Historys Most Shocking S01 E01
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00:00Tonight on history's most shocking what made this alligator ruin a kid's birthday party
00:08He's doing a death roll where it rolls until its prey has drowned how did a caving expedition turn into a crisis
00:18Caves are a place where little accidents can compound together and have tremendous consequences
00:23What caused a midair disaster at this air show?
00:27There's no visual evidence that would indicate a mechanical failure
00:32mayhem on a ski mountain
00:34People are being thrown out like ragdolls and have you heard the 50 year old tale of the exploding whale?
00:41Those were chunks of blubber going up in the air
00:47Disaster
00:52Shocking video
00:54Life or death decisions behind histories caught on camera moments what to do with one dead whale
01:01Are the mysteries of how and why they happen some sort of metal fatigue was most likely at fault
01:09It's like a bulldozer very few buildings can actually withstand that force of moving water
01:16I'm Tony Harris
01:21Prepare to be shocked
01:24You
01:29Good evening and welcome to histories most shocking
01:33We start with a story about wildlife in a most domestic setting a petting zoo the name sounds so harmless
01:41so tame
01:42But as the kids at this birthday party learned some animals don't want to be cuddled and some of them have teeth
01:54August 14th
01:552021 West Valley City, Utah a five-year-olds birthday party is underway at a popular reptile petting zoo
02:02The center's main attraction is darth gator an 11 year old eight and a half foot long
02:08150 pound alligator darts handler Lindsay bull opens the door for a routine feeding
02:16Suddenly this massive wild animal goes well wild
02:20Dart gator snaps his sharp teeth onto Lindsay's hand pulls her into the tank then tries to trap
02:29Let's see that again
02:37He's doing this thing called a death roll when an alligator has grabbed its prey
02:43Essentially rolls until its prey has drowned and then it will shake the prey apart so that it can eat the pieces
02:51But within seven seconds one dad rushes to the rescue as the children look on in horror
03:00The father Donnie Weissman heroically jumps in straddling the giant gator
03:0519 seconds into the incident the handle Donnie and the gator are now all locked in a tense stalemate
03:12At the one-and-a-half minute mark the beast finally releases Lindsay's hand. She's quickly pulled free. Thank goodness
03:20But Donnie is still stuck riding the gators back as it thrashes about violently
03:26Super scary scenario for somebody who doesn't deal with wild animals at all. I would be terrified to be in this situation
03:33They have a bite force of 2,000 psi
03:38Lions have a bite strength of 600 psi and humans clock in at around
03:43160 ish so they're basically the perfect killing machine
03:51So after watching that would you ever think about taking an alligator home as a pet I
03:57Wouldn't most states in America banned the practice
04:00However, there are still five states where you don't even need a permit to own one of these fearsome creatures
04:06We're left asking what triggered this gator attack in the first place
04:10Was it handled the right way and how was the super dad able to escape without a scratch?
04:17While
04:21Gator attacks might be terrifying. They are surprisingly rare in the wild. These animals generally don't mess with humans
04:29In Florida, for example over the last 10 years
04:32There have only been eight unprovoked attacks annually that have actually required medical attention
04:38But that doesn't mean we should just let our guard down around these creatures
04:43One way of provoking it is to getting too far into their territory
04:48What we have found is that the animal has attacked
04:52In most situations either someone is trying to feed them is too close trying to take a selfie
04:57Which may have been handler Lindsay's biggest mistake. I definitely think Lindsay got too close
05:04She should have been standing instead of reaching her body over
05:08In other alligator trainings people stand a farther distance back
05:14They have poles to feed the alligators
05:17However, Lindsay's cool reaction to the situation to be commended
05:21It seemed like at first she tried to prevent the alligator from going into a death roll
05:26She rolled with the alligator
05:28preventing the alligator from actually like twisting her hand off or breaking a bone and
05:33Then she used her legs to wrap around the alligator to stabilize it
05:38so it did seem like
05:39She had a good sense of the animal and behavior and what was going to happen and tried to prevent it now
05:45Two minutes into the attack
05:47Lindsay continues to walk the heroic Donnie through his escape
05:51You can see how he is applying pressure to keep the creatures mouth closed a good tactic
