was an explosion of a freight train carrying dynamite in Braamfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg, in 1896. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
The Braamfontein Explosion was an explosion of a freight train carrying dynamite in Braamfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg, in 1896. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
On 16 February 1896, a freight train with eight trucks of dynamite – 2300 cases of 60lb each, or about 60 tonnes – was put in a siding at Braamfontein railway station. The dynamite was destined for nearby mines, but the mine's stores of dynamite were already full so the train was left in the siding – for days, in very hot weather – until there was somewhere to store the dynamite. [1]
On the afternoon of 19 February, after labourers had started to unload the train, a shunter came to move it to another part of the siding; but after the impact of the shunter, the dynamite exploded. The explosion left a crater 60 metres long, 50 metres wide and 8 metres deep. The explosion was heard up to 200 kilometres away. Herman Eugene Schoch recorded hearing the explosion in Rustenburg, approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) away. [2]
Suburbs as far away as Fordsburg were seriously damaged, and about 3,000 people lost their homes. [3]
Accounts vary, but it is thought that over 70 people were killed [4] and more than 200 were injured. A memorial at the Braamfontein cemetery reads that 75 "whites and coloured" were killed. [5]
In 2012, artist Eduardo Cachuco created "Explosion, 1896", a complex artwork based on the explosion which was shown at the "looking glass" exhibition.
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley, it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation.
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The following lists events that happened during 1984 in South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1988 in South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1896 in South Africa.
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The Frank Slide was a massive rockslide that buried part of the mining town of Frank in the District of Alberta of the North-West Territories, Canada, at 4:10 a.m. on April 29, 1903. Around 44 million cubic metres/110 million tonnes of limestone rock slid down Turtle Mountain. Witnesses reported that within 100 seconds the rock reached up the opposing hills, obliterating the eastern edge of Frank, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) line and the coal mine. It was one of the largest landslides in Canadian history and remains the deadliest, as between 70 and 90 of the town's residents died, most of whom remain buried in the rubble. Multiple factors led to the slide: Turtle Mountain's formation left it in a constant state of instability. Coal mining operations may have weakened the mountain's internal structure, as did a wet winter and cold snap on the night of the disaster.
The Hjuksebø train disaster occurred on the Sørlandet Line between Hjuksebø and Holtsås, Telemark, Norway on 15 November 1950. The Kristiansand-to-Oslo express had been due to pass through Hjuksebø, but was delayed, and the shunter believed he had time to turn a waiting freight-train around before it arrived, by shunting a number of freight cars out of the way. As he had failed to attach them to the engine, however, the cars ran downhill towards Holtsås station, straight into the express, killing fourteen. At the time, it was Norway's worst peacetime railway accident.
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