Emergencies and Natural Disasters

The Night an Antiwar Bomb Killed an Innocent Scientist The campus trembled at 3:42 a.m. on August 24, 1970, when roughly 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil detonated and sent a Ford Econoline van's remains onto an eight‑story roof three blocks from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Army Mathematics Research Center, the stated target, was scarcely damaged while 26 buildings took the force-so how did a postdoc with no military ties end up dead in the basement of Sterling Hall? In this episode, we tell what happened the night Robert Fassnacht went in to finish an experiment and never came out. You will hear how campus politics, leaked Army reports, and four young men convinced they were fighting the Vietnam War produced a single catastrophic act-could conviction and misdirected violence be more dangerous together than either alone? Person: Robert Fassnacht Age: 33 Date: August 24, 1970 (bombing occurred at 3:42 a.m.) Explosive load: roughly 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil Buildings damaged: 26 - The Ford Econoline van packed with explosives landed on the roof of an eight‑story building three blocks from campus. - The Army Mathematics Research Center, the stated target, was scarcely damaged despite the blast. - Sterling Hall's physics department was gutted and the basement flooded, where Fassnacht's body was found. - The AMRC had been established in 1955 and required its mathematicians to spend at least half their time on U.S. Army research. - Members of the group had previously set fire to the ROTC armory and bombed the university's Primate Research Center by mistake.

When a 900,000-Gallon Tank Became a Flying Tomb: Channelview 1990 A single instrument gave false "safe" readings for twenty days while a 900,000-gallon tank full of volatile industrial waste became explosive, launching a 48,000-pound lid into a parking lot 200 yards away and killing 17 people. What chain of mechanical failures, decisions, and ignored warnings turned a routine restart into one of the worst industrial blasts along the Houston Ship Channel? In this episode, we tell the story of the ARCO Chemical plant on the night of July 5, 1990, the people who worked there, and the specific systems that were supposed to prevent disaster - and did not. How did a broken oxygen analyzer, a halted compressor, and a compromised nitrogen sweep align to create an explosive atmosphere inside the tank? Person: Gerard Scannell Date: July 5, 1990 Location: ARCO Chemical plant, Channelview, Texas Event: Tank explosion and fire Country: United States - The tank held 900,000 gallons of wastewater and its lid weighed 48,000 pounds. - The tank measured 40 feet tall and 62 feet in diameter and was found flattened like a soft drink can. - The tank's lid was thrown 200 yards into a parking lot; a 15,000-gallon secondary tank was blown 200 feet into a pipe rack. - Seventeen people died and five more were injured; 67% of the dead were contractors. - The oxygen analyzer had been giving false safe readings for twenty straight days before the explosion.

The Trawler That Vanished: 11 Men, One Empty Lifeboat, No Answers Fear of unresolved violence: a neutral Irish trawler was struck by a single cannon shell in dark Atlantic waters on March 9, 1940, and twelve days later her empty lifeboat washed ashore on Tiree - eleven men gone with no bodies and no official cause for 46 years. How did a coal-fired steam trawler flying the Irish tricolour become the only ship among six on the bank to be hit, and who ordered that shot? In this episode, we tell the account of the ST Leukos’s final voyage, the empty lifeboat found on March 21, 1940, and the decades-long official silence that followed, asking whether records and testimony could ever explain why a neutral, unarmed fishing vessel was struck. Person: Captain James Potter Thomasson Date: March 9, 1940 Location: fishing bank northwest of Tory Island; lifeboat ashore March 21, 1940 on Tiree Event: single cannon shell struck engine room of ST Leukos Status: death certificates issued in 1986 after 46 years listed as missing - The ST Leukos was built in 1914 by John Duthie Torry Shipbuilding Company in Aberdeen and was 26 years old at sailing. - Six trawlers were on the bank that night; five returned undamaged, the Irish-registered Leukos did not. - The lifeboat washed ashore 12 days after the strike, on March 21, 1940, at Scarinish on the Island of Tiree. - No bodies, no wreck position, and no confirmed cause were recorded; the case remained officially "missing" until 1986. - The man asked in 1988 about ordering the shot declined to answer and died in July 1997, taking whatever knowledge he had with him.