05:56Since gators have extremely weak muscles for opening their jaw a stark contrast from their vicious bite force
06:03Finally Lindsay tells Donnie to sit up and make a break for it
06:08The man and beast struggle for a moment and then two minutes and 18 seconds into the standoff Donnie
06:14Successfully jumps free and escapes unharmed for not knowing anything Donnie did incredibly well
06:21He took direction from her. He listened to the expert and
06:24Stabilized the alligator. I can't imagine lots of people in that situation doing the same thing
06:30Thank goodness. This dad was there who knows what would have happened if he hadn't been there to jump in
06:35The
06:37Takeaway even in a petting zoo the law of the jungle applies
06:41So don't get too close the good news
06:45Lindsay rolling with the bite prevented a life-threatening injury. She had some tendon damage in her hand, but after surgery
06:52She's doing better
06:55Now let's take it underground we've seen a lot of nail biters on this show
07:00But every once in a while we come across a video that even has our team covering their eyes
07:06That's exactly what happened when we saw this footage of a caving expedition going from good to bad
07:12to worse
07:18December 5th
07:202015 a group of friends are exploring the cascade cave system in British Columbia, Canada
07:26Among the team is amateur Jason story as well as Andrew Munoz a paramedic and caving pro working as one of the leads
07:35After a full day of exploring the caves
07:37They see the water levels have risen significantly since their descent and decide to head back to the surface
07:43I was cresting over the top of the climb to like a little ledge
07:48And that's when Zach indicates that Jason's in some trouble Andrew realizes just how much trouble when he sees this
07:57Jason has been swept onto his back by a torrent of water
08:01That blue glove and a narrow glimpse of his head are the only signs. He's alive
08:06He's up to his eyeballs in like water. That's actively filling up
08:10I could tell that we had just a couple more minutes before he was going down
08:15And believe it or not, it is much easier to drown in a cave than you might think
08:20You get a lot of raid up in these higher elevations
08:24And you can actually have what we call flash floods inside the cave these flash floods
08:30Sometimes called flood pulses is what happens when a heavy rainfall causes water from the surface to suddenly run off into the caverns
08:39Filling them like a pitcher
08:44You can get caught in one of these little small areas where it's the water's focused at that moment and it's just credential in those areas
08:57One of the most infamous tragedies in caving is the 2009 incident at a cave in Utah
09:04John Edward Jones got stuck upside down in a tiny crevice and died
09:09Rescuers couldn't even extract his body. So they ended up sealing the cave which became his tomb
09:15So, how did Andrew keep Jason from suffering a similar fate?
09:22Andrew quickly takes charge and begins to guide Jason on how to stay alive
09:27You
09:35Can hear me saying like make sure you have good hands right because your contact points are important you're gonna need to make a move
09:49Okay, I was incredibly impressed with Andrew's ability to communicate clearly with Jason
09:55He was not losing his composure
09:57Now after 10 minutes of relentless pounding by the water
10:01Andrew pulls Jason getting him unstuck from the crevice his face comes into view, but he's not fully there
10:11He's going into shock which then reduces his ability to listen to me and function but thankfully
10:18Made the move that he needed to make
10:25If
10:27You give too much information to someone who's already in shock
10:31He's gonna shut down. So instead he kept Jason active by asking him questions and getting him to respond
10:43But they're not out of the woods yet
10:47From there. We're into the hypothermia phase. Jason's been underwater in December for 15-20 minutes
10:56Rather than risk Jason making another attempt to get through
10:59Andrew heats him up with some water from a camping stove and the two stay in the cave overnight
11:05The fact that Andrew had ability to create some warm water to keep Jason from getting hypothermic
11:11Was probably not just a lifesaver, but also a huge morale boost. There's a
11:16Significant factor contributing to their survival the following day with Andrew's strength returned the two start the climb back to the surface
11:25We were trapped for about 20 hours
11:27I said, okay, you can't give this a half effort. You have to do it a hundred percent
11:34It was
11:35Herculean watching him like do these climbs with the state that his body was in but
11:41He made it right to the very entrance all by herself
11:47Good trip
