Question: How many of the people killed in the first event in Faversham , Kent were workers ?

text: Ammonium nitrate disasters
Timeline of major disasters

When heated, ammonium nitrate decomposes non-explosively into gases including oxygen; however, it can be induced to decompose explosively by detonation. Large stockpiles of the material can be a major fire risk due to their supporting oxidation, and may also detonate, as happened in the Texas City disaster of 1947, which led to major changes in the regulations for storage and handling. There are two major classes of incidents resulting in explosions:
Country City/Location Date Deaths Notes
United Kingdom Faversham , Kent April 2 , 1916 115 The Great Explosion : On April 2 , 1916 , a factory in Uplees , Faversham , exploded after a fire spread to a store of 25 tons of TNT and 700 tons of ammonium nitrate . The blast at the Explosives Loading Company killed 115 people and shattered windows in Southend-on-Sea across the Thames Estuary while the tremor was felt in Norwich
United States Morgan , New Jersey ( now Sayreville ) October 4 , 1918 ~100 T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion : On October 4 , 1918 , an explosion at the Morgan Depot occurred leading to many artillery shells being launched into the air , some of which landed on a neighbouring warehouse where 4000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in barrels . One of the shells caused a large explosion , but the majority of the ammonium nitrate did not detonate
Germany Kriewald July 26 , 1921 19 On July 26 , 1921 , in this railway town ( now in Poland ) workers tried to dislodge 30 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had aggregated ( solidified into one mass ) in two wagons . When mining explosives were used on this solid mass the wagons exploded and killed nineteen people
Germany Oppau September 21 , 1921 561 Explosion at BASF plant Oppau : Another attempt at disaggregation of a fertilizer mix with industrial explosives caused the death of 561 people and left more than 2000 injured . The fertilizer was a 50:50 mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate and the factory had used this method of disaggregation over 20,000 times without incident . It is thought that , on this occasion , poor mixing had led to certain parts of the mass containing more ammonium nitrate than others . Only 450 tonnes exploded , out of 4500 tonnes of fertilizer stored in the warehouse
United States Nixon , New Jersey ( now Edison Township ) March 1 , 1924 20 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster : On March 1 , 1924 , a fire and several large explosions destroyed a warehouse containing ammonium nitrate at the Nixon Nitration Works . The explosiveness of the product was perhaps enhanced , as it had been prepared using nitric acid that had previously been used for the production of TNT
United States Muscle Shoals , Alabama 1925 0 On April 4 , 1925 , and May 3 , 1925 , two carloads , each containing 220 barrels of ammonium nitrate , were dispatched from Muscle Shoals , Alabama , and caught fire in transportation . The barrels had been stored in a warehouse with varying humidity for 6 years , so it is believed that they were ignited by friction with their nitrate-impregnated manila paper lining . Other shipments were reportedly more successful
France Miramas August 5 , 1940 0 240 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in sacks exploded after being hit by a shell from a nearby fire in a munitions train
Belgium Tessenderlo April 29 , 1942 189 Another attempt to disaggregate a pile of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate with industrial explosives ended tragically on April 29 , 1942 : 189 people were killed , 900 wounded
United States Texas City April 16 , 1947 581 Texas City disaster : The cargo ship Grandcamp was being loaded on April 16 , 1947 , when a fire was detected in the hold : at this point , 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate in sacks were already aboard . The captain responded by closing the hold and pumping in pressurised steam . One hour later , the ship exploded , killing several hundred people and setting fire to another vessel , the High Flyer , which was moored 250 metres away and which contained 1050 tonnes of sulfur and 960 tons of ammonium nitrate . The Grandcamp explosion also created a powerful earthshock that broke windows as far as 40 miles away and knocked two small planes flying at 1,500 feet ( 460 m ) out of the sky . The High Flyer exploded the next day , after having burned for sixteen hours . 500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on the quayside also burned , but without exploding , probably because it was less tightly packed . All but one member of the Texas City fire department died
France Brest July 28 , 1947 29 The Norwegian cargo ship Ocean Liberty was loaded with 3300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and various flammable products when it caught fire at 12:30 July 28 , 1947 . The captain ordered the hold to be sealed and pressurised steam was pumped in . As this did not stop the fire , the vessel was towed out of the harbour at 14:00 , and exploded at 17:00 . The explosion caused 29 deaths and serious damage to the port of Brest
- Red Sea 1953 0 A fire was detected on the cargo ship Tirrenia on January 23 , 1953 , while it was carrying 4000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate . Attempts to extinguish the fire with steam were unsuccessful , and the ship was abandoned before it exploded later in the night
