The Canoe River train crash occurred on November 21, 1950, near Valemount in eastern British Columbia, Canada. A westbound troop train collided head-on with the eastbound Canadian National Railway's Continental Limited, and 21 people were killed. Of these, 17 were Canadian soldiers en route to the Korean War (memorial pictured). The investigation found that the order sent to the troop train was missing crucial words, causing the troop train to proceed rather than halt on a siding, which caused the collision. A telegraph operator, John Atherton, was charged with manslaughter; the prosecution alleged that he was negligent. His family hired his member of Parliament, John Diefenbaker, as defence counsel. Diefenbaker obtained Atherton's acquittal, which became an asset during his political rise to become prime minister of Canada. ( Full article... )
November 21 : Armed Forces Day in Bangladesh
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C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered in 2014 by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy using a 0.2-meter (8 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. It was discovered at apparent magnitude 15 in the southern constellation of Puppis, and is the fifth comet discovered by Lovejoy. Its blue-green glow is the result of organic molecules and water released by the comet fluorescing under the harsh UV and optical light of the sun as it passes through space. Photograph: John Vermette Recently featured: |