11:50Our takeaway Andrew did everything right conditions changed quickly, but Andrew was prepared and
11:57experienced enough to handle each obstacle head-on if you're planning on going caving definitely pay close attention to the weather forecasts and
12:05Just like the Boy Scouts say
12:07always be prepared
12:11An estimated 300 plus air shows take place in North America
12:15These aerial exhibitions are performed by some of the best pilots in the world
12:20Which is what makes our next story just as bewildering as it is tragic
12:29It's November 12th
12:312022 and thousands of flock to Dallas Executive Airport for the annual wings over Dallas World War two air show
12:37Enjoying the afternoon our amateur history buff Chris Craterville and his 12 year old daughter Kelsey
12:43I was explaining to my daughter what each of these aircraft did during World War two and that's what it happened a
12:51B-17 bomber soars overhead when suddenly a p63 fighter plane
12:57collides into its left side
13:06Six crew members from both planes are killed at first. I thought it was part of the show
13:13But as I watched this plane break into pieces it occurred to me what you're watching is real
13:20Another look reveals why it was such a devastating collision the p63 slices right through the tail section of the b-17
13:28Leaving no chance for anyone on either plane to survive. It's an awful thing to witness. I'll remember it for the remainder of my days
13:37During an exhibition a head official called an airboss
13:41Acts as the primary operations and safety officer and briefs the pilots before the flights
13:47So what happened here was this crash due to poor planning or could it be that after nearly 80 years?
13:53These World War two aircraft are showing signs of their age
14:01First let's take a look at these two planes
14:04First let's take a look at these two planes the smaller plane with the Bell
14:09P63 F King Cobra the Bell p63 was a fast and agile fighter used for training during World War two
14:17The b-17 on the other hand was a workhorse
14:20The b-17 known as the Flying Fortress was one of the most important planes during the Second World War
14:26Able to drop significant bombs on the enemies during combat
14:30Well also able to sustain really heavy damage making it a pivotal plane for the Allied Forces
14:37Nearly 13,000 were built by the end of World War two today
14:42There are less than 10 considered airworthy
14:45But still many say it's okay for these planes to be up in the air
14:49Not just in museums World War two airplanes, even though they're old are still
14:54Maintained in a good airworthy condition because people want to preserve history the mechanical condition of airplanes that are flown in airshows are
15:03meticulously
15:04Documented you've got mechanics that make sure the airplane is in top shape before it's actually gonna perform at an airshow
15:11But old or new all aircraft can suffer mechanical issues
15:16So we look for signs of malfunction. You don't see any smoke the sound of the engine
15:22I mean, they sound like they're running in optimal form
15:25There's no visual evidence that would indicate a mechanical failure at 1.5 seconds before impact both planes appear to be in perfect working condition
15:34But at just 0.5 seconds before impact
15:37McMillan sees signs of a problem that plagues transportation both in the air and on the ground
15:43What likely could have occurred is the p63 pilot as they were coming in belly out like that?
15:49The b-17 would have been in their blind spot. So unfortunately the pilot couldn't see it
15:55Just like cars low-wing aircraft like the p63 have a large blind spot in this case
16:01Underneath them and not only that who's that he says another major problem is apparent both airplanes were at the same altitude
16:08The air boss should not allow that to happen
16:11according to the International Civil Aviation
16:13Organization planes flying lower than
16:1629,000 feet should maintain a vertical separation of at least 1,000 feet at airports vertical separation is ensured by air traffic control
16:27But it doesn't look like any such assignments were made here
16:34Now the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating this but in their preliminary report
16:39They indicated that there were no altitude
16:43separations
16:45Specified during the pre-brief for this flight to ensure that this was conducted safely
16:55The takeaway
16:57Insufficient altitude assignments and the deadly blind spot are to blame here the following year in
17:042023 organizers eliminated the air show portion of the festival out of respect to the families of those killed
17:13Now let's hopscotch from Dallas to Canada when you're at home cleaning your windows chances
17:19Are you are not thinking this could be one of the most dangerous jobs on earth?
