The OI' Professor: 'MINOR' CHANGES CAUSE TERRIBLE DISASTER

摘要

One Hundred Fifty-Five skiers died in a funicular fire at the ski resort of Kaprun in Austria, the worst tragedy in Alpine history. A funicular is a railroad that has two cars at each end of a cable that passes over a pulley at the top station. One car ascends and the other descends, thus requiring a minimum of energy. The fire was so sudden and intense that by the time rescuers reached the scene of the accident, about a mile inside the two-mile tunnel, most of the passengers had already died. There was no worry about fire when the cars were built. They were metal, there was no electricity or propulsion device in the cars, and there was no electricity in the tunnel. A series of "minor" changes made over the years worked together to bring about this dreadful catastrophe.