I found this video of a fireworks factory explosion a little while ago. Finding solid information about it has been difficult, but it’s pretty shocking to watch. While I’m glad I was not the one holding the camera, I can’t say I would have done anything differently if I’d been in his shoes.
From the looks of things, the camera operator was quite a distance from the epicenter, but after seeing the final explosion, I would imagine he was pretty shaken up at the very least. If anyone has any information about this video, please post a comment. Click the image to check it out.
Fireworks Factory Explosion from Cliff Pearson on Vimeo.
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The camera man actually died during the final explosion, seen the file on some other website too claiming this fact
Thanks for the information SParky. I had wondered how he faired after that last boom.
teh explosion is in Enschede , a town in Holland with 100000 people living there
its in the middle of the town,
its not a factory but a large fireworks storage facility.
so the expl. is in fact firework.
the military imeediately seal the place,
5 years later some high ranking officer declared they did had stored some things in there…
(it proably had something to do with it)
anyone know if the camera man had anything to do with causing the explosion?
Hello I live in America and have a friend I’m trying to get in touch with. She lives or lived in Enschede. Any suggestions on how I can make sure she’s okay??? Any help would be appreciated
man, i hope no one was injured not that we could do anything bout it but you gotta admit, it had to have looked REALLY awesome
our prayers out to the camera man.
The Enschede fireworks disaster, called Vuurwerkramp (Literally, “fireworks disaster”) in Dutch, was caused by a fire which broke out in the S.E Fireworks depot on May 13, 2000 in the eastern Dutch town of Enschede. The fire led to an enormous explosion that left 22 people dead and thousands of families homeless. The extent of the damage was estimated at half a billion euros.
The cause of the fire could not be determined. One possibility was arson, but an electrical short circuit could not be ruled out.
The fire started in the work area of the central warehouse where some 900 kg of fireworks were stored. The fire extended to two full containers that had been placed illegally outside of the building. Since the fire department could not contain the fire initially, it was able to spread to a third container, which exploded shortly afterwards. A chain reaction of explosions led eventually to the destruction of the firework bunker. As a result the surrounding residential area was virtually destroyed.
The man filming was in fact killed by the final blast, most experts agree that it was from the concussionary force from the explosion, not the fire, due to not being in any form of cover. His house as well as many of the homes around the storage facility we’re completely destroyed
WOW! Thanks for the great information Lamech! I’m sorry to hear the so many people were hurt and killed. What a disaster!
Hi there,
my name is marco,
This was a big disaster for enschede and surrounding places,i live in Almelo approx 20 miles from enschede and we could here the big bang from my house.
10 min after it happend I was there.
Approx 15% of enschede was destroyed,big pieces of the bunker were slammend into the ground several miles away!!! There was, after the explosion, a huge fire that destroyed abouth 400 houses,I was there to help but what i saw man it was like a warzone, injured people, deads, screaming/crying people, houses that were blast away streets on fire etc etc etc.
got a few pics over here but i don’t know if i want to post them.I’m still having problems to talk abouth the disaster because i saw 2 much.
If u got any questions abouth it , i’ll try to answer them but as i already said it’s hard for me to talk abouth it.
greetz,
Marco, Almelo, Holland
I’ve got a link to a dutch website for pictures and more info, it’s all in dutch but there are a lot of pictures that should give u some info.
http://www.tctubantia.nl/krant/tc/ramp/index2.html
gr.
Marco
Just thought I could help w/ some info – I’m producing this piece for a show. The guy who shot this video did not die. He is alive and well – 2 camera ops. were on top of the roof. Shaken – yes, but both are alive.
On the ground were two other camera op’s – one that was a few hundred feet away from the building and the big explosion – very sad, he did die. 2nd camera op was just a little further from the building, far enough to survive – close enough to be hit w/ debris.
Just wanted to get the story straight – This footage is from a person – very alive!
CNN News report from 2000:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0005/14/sm.03.html
Just wanted to get the story straight – This footage is from a person – very alive!
he will be on tv soon at DISCOVERY CANNEL SIENCE
Name program: BLUEPRINT FOR DISASTER 2
The cameraman is doing great.
here is the website from that cameraman that made the footage from the firework explosion in the town of Enschede, the Netherlands.
http://www.shbh.nl
blueprint for disaster should be on tv last evening, but was cancelled due to technical problems…
I was there in enschede that afternoon 13th of may 2000, still having emotional problems… it was like an war-zone, dead people, collapsed and burning houses, etc.
Facts: * It actually was a storage facility, with 160 tons of fireworks in (sea)containers (!!) in the middle of a living aerea * 22 people died, over 10000 injured, more than 10000 homeless * no cause of the “first flame” was found so far (after 5 years)
All information you need on :http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/rtl_plus/flashback/flashback_vuurwerkramp_2000.xml
It’s in dutch, but with a lot of foto’s and videos
also lots of info on a special start-place: http://enschede-ramp.startpagina.nl/
ok… more than 1000 people injured, 10.000 homeless…
found some air-photos so you all maybe can get a better view of the surroundings…..
http://www.itc.nl/personal/hofstee/firework.html
this photo shows how many containers filled with tonnes of fireworks were standing at the place http://www.itc.nl/personal/hofstee/images/firework/fab1305s6.jpg
this photo shows where the fireman (several killed) were standing… “BAMSHOEVE” on this foto, is a factory from where the video on this page was taken (fact: the filmer didn’t die..)
http://www.itc.nl/personal/hofstee/images/firework/inzet1305s6.jpg
and finally… some info/photo’s/links in english http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/747674.stm
have fun….. :-S
I was not there, my cousin was there, she was thrown down to the ground by the blast, she was not directly near the explosion, but the explosion was just too large. She had no injury but she lost 1hour of memory of the whole thing. Probably shock. She only can remember that she was blown away and next she was at home at her parrents place.
zaterdag 13 mei…saturday the 13th of may,,,the day started great…and then we hearded a big explosion..at first me and my parent thought there was a planecrash somewhere close so we went to see (with a lot of other people) what happend..it was horrible
a lot of fire everywhere..roofs and rocks kept falling down,,never in my life I’ve seen soo much police, ambulance and more….
We returned home and kept looking at the tv
A few police cars and fireambulances were burned down when they came right after the first explosion…:(
and the most stupiod thing is that more than tha half of the people forgot about it!!!
more than 1000 houses were gone and more than 10000 people still have got physical problems..:(
ENSCHEDE FOREVER !!
hi , i want to do a presentation about the tragedy, so can someone point me to where can i find more informations bout this , esp the cause of the explosion ..
hope someone can lead me to there ..thanks
http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/4517
I think this video gives a really full understanding of the extend of the incident. I assume this footage were filmed by the second cameramen who most likley died along with the other people looking for cover in a nearby building.