17:23But then again, you're not outside
17:26suspended hundreds of feet in the air
17:29October 25th 2019. It's a crisp all day in downtown Edmonton a window-washing crew is cleaning the outside of the
17:3966 story
17:40823 foot tall stantic tower the tallest building in Western, Canada
17:45But when workers in a building across the street hear a commotion outside
17:49One of them pulls out a phone and records this
17:59No, the window-washing platform is violently swinging in the air seemingly caught in a strong wind
18:06Oh my god, watch as one end of the platform slams into a window
18:11Raining glass onto the street below as the onlookers scream in horror
18:19Then the other end swings back into the building slamming into its side
18:25And knocking one of the workers from the platform the man appears to be hanging on for dear life
18:34Will our wind swept window washer make a clean getaway stay with us
18:42Lauren a
18:45Canadian window washers life is hanging by a thread and this isn't the first time this has happened
18:51As you can imagine
18:53window-washing has a high adrenaline history in the 19th century the window-washing industry was created because the literal rise of
19:01skyscrapers and the very first method was
19:04Climbing outside you just lean out of the window and wash it as buildings continued to rise
19:10Washers began using leather safety belts fitted with straps which attached to a pair of anchor bolts
19:17Installed in the brickwork surrounding each window, but something changed to usher in window-washing platforms like the one in our video
19:25In 1952 the window-washing game completely changed when that Park Avenue building in New York City
19:30built the first scaffolding to lower the
19:33Window-washers down from above to stick to the surface of the building and wash the windows that way but it hasn't really evolved since then
19:41Before the advent of window-washing platforms about one in two hundred New York City window-washers was killed on the job
19:50Modern platforms are relatively safe. So how did this happen?
19:57First let's see how these things are supposed to work. This is called suspended scaffolding
20:03The platform is suspended beneath steel cables
20:07Which are connected to winches at the top of the building that raise and lower the platform up and down
20:12with people on it and then there's counterweights that act to
20:18Neutralize any disturbances kind of a stabilizing mechanism. Then is this some type of equipment malfunction?
20:26You think that at first glance
20:29But it turns out mother nature is behind this frightening failure
20:34While one side is still pretty close to the structure. The other side is
20:38Flapping back and forth which suggests that the wind was pretty high in terms of his gust
20:49There was actually a warning issue of winds being up to 60 miles per hour on this particular day
20:56Standard operation procedure is to not wash windows and winds higher than 25 miles per hour
21:02So with his life on the line did this wayward washer make it home alive
21:09Fortunately, yes, he's actually saved by the harness
21:12He's able to sort of hold on until the authorities got there. They were able to
21:18Rescue this particular worker if you're a window washer, this is your absolute
21:24Worst case nightmare scenario. I'm sure that every single person who shows up for this job on their first day
21:29Thinks about how their life is depending on that buckle that harness that strap that restraining device
21:38The takeaway
21:39unsafe operation of a scaffold in high winds
21:43After an investigation the company in charge of the window washing was issued a penalty of $5,000 if only their safety
21:51Record was as clean as those windows
21:53When
21:56It comes to hitting the slopes most skiers probably worry about an injury from a terrible wipeout or even smashing into a tree as
22:04It turns out danger also lurks at a place where skiers think they may be able to sit back and relax
22:10Not this time
22:15March 16th
22:162018 it's winter at the Gouda Uri ski resort in the Caucasus mountains of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia
22:24Thousands of skiers and snowboarders come here to speed down more than 35 miles of runs and trails
22:30Just as people wait their turn to head up the mountain shouts and screams fill the air as spectators pull out their phones
22:37And capture this
22:47Let's see that again instead of going up the mountain the ski lift chairs are racing in reverse
22:53Watch closely as these skiers are violently thrown from the chair as it careens around the turn
23:02The same crisis is unfolding at the top of the hill another camera captures this skier holding on for dear life
23:10Back at the bottom the lift continues to bolt backwards
23:13Some skiers decide the best option to save their lives is to jump before crashing
23:22This isn't the only time this kind of accident has happened in 2009 at Devil's Head Ski Resort in Wisconsin
23:28The chairlift there suddenly rocketed backwards at full speed
23:32Skiers reported smoke and sparks shortly before the accident in which 14 people were injured in that case
23:39It was determined that there was a catastrophic gearbox failure that caused the brakes to completely malfunction
23:46Look, these are certainly some terrifying accidents, but according to the National Ski Areas Association
23:53Riding a chairlift in the United States is safer than riding an elevator
23:57But that's the US. So what made this ski lift go haywire in the Republic of Georgia?
