1977, News: Tenerife airport disaster

On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife. With a total of 583 fatalities, the crash is the deadliest accident in aviation history.

The aircraft involved - KLM Flight 4805 (Type: Boeing 747-206B, Registration: PH-BUF, Name: Rijn (The Rhine)) and Pan Am Flight 1736 (Type: Boeing 747–121, Registration: N736PA, Name: Clipper Victor) - had been, along with many other aircraft, diverted to Tenerife from Gran Canaria Airport after a bomb exploded there. Many aircraft were diverted to the smaller Tenerife airport where air traffic controllers were forced to park many of the planes on the taxiway, thereby blocking it. Further complicating the situation, a dense fog developed at Tenerife reducing the visibility.

Boeing 747–121, Registration: N736PA, Name: Clipper Victor

Boeing 747-206B, Registration: PH-BUF, Name: Rijn

When Gran Canaria reopened, the parked aircraft blocking the taxiway at Tenerife required both of the subject 747s to taxi on the only runway in order to get in position for take-off. Due to the fog, neither aircraft could see the other, nor could the controller in the tower see the runway or the two 747s on it. As the airport did not have ground radar, the only means for the controller to identify the location of each plane was via voice reports over the radio. As a result of several misunderstandings in the ensuing communication, the KLM flight attempted to take off while the Pan Am flight was still on the runway. The resulting collision destroyed both aircraft, killing all 248 aboard the KLM flight and 335 of 396 aboard the Pan Am flight. Sixty-one people aboard the Pan Am flight, including the pilots and flight engineer, survived the disaster.

Documentary (reconstruction)

1974, News: The Carnation Revolution

On April 25 1974 army rebels took control in Portugal after an almost bloodless dawn coup ending nearly 50 years of dictatorship.

The 25 April coup became known as “The Carnation Revolution” (“Revolução dos Cravos”). It ended the longest dictatorship in Europe, the “Estado Novo”. In the early hours of 25 April 1974, “The Carnation Revolution” began in the Portuguese city of Lisbon. There were two secret signals in the military coup: first the airing (at 10:55 pm) by “Emissores Associados de Lisboa” of the song “E Depois do Adeus” ("And After Goodbye”) by Paulo de Carvalho, Portugal's entry in the 6 April 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, which alerted the rebel captains and soldiers to begin the coup. Next at 12:20 am, “Radio Renascença” broadcast “Grândola, Vila Morena” (“Grândola, swarthy town”), a song by Zeca Afonso, a influential folk and political musician-singer forbidden on Portuguese radio at the time. This was the signal that "announced" that the revolution had started and nothing would stop it except "the possibility of a regime's repression".

The military forces quickly overwhelmed the government, sparking spontaneous demonstrations in the street, in which civilians ran out to mingle with the soldiers, despite orders to stay inside. At the time, carnations were flooding the famous central flower market of Lisbon, and many citizens put them into the gun barrels of the soldiers, inspiring the name “Carnation Revolution” to describe this event in Portuguese history.

Documentary

E Depois do Adeus

1967, News: L'Innovation department store Fire

A fire at the L'Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, kills 322 people on May 22 1967.

There were approximately 2500 people shopping in the store when fire broke out in the furniture department on the fourth floor. However, almost no one was aware of the fire because no fire alarm went off, nor were there any sprinklers. The fire spread quickly because there were only a few hand-held extinguishers on hand. Fire-fighters had problems to access the store due to the narrow streets.

Panic set in when the shoppers realized what was happening. Many suffered trampling injuries after getting caught in the stampede of people trying to leave the store. Several explosions were set off as the fire hit some butane gas canisters in the camping area of the store. Many people made it to the roof seeking an escape route; at least three died jumping from the building. Most of the 322 fatalities were from smoke inhalation. Evidence pointed to an electrical fire.

The building partly designed by Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta was completely destroyed by the fire.

Poster at the opening of the store in 1903

A l'Innovation shortly after the opening in 1903

Clip from a RTBF documentary (French)

1974, News: The Sacred Heart College Fire in Heusden-Berkenbos

On Wednesday, January 23, 1974, 23 schoolboys perish in a blaze in Heusden-Berkenbos, Belgium. The schoolboys died during the night in a fire that burned out a dormitory of a Roman Catholic boarding school in this small town in north-east Belgium. 47 other young boys escaped from the building. The blaze may have been caused by a youngster smoking in bed and falling asleep. Most of the victims were in their beds and did not wake up before the flames caught them. The dormitory building was one of a group of brick concrete and glass buildings at the School of the Sacred Heart which the St. Francis Brothers operate. The fire broke out on the top floor where the boys slept in cubicles separated from each other by partitions. When the fire brigade arrived at the college the whole third floor of the dormitory was in flames.

Dormitory after the fire

Memorial service

Jambers (Dutch), wrong date!

1969, News: Kennedytunnel

The Kennedytunnel opened to road traffic on May 31, 1969, and to rail traffic on February 1, 1970. Named after John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, the Kennedytunnel is an important road, rail and bicycle tunnel to the south of Antwerp under the Scheldt.

The immersed tunnel has a length of 690 meters and consists of four tubes 15 meters below sea level. Two tubes for cars, each with an inner width of 14.25 m (2 x 3 lanes), run on either side of a 4 m wide bicycle tunnel, and a tube for railway traffic with a width of 10.50 m.

Work on the tunnel in 1967

Plans for the tunnel dated from the fifties. Between 1945 and 1960 the volume of traffic going through the Waaslandtunnel had quintupled, so by the end of the fifties this tunnel had to accommodate more than 38.000 vehicles a day. Because of the increasing daily traffic, the construction of a second crossing was necessary.

1961, News: The Crash of Sabena Flight 548

On 15 February 1961, 73 people were killed in the crash of a Boeing 707 of Sabena in Berg, Kampenhout, Belgium. Sabena Flight 548 left seven hours earlier the New York airport and was preparing to land at Zaventem Airport.

The Boeing 707-329 with registration OO-SJB was on a long approach to runway 20 when, near the runway threshold, power was increased and the gear retracted. The aircraft gained height and made several circles in a left turn. During these turns the bank angle increased more and more until finally the aircraft was in a near vertical bank. The 707 crashed and caught fire near the district Lemmeken in Berg.

All 61 passengers and 11 crew members died. Most passengers were killed instantly by the impact. Others died in the fire that broke out after the collision. Passengers must have known that something went wrong. Their bodies were found in the crash position, head between the knees, arms wrapped around the head.

On board was the entire American art skating team. They were on their way to the World Championships in Prague. Some om them were just sixteen years old, it was their first trip abroad. One of the skaters was the national champion Dudley Richards, a friend of President John F. Kennedy. The loss of the U.S. team was considered so catastrophic for the sport that the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships were cancelled. 

Boeing 707-329 with registration OO-SJB

1961 US Skating Team in front of  Boeing 707-329 OO-SJB

Investigators at the crash site

Monument at the crash site

1961 News Reel