Explosion In Halifax Harbour

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News Report Explosion in Halifax Harbour By: Jagroop Johal Deceber.7th 1917 Yesterday at approximately 9:00am residents of Halifax was devastated by a massive explosion. This occurred in the waters if Halifax harbour. This explosion was caused by a French ammunition ship the Mont Blanc and a Belgian cargo ship the Imo which had collided earlier that morning. The Mont Blanc collided with the Imo at approximately 8:45 yesterday morning. The Mont Blanc had been carrying benzol on its deck which was set on fire by the sparks from the collision. After desperate attempts to put out the fire, the crew jumped over board and tried to swim as far as possible. The benzol had started to leaked through the decks into the ships hold which contained over 2 700 tons of explosives. At 9:04am the fire reached the ships hold and a massive explosion occurred. The Mont Blanc was launched a mile in the air and over 2.5 square kilometres of the surround area were levelled and windows were shattered as far as Truro, Nova Scotia which is over 100 kilometres away. “I was sitting in the kitchen when my windows started to crack then shatter, I was confused and frightened”-James Stiffman, of Truro, Nova Scotia described. “As I was ducking for cover I heard my scream that there was glass in her eye.” The disaster resulted in 1 635 deaths, 5-6 thousand injuries and approximately 28 million dollars of damage was done. Many f the injuries were permanent and debilitating with many blinded by flying glass. “I had a couple of customers when the shelves in my shop started to collapse. There was glass shattered all across the shop floor luckily no one was injured badly, but my shop suffered severe damage.”-Lewis James a small business owner shared with us. Approximately 28 million dollars of damage has been reported, and relief funds are being collected all over Canada and parts of

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