24:03Let's check with the experts
24:06You
24:08Know we always ask how is this thing supposed to work?
24:12You've got one continuous length of cable and that's looped around large wheels called ball wheels
24:19bottom station and
24:21At the top one of those wheels will then be driven by an electric motor
24:27And when the wheel turns the cable turns like a large conveyor belt around it
24:33But something clearly went wrong the motor stopped causing what's known as a rollback
24:39Rollback is when the motor is no longer acting on that wheel and it will roll backwards because one side of the lift is
24:47Fully loaded. It's very heavy. And the other side of the lift is full of empty chairs
24:51so you've got a real imbalance of load of weight from one side to the other and
24:56Gravity wants to bring weight back down to earth
25:00And it turns out the sudden loss of power wasn't the only thing that went wrong
25:06it strikes me as very surprising that this incident occurred because
25:11The way that the breaking the emergency braking system works with ski lifts or at least should work
25:17Is that if that electricity is cut the brakes will come on?
25:23Accident investigators didn't cite brake failures in their report
25:26But did determine it all began when a voltage fluctuation shut down the power to the chair lifts motor
25:35And there was a human failsafe which also didn't take place
25:39Ski lifts are accustomed to voltage fluctuations
25:42They happen all the time and as a consequence when the thing stops you
25:48Turn on the alternate motor the workers should have turned on a backup generator
25:54Apparently that didn't happen the operator did not start up the backup emergency system
26:01And it was then that the lift started to go into rollback
26:06That rollback added up to a terrifying ski lift ride
26:10Thankfully, no one was killed
26:12But the accident did leave 11 people with mild to moderate injuries. This incident is still a bit of a mystery
26:19we don't know why the lift operator didn't follow procedure and
26:23We don't know exactly what was going on with the electricity supply
26:29The takeaway power system failures
26:33compounded by chairlift operator error
26:35three years later in
26:362021 prosecutors brought charges against the two operators who failed to activate the backup generators for the ski lift
26:46With more than 500 miles of freeway in the Los Angeles area
26:50It is almost a given that multi-car pileups are going to occur each year
26:55But not all of them are caught on camera as vividly as this
27:03November 30th
27:042021 it's nearly 2 a.m
27:06on the 110 freeway in South Los Angeles and a black sedan has broken down in the middle of the freeway a
27:12Local videographer stops his car and captures the moment even shining a floodlight to increase the disabled cars visibility
27:20The driver gets out to assess the situation while other cars zip past
27:25The driver walks away, but then 35 seconds later BAM
27:31Headlights and screeching tires announce a gray Toyota as it careens full speed into the sedan
27:36The collision spins the cars across two lanes, but it's not over
27:41About two minutes later. Another car comes barreling at the wreckage swerves to avoid it and slams into the highway barrier
27:48And we're still not done
27:51next a blue SUV clips the stalled sedan at high speed and
27:56Finally a white SUV slams into the main wreckage
28:05Unfortunately pileups like this are all too common in the City of Angels in
28:112022 alone in Los Angeles there were over a hundred and two thousand crashes over 800 deaths and over
28:1856,000 injuries and
28:20according to the US Department of Transportation
28:23One-fifth about 20% of all crashes are secondary to an initial crash to Los Angeles
28:28It's a car culture city on top of miles of freeway
28:32And that would certainly explain one reason why LA always ranks among the highest of collisions
28:38In fact, Los Angeles is home to one of the worst pileups in US history in November
28:442002 whether was the catalyst or an accident on Interstate 710
28:49Involving nearly 200 vehicles it left cars and 18-wheelers in a tangled mess on both sides of the freeway
28:56in the end, there were more than 40 injuries and
29:00surprisingly, no fatality a
29:042018 study declared I 110 the most dangerous freeway in Los Angeles
29:09Which is saying something and while fog played a big role in the infamous 2002 pileup
29:14That doesn't seem to be as much of a factor in this instance. So what what wrong here? Let's break down this breakdown
29:27Our first question how did this chain reaction of events begin a lot of this comes down to something called
29:34Conspicuity how conspicuous is what you're seeing against the background the first car that's broke down has no lights on
29:41He has no way of letting people coming up behind him know that he's broke down blocking a lane
29:46So cars coming in behind they don't have a lot of visual clues further up the road that the lanes are blocked
29:54So unless they can see you no one's gonna be able to slow down
29:58Especially if the other driver is going an unsafe speed as was noted in the police report
30:04But if it's about seeing things
30:06Is it as simple as putting more lights on the highway?
