TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 OCTOBER, 1986; Mozambique President, Samora Machel dies in a plane crash

On this day in 19 1986, the Mozambique first executive President, Samora Machel and thirty-three other passengers, died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains, South Africa, after allegedly following a false beacon. 

Machel was a prominent leader of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) and he led the Mozambican people in their fight for independence from Portugal. In 1975 they were victorious and he was elected as Mozambique's first president. At the time of his death, Machel had been in power for 11 years. 

On the day of the crash he was returning from an African leaders’ summit in Zambia. His death sent shockwaves throughout Southern Africa and the entire world. The crash remains a mystery; with some blaming it on bad weather and others believing that the South African authorities were to blame. A day before Machel’s death, Carlos Cardosa, Director of the Mozambican News Agency, received an anonymous message informing him that Machel had died.

TODAY IN HISTORY 19 OCTOBER, 1985; First Blockbuster store opens in Texas

On October 19, 1985, the first Blockbuster video-rental store opens, in Dallas, Texas. At a time when most video stores were small-scale operations featuring a limited selection of titles, Blockbuster opened with some 8,000 tapes displayed on shelves around the store and a computerized check-out process. The first store was a success and Blockbuster expanded rapidly, eventually becoming one of the world’s largest providers of in-home movies and game entertainment, before eventually filing for bankruptcy in 2010.

Blockbuster was founded by David Cook, who had previously owned a business that provided computer software services to the oil and gas industry in Texas. Cook saw the potential in the video-rental business and after opening the first Blockbuster in 1985, he added three more stores the following year. In 1987, he sold part of the business to a group of investors that included Wayne Huizenga, founder of Waste Management, Inc., the world’s biggest garbage disposal company. Later that year, Cook left Blockbuster and Huizenga assumed control of the company and moved its headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Under Huizenga’s leadership, Blockbuster embarked on an aggressive expansion plan, snapping up existing video store chains and opening scores of new stores. By 1988, Blockbuster was America’s leading video chain, with some 400 stores. By the early 1990s, Blockbuster had launched its 1,000th store and expanded into the overseas market.

In 1994, Blockbuster was acquired by the media giant Viacom Inc., whose brands include MTV and Nickelodeon. In the mid-1990s, the digital video disc (DVD) made its debut and in 1997, Netflix, an online DVD rental service, was founded. Around that same time, the e-commerce giant Amazon.com launched a video and DVD store. Blockbuster faced additional competition from the rise of pay-per-view and on-demand movie services, through which viewers could pay for and watch movies instantly in their own homes. In 2004, Blockbuster split off from Viacom. That same year, Blockbuster launched an online DVD rental service to compete with Netflix. The venture was not successful. On September 23, 2010, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. By 2014, the last of the company-owned stores had closed. 

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 19 OCTOBER, 1991; Oakland hills fire destroys $1.5 billion worth properties, 25 killed

The Oakland firestorm of this day in 1991 was a large suburban wildland–urban interface conflagration that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California, and southeastern Berkeley. The fire went on to burn thousands of homes and kill 25 people. 

Despite the fact that fires had ravaged the same area three times in 1922, 1970 and 1980, people continued to build homes there. Each time, the fires occurred during autumn in a year with relatively little precipitation, and, each time, the residents rebuilt and moved back in as soon as possible. 

The deadly 1991 fire can be traced to a small fire at 7151 Buckingham Boulevard on October 19. Firefighters responded quickly and thought they had brought the blaze under control. However, heat from the fire had caused pine needles to fall from the trees and cover the ground.

When highly flammable debris, also known as “duff,” accumulates on the ground, fires can smolder unseen. At 10:45 a.m. on October 20, strong winds blew one of these unseen fires up a hillside; changing wind patterns then caused it to spread in different directions.

The winds were so intense and the area was so dry that within an hour close to 800 buildings were on fire. The wind then blew southwest, pushing the fire toward San Francisco Bay. In some places, the temperature reached 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it virtually impossible to fight the fire effectively. Homeowners attempted to hose down their roofs, but were often thwarted when water pipes burst from the fire. Also, many homes had wooden shingle roofs that were particularly susceptible to fire. It took only 10 minutes in some cases for a house to be brought down by the flames.

Firefighting efforts were constrained by the fact that the affected homes were located on steep hills with very narrow streets. This made it difficult to maintain radio communications and to move large fire engines close to the flames. The fire spread so rapidly that firefighters were unable to establish a perimeter. When the fire was finally contained the following day, 25 people had lost their lives, 150 people were injured and 3,000 homes and 1,500 acres had been consumed. The total tally of damages was $1.5 billion.

