The Deadliest Accident in Construction: Willow Island | Fascinating Horror

Comments · 981

• CL

  @classicmicroscopy9398 · 2 years ago

  "They're all dead" is such a chilling phrase and certainly one none of those paramedics wanted to hear.

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• SP

  @spddiesel · 2 years ago

  For those wondering (as I was), $85K in 1978 is equivalent to almost $420K today; still a ridiculously low amount, imho.

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• XD

  @xdashlydia · 2 years ago

  &quot;Blueprints often weren&apos;t kept on site, for fear they would be stolen&quot; is a red flag. Keeping information away from the personnel who need it has <b>never</b> been an effective information security technique, and centralised arrogance has never helped a company with safety or productivity.

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• PR

  @Privacy_menorykee · 2 years ago

  To help understand:<br>Concrete is basically a gelatinous substance that hardens into hard concrete. We say it takes 28 days for it to reach it&apos;s designed strength. It hardens through a process in which heat is developed (you can often actually feel the warmth of a fresh concrete curing in the first day or two). As the environment gets cold enough the curing process first slows down and then basically pauses until the temperature is high enough to resume curing.<br>If it&apos;s even colder than that, the concrete gel can even freeze and the ice crystals will break it apart from within.<br><br>This is basic knowledge about concrete pouring and after only 20 hours is even &quot;testable&quot; by sticking your finger in it. If it&apos;s all good and well, you shouldn&apos;t be able to, depending on the specifications of the concrete.

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• VU

  @vustvaleo8068 · 2 years ago

  losing one family member hurts your soul but losing eleven family members at the same time is devastating, dear god.

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• EM

  @employee4275 · 1 year ago

  it&apos;s truly amazing how many of these videos can be summarized with &quot;cost cutting kills&quot;

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• PR

  @PreludeInZ · 2 years ago

  I really appreciate that you use real photos and schematics to give context and information, especially when so many creators are opting to use AI to add aesthetic interest rather than veracity. It&apos;s so easy for history to be blurred or dramatized or gussied up in an effort to make it more &quot;content friendly&quot;. I appreciate that you make the effort to stick as close to reality as possible.

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• 76

  @76629online · 2 years ago (edited)

  I remember when this happened. I grew up in the Ohio Valley. My grandfather was a powerplant worker at that time and knew many of the men that died that day. <br><br>This plant still stands today. When you drive past it, you can still see the color change in the concrete on that tower due to the time lapse that occurred before the construction was resumed.

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• AD

  @AdhamOhm · 2 years ago (edited)

  Imagine you&apos;re the doctor arriving at the site to treat the wounded, and you&apos;re told that there are no wounded because nobody survived.

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• RE

  @reachandler3655 · 2 years ago

  So, 51 people died because no one took into account that concrete takes longer to set when cold and raining? 🤯

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• DA

  @damonroberts7372 · 2 years ago

  WV has seen so much industrial horror for a small state. Besides this disaster there&apos;s the coal mines (notably Monongah and Farmington), the Hawks Nest Tunnel, DuPont... people who work hard for a living deserve better.

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• RE

  @Revikra · 2 years ago

  This jump-form scaffolding system was created by an inventor, not an engineer or reviewed by an engineer. After the incident some states banned this method of construction. A knee-jerk reaction as there had been many successful constructions using it...the scaffolding method wasn&apos;t inherently faulty but rather incomplete without the step of testing and calculating. It is still used today with proper testing of the supporting concrete and engineering calculations to verify its load bearing strength.

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