30:08The overhead lighting is good to give you kind of a general idea what the roadway is in front of you
30:13But a dark car on a dark roadway against a dark background
30:17Lit from overhead is not going to change that. It's a dark car on a dark roadway
30:23Whether or not
30:24Extra light would have helped or not in this situation. That's open to debate
30:29Besides hate notes that many secondary crashes including some seen in this video are not due to poor lighting
30:36But rather to a forgotten rule of the road
30:39Drivers used to be trained in what's called a three-second rule
30:42The rule means that when driving you should allow at least three seconds of space between your car in the vehicle in front of you
30:49And what that's supposed to do is give you an opportunity to see something in front of you react to it and
30:56Try to stop your car in time and we see that as a failure here as well
31:01Luckily, no one was killed in this pileup. But how do we keep this from happening again?
31:06Many newer cars have automated emergency braking to help prevent this kind of accident
31:11But ultimately hate says it comes down to two simple tasks
31:15Drivers that are not paying attention to what's going on outside of their lane and
31:20Not looking for enough in advance. Those are going to be the contributing factors here that led to this pilot
31:31The takeaway lots of contributing factors here
31:34But interestingly the police cited that great Toyotas excessive speed as the main cause of the accident
31:41Not the stall drivers failure to turn on their hazards still when it comes to a big city pileup you could say
31:48It takes a village
31:52It's time for our weekly throwback segment
31:54It's been more than 50 years since one of the most bizarre animal removal operations took place on a beautiful beach
32:01And there's a reason it hasn't been repeated. This is a true whale of a tale
32:11November 12
32:131970 Florence, Oregon a
32:1645 foot 8 ton dead sperm whale has been brought in by the tide and is now rotting on the beach
32:22After ruling out other options officials decide that the best way to dispose of the carcass is to disintegrate it with a half-ton of dynamite
32:31Local TV reporter Paul Linman is there to cover it. There was kind of a exciting mood
32:38Over the scene it was kind of old. Let's see how this goes. This is something we never get to see so in three
32:45two one
32:50The beach erupts in a 100 foot high cloud of sand and whale
32:55Sending chunks of the mammoth mammal soaring well over a quarter of a mile from ground zero
33:00Let's see that again
33:08The air darkened and you can see it looks like any explosion you see in a movie
33:14But in fact, those were chunks of blubber going up in the air
33:21The good news there were no human casualties
33:24Just this pea green Oldsmobile. The worst thing that happened was the car that was flattened and I've talked to several people who alleged
33:33That their insurance agent was the guy responsible for paying that claim
33:37But even though no one was hurt this probably wasn't the best way to solve this problem. So why did this removal go so wrong?
33:47Just under nine years after this chaotic scene
33:5141 sperm whales beached themselves and died not far from this spot
33:55But that time TNT was off the table
33:59Those carcasses were simply buried in the sand which has since become state policy for dealing with dead beached whales
34:06But looking back was blowing up a whale
34:09Really such a bad idea or did the engineers just not get it, right?
34:14Let's let our experts chew the fat
34:21Linman says the first issue may be to whom the task was assigned the Oregon State Highway Division back in the day
34:29Oregon beaches were declared state highways because they were used by early-day automobile traffic
34:36So the state ordered the State Highway Division to keep them clean
34:42As for the decision to use dynamite that fell to assistant district highway engineer George Thornton
34:49Thornton explored a few options
34:52One was taking the carcass to rendering plants, but they didn't want it one was burying it
34:58But they had some concerns about the waves
35:01uncovering the pieces on the beach and
35:03he did talk to some Navy munitions experts who told him that the explosives would create smaller pieces of the whale and send them out
35:11into the Pacific Ocean
35:13Some think dynamite for this type of mission seems counterintuitive and a bit of over krill
35:20Make that kill
35:22Dynamite has a commercial use mining
35:25demolition
35:27Agriculture, it's not designed to break up a dead whale, which is very porous
35:32It's fat doesn't react to explosives like a boulder or a rock would it actually?
