It was on March 24 that one of the worst oil spills in US history took place when super oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on the Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. Close to 11 million gallons of oil eventually spilled into the water leading to the pollution of close to 700 miles of coastline.
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Another major event occurred on this in 1958 when 23-year-old Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army in 1958. On this day in 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) began airstrikes against Yugoslavia, a sovereign nation.
Oil tanker “Exxon Valdez” crashes
One of the biggest environmental disasters in history began on March 24 when the supertanker Exxon Valdez crashed along a reef in the Prince William Sound in southern Alaska. It is one of the worst spillages as more than 11 million gallons of oil was splattered.
The massive ship, operated by Exxon Shipping Company, was en route from the Valdez Marine Terminal to California when it struck the reef just after midnight. The collision ruptured multiple tanks, spilling approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil into the icy Alaskan waters.
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