The Cali Explosion occurred on August 7, 1956, in downtown

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. It was caused by the explosion of seven army ammunition trucks loaded with 1053 boxes of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

, which were parked in Cali overnight. In 1956, the city of Cali had around 400,000 inhabitants. More than 1,300 died from the explosion, and another 4,000 were wounded. Some estimates go as high as 4,000 deaths and 12,000 injuries.

Events

Seven army trucks, loaded with 1053 boxes of dynamite, came from Buenaventura and were parked in an old railway station. The explosion occurred in the early hours of the morning - destroying 41 blocks and leaving a crater 50 meters wide and 25 meters deep. The blast destroyed buildings, homes and businesses, killing more than 1,300 people and injuring more than 4,000. Six districts were affected: San Nicolás, El Porvenir, El Hoyo, El Piloto, Fátima and Jorge Isaacs. The blast caused an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.3. The noise was heard in Buga, Palmira, Santander de Quilichao, Caloto and

Jamundí Jamundí is a town and municipality in the Departments of Colombia, Department of Valle del Cauca Department, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Jamundí is located south of Cali (the capital of the department) in the west riverside of the Cauca River ...

. Hypotheses at the time for the explosion include trucks overheating or a soldier accidentally firing his gun. The incident occurred while

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (12 March 1900 – 17 January 1975) was a Colombian National Army of Colombia, army general, civil engineer and politician who ruled as List of presidents of Colombia, 19th President of Colombia in a military dictatorship f ...

was president. He attributed the tragedy to the opposition, who had recently signed the Benidorm covenant.

Reactions

In the early hours following the explosion, priest Alfonso Hurtado Galvis intervened. He said of the incident: "the mushroom cloud left by the explosion resembled that formed by the

atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

, but smaller in proportion ... mutilated body parts including legs, arms, torsos could be seen. The scene was horrific.. dead and wounded everywhere." In the central cemetery 3725 skulls and body parts were buried in a mass grave. An iron cross near streets 25 and 26 was erected to commemorate the incident. Following the tragedy, local Colombian organizations such as the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, the Sendas organization (Department of Social Welfare and Child Protection, later the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar), the Boy Scouts and the

Sisters of Charity Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition alone, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (whose sisters are also of ...

and clergy offered help. The

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, then headed by Pope

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

, the Soviet Union, the Kingdom of Afghanistan, the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran (Persia), Vietnam, the Kingdom of Laos, the Philippines, North Korea, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, the Mongolian People's Republic, South Korea, Japan, China and Europe sympathised with the victims.

Popular culture

* '' Bloody Flesh'' (Spanish: ''Carne de tu carne'', "Flesh of Your Flesh") is a 1983 Colombian drama horror film written and directed by Carlos Mayolo based on the explosion.

References

{{coord, 3.459791, N, 76.520605, W, source:wikidata, display=title Explosions in 1956 Cali 1956 in Colombia August 1956 in South America Explosions in Colombia Ammunition depot fires and explosions 1956 industrial disasters 1956 in military history