35:40Absorbs the energy since the blubber absorbed much of the shock wave the whale didn't break up into small enough chunks
35:48Hickey says there may be a better way to go about they actually
35:52dug up underneath the whale
35:56Which pushed the whale?
35:58upwards instead of splitting it apart
36:01They probably should have opened up the whale and put the explosives inside the gut that would have broken it up
36:08As it exploded yet many marine biologists believe it's best to return the carcass from whence it came in some cases
36:16You're able to tow the animal back out to sea to naturally decompose
36:20When a whale falls down to the ocean floor after dying it creates this
36:26Incredibly nutrient rich environment for the animals on the seafloor to live off of and this can happen for decades
36:35The takeaway poorly planned whale removal tactics
36:39Oregon DOT highway engineer George Thornton passed away in
36:432013 but he always maintained the media was too harsh on him for the TNT decision
36:49He claimed the problem only fell into his lap because his colleagues were off on a hunting trip that weekend
36:55Leaving him holding the bag of blubber
36:59We all love fireworks, right?
37:02During 2022 in the US alone consumers set off more than four hundred sixty million pounds of the stuff
37:08But fireworks like this are supposed to explode after they leave the ground and when they don't we'll take a look
37:20December 20th
37:222016 tool to pick Mexico just north of Mexico City up to
37:282,000 people are shopping at the San Pablito outdoor fireworks market gearing up for Christmas and New Year's
37:34But that holiday cheer quickly turns to holiday fear as a passing driver captures this
37:39A
37:45Series of large explosions rips through the market one even setting off this large fireball
37:54While fireworks might be very fun when they all go off at once it's a bomb
37:59The chain reaction explosion goes on for at least 25 minutes tragically killing more than 40 people and injuring dozens of others
38:08Even more shocking is the fact that this isn't the first time this exact market has been the site of a disaster in
38:15September 2005 right before Mexico's Independence Day an explosion injured
38:20128 vendors and customers
38:23The market adopted a bunch of new safety features stalls that would separate
38:29Various kinds of fireworks things that would prevent the chain reaction from actually happening
38:34But safety features are only as good as the adherence to them obviously something fell by the wayside
38:43One of the worst fireworks disasters in US history happened in 1901 in
38:48Patterson, New Jersey at least 12 people died in a tenement building
38:53When a young boy mishandled a packet of fireworks setting off a chain reaction that caused a massive fire
38:59But how did the market of Mexico blow up with all of these new safety measures
39:07Could this be a case of spontaneous combustion that's when something bursts into flames without any apparent cause
39:14fireworks
39:16spontaneously combusting is
39:18Super hard to do you need heat shock and friction to ignite something there could have been a food vendor
39:25even a
39:27Splash of super hot oil could have caused this to happen
39:31It could have been a hot plate that sparked it could have been electrical
39:37It could have been a variety of reasons or could it have been water which we normally associate with safety
39:44Hickey says that's not always the case with fireworks
39:47You don't know where these fireworks were stored before they could have had moisture on them
39:52Wet fireworks can become more dangerous as they start to dry out because of chemical reactions that take place in the device's
40:00complex compounds when water is at
40:03They could have had congealed
40:06Explosives on the outside like the aluminum powder and that would automatically
40:11want to ignite
40:13It was reported
40:15330 tons of fireworks were present at the market
40:18So after the dust settles, how can this market be made safer one way is by
40:23Taking these fireworks and putting them at least 500 feet away from where the public is walking through
40:31You could have a large
40:34metal storage container
40:36making sure that fireworks are not in the area that has a vendor next door of cooking or
40:43Selling other items that could initiate these fireworks
40:47This scenario didn't have to happen
40:53The takeaway it's most likely something like hot oil ignited the explosives in one stall
40:59Setting off a chain reaction around the market
41:02Experts say it's unlikely markets like these will be shut down. So here's hoping following the rules and regulations
41:09Will prevent another tragedy and that's our show for tonight. Thank you so much for watching and stay safe out there
41:16You