In the aftermath, authorities attempted to reduce the likelihood of a similar fire breaking out the in the future. Laws were changed regarding the maximum height of trees permitted and the type of vegetation that was allowable in the area. In addition, most homes that have been rebuilt do not have wooden roofs.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 20 OCTOBER, 2007; Gunmen kidnap Seriake Dickson's mother in Yenagoa

On this day in 2007, barely eleven days after the kidnapped of the mother of a member of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, armed gunmen again struck in the riverine town of Toru-Orua in the Sagbama local government area of the state abducting the 70 year old mother of the House of Representatives member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor federal constituency, Hon Dickson Seriake.

Dickson at the time was one of the arrowhead of anti Olubunmi Ette, the then speaker House of Representatives in the National Assembly, who was enmeshed in a N628 contract scandal.

Although the motive of the kidnappers could not be ascertained but it was reliably gathered that their action might not be unconnected with the latest tactics of using relations of political office holders as pawn to fleece money from them. During a visit to the riverine settlement of Toru-Orua, it was learnt from the natives that the gunmen stormed the community at about 2 a.m. and headed straight to the home of the Seriakes where they seized his mother, Madam Goldcoast who was then sound asleep.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 2008; Egba chiefs intervene in Alake and Gbenga Daniel’s Face Off

  Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo

On this day in the year 2008, eminent Nigerians intervened in the face-off between Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo.

Indications of a resolution of the matter followed a three-hour meeting held with Oba Adedotun by Egba chiefs at his Ake palace, Abeokuta.

The former Commissioner for Sports in the state, Chief Olusegun Taiwo, asked the governor to apologise not only to the monarch, but also former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba for what he called rude attacks on them.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1974; Soul singer Al Green assaulted by ex-girl friend in his bathtub

     Al Green

In the early morning hours of 18 October 1974, the Memphis, Tennessee, singer Al Green's former girl friend, Mary Woodson burst in on him in the bath and poured a pot of scalding-hot grits on his back before retreating to a bedroom and shooting herself dead with Green's own gun. Not everyone, however, would have processed the meaning of the incident quite the way that Green did. Believing that he had strayed from the righteous musical and spiritual course intended for him, Al Green had become a born-again Christian one year earlier. But after the attack by Mary Woodson on this day in 1974, he began a process that would eventually lead him to renounce pop superstardom and all that it stood for.

Al Green, widely renowned as one of the greatest voices in soul-music history, was at the absolute height of his powers in 1974. He had seven critically and commercially successful major-label albums behind him that included such timeless hits as "Tired Of Being Alone" (1971), "Let's Stay Together" (1971) and "I'm Still In Love With You" (1972). He also, in the words of Davin Seay, who collaborated with Green on his 2000 autobiography, Take Me To The River, had a "basic animal appeal to women" that attracted many admirers, including Mary Woodson.

Mary Woodson first made Green's acquaintance after leaving her husband and children behind in New Jersey and attending one of his concerts in upstate New York. On the night of the attack, Woodson had shown up unexpectedly at Green's Memphis home after he returned from a concert appearance in San Francisco. What exactly prompted her to act is unclear, but her actions not only left Al Green with severe burns that would require months of hospitalization, they also left him severely shaken emotionally and spiritually.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1867; Alaska becomes part of United States

On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson’s own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal. 

Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in Nome, Alaska, in 1899, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America’s oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated. The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means “great land.” Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward’s Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1916; Harry Farr executed for cowardice

On this day in 1916, at dawn, a Private British Soldier, Harry Farr of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is executed for cowardice after he refused to go forward into the front-line trenches on the Western Front during World War I.

After joining the BEF in 1914, Farr was sent to the front in France; the following May, he collapsed, shaking, and was sent to a hospital for treatment. He returned to the battlefield and participated in the Somme Offensive. In mid-September 1916, however, Farr refused to go ahead into the trenches with the rest of his squadron; after being dragged forward, struggling, he broke away and ran back. He was subsequently court-martialed for cowardice and given a death sentence.

