Demolition accident in Hemmental
The explosion in Hemmental took place on December 16, 1967 around noon in Hemmental , a village at the foot of the Randen in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen .
It claimed nine deaths and one seriously injured, making it one of the most momentous incidents involving explosives in Switzerland in peacetime.
Disaster
The accident occurred in the quarry in Bodenackertobel , on the narrow road between the village of Hemmental and the Klosterfeld , in the direction of Randenüberfahrt to Beggingen .
Starting position
Karl Gasser, who was born in Hallau , was an employee of the Society for Applied Blasting Technology. He was considered an explosives expert. On this morning he conducted a training course in the quarry for eight Zurich construction specialists from the Suter-Lehmann AG company . The Hemmentaler Jakob Hatt senior, the former owner of the quarry, joined the group to follow the instructions. During the whole morning in the village one could hear blasting noises from the quarry. The course should have ended around noon and the men had lunch together in a restaurant in Schaffhausen.
Disaster
The accident could never be completely cleared up. A witness who drove past the quarry shortly before 11:50 a.m. saw a group of people standing around something. The accident occurred between 11.50 a.m. and 12.05 p.m. the Hemmentaler heard a huge bang during this time. The 25-year-old Jakob Hatt junior wanted to check on his father after he had not come home for lunch. On the roadside, about 100 meters from the quarry, he found a blood-covered man, the only survivor of the accident. However, due to a loss of memory, the latter could not explain what had happened. In the quarry itself, Hatt found the torn remains of the other men and alerted the police.
After the accident, the then young tabloid Blick suggested that a “Barbara bang” could be to blame for the death of the men. Sometimes blasting experts would let go of such a final bang at the end of a blasting course.
After extensive investigations, the final report was based on the following assumption: As the witness testified, the course participants gathered around the course instructor. They watched the preparation for a detonation of a mixture of 10 to 20 kilograms of explosives as well as the remains of fuses and 200 to 300 old detonators. However, for some unknown reason, the ignition was too early. A hammer drill may have slipped out of the hand of one of the men and fell on one of the detonators, activating it. Such a hammer drill was found at the site of the accident.
Plaque
There is a memorial plaque at the site of the accident. The names of the deceased are immortalized on it.
Web links
- Blasting accident in Hemmental - 50 years later In: Schaffhauser Nachrichten of December 16, 2017
- Schaffhausen history: major accidents (private side)
Coordinates: 47 ° 44 '6.7 " N , 8 ° 35' 29.5" E ; CH1903: 686 481 / 287,812