Context· weakKRK-E052
Historical placement: deadliest U.S. explosion of the century — and the compilation's '34 years above-ground' phrasing unfound
- what the source states
- "A review of historical explosions by WPLN News places the incident as the deadliest explosion in the U.S. during the 21st century. It is the most lethal explosion since a petrochemical plant owned by ARCO in Texas exploded in 1990 and killed 17 people." WPLN also reports the blast "could have ignited for a multitude of reasons due to dangerous working conditions, according to a six-month investigation by state officials."
- what we infer
- The compilation's specific "deadliest above-ground industrial accident in 34 years" phrasing was not found in any authoritative source; the closest published comparison points to 1990 (35 years). Small inaccuracies in a compilation's superlatives are recorded because they calibrate how much to trust its uncited numbers.
- limitations
- Verified via search-index excerpt rather than an end-to-end fetch.