Farr was one of 306 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth who were executed for cowardice during the Great War. According to his descendants, who have fought a long battle to clear his name, Farr suffered from severe shell-shock, a condition that was just being recognized at the time, and had been damaged both physically and psychologically by his experience of combat, especially the repeated heavy bombardments to which he and his comrades at the front had been subjected. The symptoms of “shell-shock”—a term first used in 1917 by a medical officer named Charles Myers—included debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares and physical afflictions ranging from diarrhea to loss of sight. By the end of World War I, the British army had been forced to deal with 80,000 cases of this affliction, including among soldiers who had never experienced a direct bombardment. Despite undergoing treatment, only one-fifth of the men affected ever resumed military duty.

Several successive governments rejected pleas from Farr’s family and others for their loved ones to be pardoned and honored alongside the rest of those soldiers killed in World War I. Finally, in August 2006, after a 14-year struggle, the British High Court granted a pardon to Farr; hours after informing Farr’s family of its verdict, the government announced it would seek Parliament’s approval to pardon all 306 soldiers executed for cowardice during World War I.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 18 OCTOBER, 1931; Thomas Edison dies at 84

On this day in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, dies in West Orange, New Jersey, at the age of 84.

Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age thought to be the result of scarlet fever. Edison, however, believed it was the result of an incident in which he was grabbed by the ears and lifted onto a moving train. His disability motivated many of his inventions. At age 16, Edison found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Edison’s experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the “Wizard of Menlo Park.”

Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, it was just the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879, and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world’s first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to systematically investigate a given subject.

Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world’s first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electric world. He continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died at his home in New Jersey on October 18, 1931.

Author:

History.com Editors

Nigeria’s inflation hits 20.77 percent

Nigeria’s inflation stood an almost 17-year high as the price of goods and services surged further by 20.77 percent in the month of September 2022 from 20.55 percent recorded in August.

This was according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday, October 17, 2022.

The report showed that Nigeria’s CPI rose by 20.77% year-on-year in September 2022, up from 20.52% recorded in the previous month.

On a month-on-month basis, the index rose by 1.36% compared to the 1.77% increase recorded in the previous month.

It was gathered that the urban inflation rate stood at 21.25% in September 2022 from 17.19% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, while rural inflation stood at 20.32%.

The increase in the country’s inflation comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee increased the interest rate to 15.5 percent for the third consecutive increase in 2022 to tame the surging inflation.

With the new development, the apex bank will likely increase the interest rate again going by CBN governor Godwin Emefiele words which says; “as far as inflation continues to reign upward, the MPC will always hike rates to tame the pressure on citizens.

The monetary policy rate (MPR) is the baseline interest rate in an economy, every other interest rate used within an economy is built on it.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 OCTOBER, 1989; Loma Prieta earthquake hits San Francisco Bay Area claimed 67 lives

On this day in 1989, an earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area claiming 67 lives and causing more than $5 billion in damages. Though this was one of the most powerful and destructive earthquakes ever to hit a populated area of the United States, the death toll could have been much worse.

The proximity of the San Andreas Fault to San Francisco was well-known for most of the 20th century, but the knowledge did not stop the construction of many un-reinforced brick buildings in the area. Finally, in 1972, revised building codes forced new structures to be built to withstand earthquakes. The new regulations also called for older buildings to be retrofitted to meet the new standards, but the expense involved made these projects a low priority for the community.

On October 17, the Bay Area was buzzing about baseball. The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, both local teams, had reached the World Series. The third game of the series was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. Just prior to the game, with the cameras on the field, a 7.1-magnitude tremor centered near Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains rocked the region from Santa Cruz to Oakland. Though the stadium withstood the shaking, much of the rest of San Francisco was not so fortunate.

The city’s marina district suffered great damage. Built before 1972, on an area of the city where there was no underlying bedrock, the liquefaction of the ground resulted in the collapse of many homes. Burst gas mains and pipes also sparked fires that burned out of control for nearly two days. Also hard hit by the quake were two area roads, the Nimitz Expressway and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Both roads featured double-decker construction and, on each, the upper level collapsed during the earthquake. Forty-one of the 67 victims of this disaster were motorists on the lower level of the Nimitz, who were killed when the upper level of the road collapsed and crushed them in their cars. Only one person was killed on the Bay Bridge—which had been scheduled for a retrofitting the following week—because there were no cars under the section that collapsed.

Other heavily damaged communities included Watsonville, Daly City and Palo Alto. More than 10 percent of the homes in Watsonville were completely demolished. The residents, most of whom were Latino, faced additional hardship because relief workers and the Red Cross did not have enough Spanish-speaking aides or translators to assist them.

