Events on March 16 in history

Amoco Cadiz (March 16, 1978)

Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.

Amoco Cadiz was a VLCC (very large crude carrier) owned by Amoco Transport Corp and transporting crude oil for Shell Oil. Operating under the Liberian flag of convenience, she ran aground on 16 March 1978 on Portsall Rocks, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France. Ultimately she split in three and sank, resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date.

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Events on 1978

11 Feb

Aristotle
Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
27 Apr

Watergate scandal
Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
25 Jul

In vitro fertilisation
Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
22 Oct

Pope John Paul II
Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II.
18 Nov

Jim Jones
In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.

Events on March 16 in history

Amoco Cadiz (March 16, 1978)

References

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Events on 1978

Aristotle

Watergate scandal

In vitro fertilisation

Pope John Paul II

Jim Jones