When the Sea Gave Back Only Bodies: The Vanishing of HMS Viknor The cold North Atlantic returned only wreckage and corpses after a ship vanished without a distress call, leaving 295 men lost and identities erased - including prisoners taken from a Norwegian liner just days earlier. How did a vessel once built for carrying gold and passengers become a wartime ghost with no survivors and no confirmed cause? In this episode, we trace the vessel's life from launch to loss and lay out the sequence of events that led to her final patrol, presenting the facts that remain and the central mystery that still needs answering: what actually happened to HMS Viknor? Person: Commander E. O. Ballantyne Date: 13 January 1915 Location: Off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland / North Atlantic Event: Vanishing of HMS Viknor with no distress call Ship original name: Atrato (launched 22 September 1888) - 295 men were aboard HMS Viknor when she disappeared on 13 January 1915. - Atrato was launched on 22 September 1888 by Robert Napier and Sons, Govan. - Atrato/MV The Viking measured 421 feet long, 50 feet beam, and 33 feet 4 inches deep. - Her complement as HMS Viknor was 22 officers and 273 ratings (295 total). - On 1 January 1915 Viknor intercepted the Norwegian liner Bergensfjord and escorted her to Kirkwall.

The Door That Kept Floating: 791 Lives Lost at Sea Fear of being abandoned at sea-seven hundred and ninety-one refugees trapped on a 74-year-old cattle ship off Istanbul, living on an orange and peanuts, watched the lights of shore and were never allowed to step ashore; what precisely struck the Struma from below and why no government claimed responsibility for two decades remains unanswered. Will a single survivor’s memory and one floating cabin door be enough to tell what really happened that February morning? In this episode, we follow the journey of the MV Struma from Constanța to Istanbul, the diplomatic stalemate that left families stranded, and the final moments that left one young man clinging to a door-what led to the ship’s fatal strike and the decades of silence that followed? Person: David Stoliar Date: February 24, 1942 Location: Black Sea (off Istanbul) Event: MV Struma voyage and sinking Passengers: 791 refugees (plus 10 crew) - The MV Struma was built in 1867 and was 74 years old at the time of the voyage. - The ship’s registered gross tonnage was 240 tons and it carried two lifeboats. - Each passenger was allowed 20 kilograms of luggage by Romanian customs, which confiscated valuables and food at departure. - The berths in the hold were 60 centimeters wide with four berths per row; more than 100 children were aboard. - British officials agreed on February 12, 1942 to issue visas only for passengers aged 11 to 16.

Frozen Engines, Fateful Choices: The Potomac Miracle and the Man Who Gave It Up A tail stuck out of the Potomac at 4:04 p.m. on January 13, 1982, with seventy-nine people aboard and water near freezing - and one man quietly passed his only chance at survival to a stranger beneath the surface. How did a routine winter flight turn into a chain of small decisions that made catastrophe almost inevitable? In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events on the ground and in the air that morning, introduce the crew and passengers, and follow what the official record preserved - including the final act in the river that journalists could not forget. What combination of choices, procedures, and conditions led to the crash and to the moment of sacrifice? Date: January 13, 1982 Event: Air Florida Flight 90 crash into the Potomac River Aircraft: Boeing 737 Person: Arland D. Williams Jr., age 46 Temperature: 24 degrees Fahrenheit - Flight 90 was scheduled to depart at 2:45 p.m. but pushed back roughly one hour late. - De-icing was performed about 45 minutes before the aircraft taxied for takeoff. - Captain Larry Wheaton had 8,300 total flight hours and 1,752 hours on the Boeing 737. - First Officer Roger Pettit had 3,353 total flight hours and had flown exactly two flights in snowy conditions. - At 4:04 p.m., only a piece of the airplane’s tail was visible above the Potomac.

Propeller Hammered into Rock: The Night the Regulus Vanished A ship's propeller was hammered into solid cliff rock as if by an enormous force, yet the men who did it vanished without a trace. The SS Regulus sank on October 23, 1910, with every soul aboard lost and no bodies recovered - so how did one of her propellers end up embedded in a cliff face, and who made the fateful decisions that night? In this episode, we tell the factual account of the Regulus's final voyage, the weather and mechanical failures that led to the ship being adrift, and the three choices offered to the tug crews as the gale closed in - leaving the central decisions and the propeller’s strange fate unresolved until you hear what happened next. Person: SS Regulus Date: October 23, 1910 Location: Leeward Cove (wreck at fifteen fathoms) Event: Tail shaft broke off Shoal Bay; tug tow chosen at ~10:30 PM Oct 22, 1910 Period: Launched October 26, 1878; 32 years in service - The Regulus was 32 years old at the time of sinking and was launched on October 26, 1878. - The ship foundered in the early hours of October 23, 1910, during a gale tracked north from Cuba. - The wreck lies on the bottom of Leeward Cove at a depth of fifteen fathoms. - The tail shaft broke while the Regulus was at anchor off Shoal Bay, leaving her adrift in worsening weather. - At approximately 10:30 PM on October 22, 1910, the decision was made to begin the tow immediately in the dark rather than evacuate crew or wait for daylight.

