The Enschede fireworks disaster was a catastrophic fireworks explosion on 13 May 2000 in Enschede, Netherlands. The explosion killed 23 people including four firefighters and injured 950 others. A total of 400 homes were destroyed and 1,500 buildings were subsequently damaged.
There have been many extremely large explosions, accidental and intentional, caused by modern high explosives, boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVEs), older explosives such as gunpowder, volatile petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline, and other chemical reactions. This list contains the largest known examples, sorted by date. An unambiguous ranking in order of severity is not possible; a 1994 study by historian Jay White of 130 large explosions suggested that they need to be ranked by an overall effect of power, quantity, radius, loss of life and property destruction, but concluded that such rankings are difficult to assess.
On the morning of December 31, 2007, ten fireworks stores began burning in Barangay Turo, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, causing a series of explosions in the area. The fire lasted for almost an hour and caused several traffic jams on Fortunato F. Halili Avenue and the North Luzon Expressway.
The Istanbul fireworks disaster occurred on 1 February 2008. An unlicensed fireworks factory exploded accidentally, leaving by some reports at least 22 people dead and at least 100 injured; others sources reported the death toll was 17 and 40 injured. The building that housed the unlicensed factory was in Davutpaşa, Esenler an industrial neighborhood. It was a multistory workshop complex it shared with other manufacturers of paint, socks and textiles. Two separate explosions were reported some five minutes apart from each other, the first possibly happening in the top floor fireworks factory, and the second larger explosion, reportedly emanating from the basement boilers where the paint manufacturing was located.
Al Quoz is a suburb of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Al Quoz is located in western Dubai. It is bordered to the north by Al Wasl and to the west by Umm Al Sheif, Al Manara, and Al Safa, forming a long rectangle between Al Khail and Sheikh Zayed roads.
The 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster was an explosion and fire that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey factories. It began on March 1, 1924, about 11:15 a.m., when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey used for processing ammonium nitrate. The explosion touched off fires in surrounding buildings in the Nixon Nitration Works that contained other highly flammable materials. The disaster killed twenty people, destroyed forty buildings, and demolished the "tiny industrial town of Nixon, New Jersey."
On 7 February 2008, fourteen people were killed and thirty-six injured during a dust explosion at a refinery owned by Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Georgia, United States. Dust explosions had been an issue of concern among U.S. authorities since three fatal accidents in 2003, with efforts made to improve safety and reduce the risk of reoccurrence.
The Ashton-under-Lyne munitions explosion occurred on 13 June 1917 when the Hooley Hill Rubber and Chemical Works caught fire and exploded. The factory was engaged in the production of TNT for the war effort and was completely destroyed. Forty-three people were killed and most of the surrounding area was left devastated.
The Benton fireworks disaster was an industrial disaster that occurred on May 27, 1983, on a farm near Benton, Tennessee. A powerful explosion at an unlicensed fireworks factory producing illegal fireworks killed eleven and injured one, revealing the existence of the factory for the first time to law enforcement and the public. The initial explosion was heard more than 20 mi (32 km) away.
The 2014 Gorni Lom explosions were a series of explosions that began on the afternoon of October 1, 2014, at 16:59 pm local time at the former Midzhur Ammo Plant in the village of Gorni Lom, in Bulgaria's northwestern Vidin Province. The series of blasts completely destroyed the factory, killing 13 men and 2 women who were inside and injuring 3 others who were some distance away. As a result of the blast, October 3 was declared a day of national mourning in the country.
The Tangerang fireworks disaster occurred on 26 October 2017 at the PT. Panca Buana Cahaya Sukses, a fireworks manufacturing factory in Kosambi, Tangerang, Indonesia. The explosion occurred in a warehouse connected to the factory and ignited a large fire. A hundred and three people were working at the factory at the time of the explosion. At least 49 people were killed and 46 others were injured in the fireworks accident. Authorities confirmed that several people were still missing. It was the deadliest industrial accident in Indonesia.
On 3 June 2020, the explosion occurred at the Yashashvi Rasayan Pvt. Ltd. chemical factory at Dahej in Gujarat, India, around 12:00 hours.
On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. A cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years after having been confiscated by Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus. A fire in the same warehouse preceded the explosion.
The 1986 San Francisco fireworks disaster took place on April 5, 1986, when a massive explosion and fire devastated a city block in the Bayview district of San Francisco. The explosion occurred in the three-story Bayview Building at 1070 Revere Avenue, which housed about 125 light industrial and crafts businesses.
On June 25, 1985, an explosion occurred at an Aerlex Fireworks plant in Hallett, Oklahoma, killing twenty-one and injuring five others. Those five were the only survivors of the blast. The explosion leveled most of the plant, leaving only a few parts of the factory standing.
Duttapukur blast was an explosion that took place in 2023 at a firecracker factory at Mochpol village under Duttapukur police station, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Barasat. The factory was on the second floor of a two-storey building, where the explosion and a major fire took place. No exact information was available on how many people were working in the factory at the time of the explosion. The explosion killed 9 people, and injured 12 others.
