Letters: August 2024
Readers share their connections to the Flixborough disaster, discuss the importance of inorganic neurochemistry and more
Flixborough memories
I was interested to read the article on the Flixborough explosion.
At the time, I was a senior lecturer in chemistry at the North Lindsey College of Technology and I had the privilege of teaching staff from the Flixborough site. The following week we were having the GRSC (Part 1) examinations and so several of my students had taken the opportunity to work on the Saturday afternoon to be clear for revision for their paper during the following week.
One of the students was among those who died. His funeral was a very moving experience. Another survived because the explosion caused a sheet of corrugated metal to cover most of his body, even though he was close to the scene of the explosion. I believe he was spotted half an hour later by a foot protruding from that sheet of metal. He had a complete loss of memory for a year and the Royal Society of Chemistry was kind to award him a pass on the basis of his coursework. I believe the shock caused his wife to lose her pregnancy.