When the Switch Lied: The Pasadena Plant That Killed 23 The control room switch read "closed" while the valve was open, and no alarm existed to warn the 1,500 people on site; within ninety seconds a vapor cloud ignited, starting a cascade that killed 23 and injured 314. How did two identical compressed air hoses, reconnected in the wrong order, turn a routine maintenance day into one of the deadliest petrochemical disasters in American history? In this episode, we describe the events of October 23, 1989 at the Phillips Petroleum Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, detailing the equipment failures, the human toll, and the unanswered questions that remained after the investigation; could a single swapped connection and absent detectors explain everything that went wrong? Date: October 23, 1989 Location: Phillips Petroleum Houston Chemical Complex, Pasadena, Texas Event: Industrial disaster involving polyethylene reactors Deaths: 23 Injuries: 314 - Facility produced roughly 1.5 billion pounds of plastic per year and employed about 1,500 people on site. - At approximately 1:05 p.m. the sequence of failures began, with a 90-second window between valve opening and ignition. - Physical damage from the incident reached $715 million. - Two compressed air hoses, identical in appearance, had been reconnected in reverse at an unknown time before the disaster. - Of the 1,500 on site, 905 were Phillips employees and 600 were contract workers from companies like Fish Engineering and Construction.

The Last Voyage of Waubuno: 24 Souls, No Answers, One Anchor An iron anchor was pulled from Georgian Bay eighty years after the paddle steamer Waubuno vanished with twenty-four people aboard-and there were no bodies, no wreck identified with certainty, and no inquiry held. How did a working ship built in 1865, known to leak and described as "quite unfit" for the route, sail from Collingwood at 4:00 AM on November 22, 1879, and simply disappear? In this episode, we tell what survives in the record: the sightings, the damaged lifeboat, the waterlogged ledger, the company that blocked answers, and the unanswered question that haunts the shoreline-what really happened to the Waubuno? Person: Captain George Plumpton Burkitt Date: November 22, 1879 Location: Georgian Bay (between Collingwood and Parry Sound) Event: Disappearance of the paddle steamer Waubuno Cargo value: approximately $10,000 - The Waubuno slipped from Collingwood Harbour at 4:00 AM on November 22, 1879. - Twenty-four people aboard the Waubuno vanished; no bodies were recovered. - The ship was built in 1865 and was fourteen years old at the time of disappearance. - Workers pumped water out of the hull the Sunday before departure after water rose to the level of the fire hole. - Searchers recovered an overturned metallic lifeboat stove in at both ends and a life preserver stenciled with the ship's name.

Bloodied Bandages, Stopped Clocks: The Vanishing of MV Joyita A drifting ship found with lights on, clocks stopped at 10:25, a doctor's bag intact and four blood-stained bandages on deck-yet no sign of any of the 25 people who sailed from Apia six weeks earlier. What plausible sequence could leave a practically unsinkable vessel half-submerged, listing, radio tuned to distress but incapable of sending, and every soul aboard vanished without a trace? In this episode, we lay out the documented facts of the Joyita voyage and the ship’s history to map exactly what was left behind and what was missing, closing on the single unresolved question: how did 25 people disappear from a cork-lined hull that could not sink? Person: Captain Thomas Henry "Dusty" Miller Event: Departure from Apia on October 3, 1955 Location: Drifting north of Vanua Levu, found November 10, 1955 Status: 25 people missing, ship recovered intact Ship: 69-foot cork-lined wooden hull, built 1931 - The Joyita departed Apia with 25 people on October 3, 1955 and failed to arrive in Tokelau by October 5. - The ship was found on November 10, 1955 by Captain Gerald Douglas, listing heavily and half-submerged more than 600 miles off course. - Four blood-stained bandages and an intact doctor's bag belonging to Dr. Alfred Denis Parsons were found on deck. - The ship’s clocks had stopped at 10:25 and the radio remained tuned to the international distress frequency but its cable had been severed and painted over, limiting range to about two miles. - The Joyita carried 640 cubic feet of cork lining and eighty empty 45-gallon drums in the hold, making her effectively unsinkable.