The Holmen Disaster

The fire department was in the process of putting out a fire when the burning building suddenly exploded and thousands of windows were shattered at Amager.

Late in the evening, residents of Amager heard a huge bang. Eleven naval mines with a total of 4.5 tons of explosives had exploded on Holmen, and 16 people lost their lives. Eleven of the casualties were firefighters who had not been warned of the explosion hazard by the guards at Naval Station Copenhagen.

Historian Sune Wadskjær Nielsen has written a book about the disaster, and looks at the years leading up to as well as the hours and minutes before the devastating explosion.