United States Roseburg , Oregon August 7 , 1959 14 The Roseburg Blast : A truck carrying dynamite and ammonium nitrate caught fire early in the morning of August 7 , 1959 . When it exploded it killed 14 people and injured 125 more . Several blocks of downtown Roseburg were destroyed . The accident is locally referred to as The Blast
United States Traskwood , Arkansas December 17 , 1960 0 On December 17 , 1960 , a 96 freight car train suffered partial derailment , in which the last 23 cars were derailed . The derailed cars included : four fuel oil tank cars , two tank cars of gasoline , three tank cars of petroleum oil , four cars of lube oil drums , three cars of liquid fertilizer , one car of fuming nitric acid and two cars of fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate . In this particular accident , neither car of ammonium nitrate exploded . However , the nitric acid reacted with the fuel oil , essentially creating ANFO to feed the conflagration , resulting in the spread of the ammonium nitrate material around the incident site
Australia Taroom , Queensland August 30 , 1972 3 A truck carrying ammonium nitrate experienced an electrical fault and caught fire north of Taroom . After the driver stopped and parked the burning truck , two brothers from a nearby cattle property who saw the fire rode up on motorbikes to assist . The three men were killed when the truck exploded . The explosion burnt out more than 2000 acres of surrounding bushland , and left a deep crater where the truck had been parked . A memorial to the three men was unveiled at the accident site in 2013
United States Kansas City , Missouri November 29 , 1988 6 On November 29 , 1988 , at 4:07 AM two trailers containing approximately 50,000 lb ( 23,000 kg ) of the explosive ANFO ( ammonium nitrate with fuel oil ) exploded at a construction site located near the 87th street exit of Highway 71 in Kansas City , Missouri . The explosives were to be used in the blasting of rock while constructing Highway 71 . The result of the explosions were the deaths of six firemen from the Kansas City Fire Department 's Pumper Companies 30 and 41 . Both companies were dispatched after 911 calls indicated that a pickup truck located near the trailers had been set on fire . The responding companies were warned that there were explosives on-site ; however , they were unaware that the trailers were essentially magazines filled with explosives . At 4:07 AM one of the magazines caught fire and a catastrophic explosion occurred , killing all six firemen instantly - only sparing remains were found . A second blast occurred 40 minutes later , although all fire crews had been pulled back at this time . The blasts created two craters , each approximately 100 feet ( 30 m ) wide and 8 feet ( 2.4 m ) deep . The explosions also shattered windows within a 10-mile ( 16 km ) area and could be heard 40 miles ( 64 km ) away . It was later determined that the explosions were acts of arson , set by individuals embroiled in a labor dispute with the construction company contracted to build the highway
Papua New Guinea Porgera Gold Mine August 2 , 1994 11 At 9:45 am , 2 August 1994 , 11 workers were killed when the sensitised AN emulsion plant they were working on exploded at the Porgera Gold Mine . The fatal explosion involved at most a few tonnes of explosive . A larger explosion of about 80 tonnes of emulsion ( Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion , ANE , UN 3375 ) was caused by fires under storage facilities at the site at 11:02 AM . There were no fatalities in the second explosion because the site had been evacuated . A mushroom cloud was seen to rise . ANE is an emulsion of ammonium nitrate , fuel and water
United States Port Neal , Iowa December 13 , 1994 4 Port Neal fertilizer plant explosion : At about 6:06 AM on December 13 , 1994 , two explosions rocked the Port Neal , Iowa , ammonium nitrate processing plant operated by Terra Industries . Four people were killed and 18 injured . Approximately 5,700 tons of anhydrous ammonia were released and releases of ammonia continued for six days after the explosions . Groundwater under the processing plant was contaminated by chemicals released as a result of the blast . The timing of the explosion occurred prior to the start of the arrival of the 8:00 AM shift personnel , or the death toll might have been larger
China Xingping , Shaanxi January 6 , 1998 22 At midnight on January 6 , 1998 , the Xinghua Fertilizer company had a series of explosions in the plant . About 27.6 tons of ammonium nitrate liquor was in a container there . The explosion claimed 22 lives , with a further 56 wounded . The explosion was officially announced as an accident
France Toulouse September 21 , 2001 31 AZF : On September 21 , 2001 , at 10:15 AM , in the AZF ( Azote de France ) fertiliser factory in Toulouse , France , an explosion occurred in a warehouse where the off-specification granular AN was stored flat , separated by partitions . About 200-300 tons were said to be involved in the explosion , resulting in 31 people dead and 2,442 injured , 34 of them seriously . The blast wave shattered windows up to 3 km away , and the resulting crater was 10 m deep and 50 m wide . The exact cause remains unknown . The material damage was estimated at 2.3 billion euros . France 's Environment Minister initially suggested the explosion may have been a terrorist attack as it occurred soon after the September 11 attacks and one worker may have had militant views
Spain Cartagena , Murcia January 2003 0 The fertilizer storage facility of Fertiberia held a self-sustained decomposition ( SSD ) fire in January 2003 . The fire was controlled after most of the material was removed by mechanical means