The earthquake caused billions of dollars in damages, and contributed in part to the deep recession that California suffered in the early 1990s.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 OCTOBER, 1974; President Ford at U.S. Congress explains his pardon of Nixon

President Gerald Ford

The 38th President of United States, Gerald Ford on this day in 1974 explained to Congress why he had chosen to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon, rather than allow Congress to pursue legal action against the former president.

President Nixon had been accused by the Congress, of obstruction of justice during the investigation of the Watergate scandal, which began in 1972. White House tape recordings revealed that Nixon knew about and possibly authorized the bugging of the Democratic National Committee offices, located in the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. Rather than be impeached and removed from office, Nixon chose to resign on August 8, 1974.

When he assumed office on August 9, 1974, Ford, referring to the Watergate scandal, announced that America’s “long national nightmare” was over. There were no historical or legal precedents to guide Ford in the matter of Nixon’s pending indictment, but after much thought, he decided to give Nixon a full pardon for all offenses against the United States in order to put the tragic and disruptive scandal behind all concerned. Ford justified this decision by claiming that a long, drawn-out trial would only have further polarized the public. Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon was condemned by many and is thought to have contributed to Ford’s failure to win the presidential election of 1976.

From his home in California, Nixon responded to Ford’s pardon, saying he had gained a different perspective on the Watergate affair since his resignation. He admitted that he was “wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.”

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 OCTOBER, 1998; Pipeline explosion killed 594 people in Delta State

October 17, 1998 was a black weekend in Nigeria following a fiery explosion from a burst oil pipeline near Jesse town in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State.

The tragic incidence that occurred around 7:00 p.m. on Saturday killed 594 people. It is believed that the explosion was caused by local towns people tapping into the pipeline to steal oil but because the fire and explosion incinerated every person close by, the reason for the explosion was never fully explained.

Witnesses said that thousands of people had been involved in the illegal drawing of fuel from the burst pipeline since Thursday, two days before the explosion. Another account said that a boy lit a cigarette and the whole area which was drenched in petrol exploded as a result.

The Nigerian Red Cross Society Warri Division mobilised volunteers to assist in the evacuation of people from the site and provided first aid treatment to some of the injured. The Edo State Branch went to the area and did an assessment of the situation and the immediate needs of the people, forwarding a report to the NRCS Headquarters on the morning of 20 October. 

The injured were taking for treatment in neighbouring hospitals at Sapele, Amope, Eku and Mosogar. Hospitals in Sapele and Eku are overflowing with people who have varying degrees of burns. Many have died since the explosion.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 17 OCTOBER, 1973; OPEC enacts oil embargo against U.S, others

On this day in 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. According to OPEC, exports were to be reduced by 5 percent every month until Israel evacuated the territories occupied in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. In December, a full oil embargo was imposed against the United States and several other countries, prompting a serious energy crisis in the United States and other nations dependent on foreign oil.

OPEC was founded in 1960 by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela with the principle objective of raising the price of oil. Other Arab nations and Third World oil producers joined in the 1960s and early 1970s. For the first decade of its existence, OPEC had little impact on the price of oil, but by the early 1970s an increase in demand and the decline of U.S. oil production gave it more clout.

In October 1973, OPEC ministers were meeting in Vienna when Egypt and Syria (non-OPEC nations) launched a joint attack on Israel. After initial losses in the so-called Yom Kippur War, Israel began beating back the Arab gains with the help of a U.S. airlift of arms and other military assistance from the Netherlands and Denmark. By October 17, the tide had turned decisively against Egypt and Syria, and OPEC decided to use oil price increases as a political weapon against Israel and its allies. Israel, as expected, refused to withdraw from the occupied territories, and the price of oil increased by 70 percent. At OPEC’s Tehran conference in December, oil prices were raised another 130 percent, and a total oil embargo was imposed on the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Eventually, the price of oil quadrupled, causing a major energy crisis in the United States and Europe that included price gouging, gas shortages, and rationing.

In March 1974, the embargo against the United States was lifted after U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger succeeded in negotiating a military disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel. Oil prices, however, remained considerably higher than their mid-1973 level. OPEC cut production several more times in the 1970s, and by 1980 the price of crude oil was 10 times what it had been in 1973. By the early 1980s, however, the influence of OPEC on world oil prices began to decline; Western nations were successfully exploiting alternate sources of energy such as coal and nuclear power, and large, new oil fields had been tapped in the United States and other non-OPEC oil-producing nations.

