shipwrecked off the west coast of Cornwall, England, causing an environmental disaster. This was the first major oil spill at sea. August 1975: The Banqiao Dam failed in the Henan Province of China due to extraordinarily heavy precipitation from the remnants of Typhoon Nina and poor construction quality of the dam, which was built during the Great Leap Forward. The flood immediately killed over 100,000 people, and another 150,000 died of subsequent epidemic diseases and famine, bringing the total death toll to around 250,000 and making it the worst technical disaster ever. March 16, 1978: The Amoco Cadiz, a VLCC owned by the company Amoco sank near the northwest coast of France, resulting in the spilling of 68,684,000 US gallons of crude oil (1,635,000 barrels). This is the largest oil spill from an oil tanker in history. January 8, 1979: The Whiddy Island disaster, also known as the Betelgeuse incident, occurred around 1:00 am, when the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in Bantry Bay, at the offshore jetty for the oil terminal at Whiddy Island, Ireland. The explosion and resulting fire claimed the lives of 50 people (42 French nationals, seven Irish nationals, and one British national). March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island accident. Partial nuclear meltdown near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mechanical failures in the non-nuclear secondary system, followed by a stuck-open pilot-operated relief valve in the primary system, allowed large amounts of reactor coolant to escape. Plant operators initially failed to recognize the loss of coolant, resulting in a partial meltdown. The reactor was brought under control but not before up to 481 PBq (13 million curies) of radioactive gases were released into the atmosphere. June 3, 1979: Ixtoc oil spill. The Ixtoc I exploratory oil well suffered a blowout resulting in the third-largest oil spill and the second-largest accidental spill in history. March 1980: The Alexander L. Kielland, a Norwegian semi-submersible drilling rig, capsized while working in the Ekofisk oil field, killing 123 people. November 20, 1980: A Texaco oil rig drilled into a salt mine transforming Lake Peigneur, a freshwater lake before the accident, into a saltwater lake. February 15, 1982: Newfoundland, Canada. The mobile offshore oil rig Ocean Ranger was struck by a rogue wave off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada and sank with the loss of all 84 crew. January 7, 1983: An explosion in Newark, New Jersey was felt for about 100–130 miles from the epicenter,