Author:

History.com Editors

13 October – National No Bra Day

October 13 every year is set aside as National No Bra Day. It is also known as, “The Moment We Get Home from Work” Day.

The day promotes breast cancer awareness. It also helps raise money for research. Many women who have survived breast cancer are unable to go without a bra as they need it to hold their prosthesis after surgery.

National No Bra Day’s origins can be traced back to two days in history; July 9, 2011 and October 19, 2011. The latter was founded in Toronto, Canada where it was originally titled BRA Day by Dr. Mitchell Brown. BRA (Breast Reconstruction — An Event of Learning and Sharing) Day was celebrated to raise awareness for women who undergo a mastectomy and encourage self examinations.

Today is not just about comfort, though. National No Bra Day, which falls right in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is a time for women and men too, to learn about breast health. It helps remind people that breast cancer is a potentially fatal disease, but also highly detectable and treatable. National No Bra Day is all about learning to spot early warning signs and get an edge in the fight against cancer. 

The first case of any cancer was mentioned in Egypt about 3000BC on The Edwin Smith Papyrus. It described eight different cases of growths and ulcers found within the breast.

 

Pasuma, Malaika, Atawewe delight Tinubu’s supporters at rally

Fuji icons Pasuma, Malaika and Atawewe have performed at rally organised by the chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages management committee, Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo and other supporters of the All progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Lagos on Sunday.

The singers sat atop a vehicle to thrill Tinubu’s supporters.

Credit: Twitter | Mr_JAGs

Man builds tricycle from scratch in Kano

A young man from Kano State, simply identified as Faisal, has built a tricycle popularly known as 'Keke Napep' from scratch in Kano.

In trending photos, Faisal was seen making the vehicle and showing off the finished product.

Credit: Twitter | mmgwani

Saheed Balogun joins Igbo supporters of Tinubu in a song

Saheed Balogun

Nollywood actor, Saheed Balogun, has shared a video of himself with other supporters of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who are of south-eastern descent, singing in a bus.

He shared the video on his verified Instagram handle and called for votes for his APC presidential candidate, Tinubu.

In the video, he said, “Look at them here, I’m with the Igbo, who are supporting Asiwaju. These people are not doing politics, they are saying one Nigeria.  They are saying vote for your choice. They are saying, campaign for the person you like, it doesn’t matter. They are saying everywhere is their home.”

Credit: Instagram | saidibalogun

TODAY IN HISTORY: 04 OCTOBER, 1992; Israeli airline crashes into apartment building in Amsterdam

On this day in 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft of the then state-owned Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the Bijlmermeer (colloquially "Bijlmer") neighbourhood (part of Amsterdam-Zuidoost) of Amsterdam, Holland.

Four people aboard the plane and approximately 100 more in the apartment building lost their lives in the disaster.

An El-Al Boeing 747 cargo jet was scheduled to bring 114 tons of computers, machinery, textiles and various other materials from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 4. At 6:30 that Sunday evening, Captain Isaac Fuchs piloted the jet, carrying two other pilots and one passenger, out of Schipol Airport in good weather. However, only minutes after takeoff, fires broke out in the plane’s third and fourth engines and they fell right off the wing.

Fuchs decided to dump the plane’s fuel in a lake and head back to the airport, but the plane did not have enough power to make the return trip. Six miles short of the airport, Fuchs radioed, “Going down,” and the plane plunged straight into an apartment building in the Bijimermeer section of Amsterdam. A massive fireball exploded through the building. Firefighters rushed to the scene, but by the time the fire was under control, about 100 people were dead. An exact number was impossible to determine, as the explosion made body identification extremely difficult and the building housed mainly undocumented immigrants from Suriname and Aruba.

The accident was very similar to one that had taken place in Taiwan less than a year earlier, in which a China Airlines jet had crashed after losing its two right engines. An investigation into that crash had revealed the problem to be related to a fuse pin, part of the mechanism that binds the engines to the wings. Both crashes probably resulted from the fatigue and failure of this part.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 04 OCTOBER, 1966; Pope Paul VI seeks an end to the Vietnam War

Pope Paul VI

On this day in 1966, Pope Paul VI addresses 150,000 people in St. Peter’s Square in Rome and calls for an end to the war in Vietnam through negotiations. Although the Pope’s address had no impact on the Johnson administration and its policies in Southeast Asia, his comments were indicative of the mounting antiwar sentiment that was growing both at home and overseas.