Do You Remember The Deadliest Disaster to Ever Happen in Idaho?

We are watching in devastation as the number of deaths in Turkey continue to rise by the thousands after a catastrophic earthquake. Deadly disasters unfortunately happen from massive, like the recent Turkey tragedy to smaller yet devastating accidents, natural disasters and even purposely executed massacres. Do you know what historically is Idaho's most deadly disaster? If you grew up in the gem state, you may remember this on the local news back in the 70s.

Star Insider put together a list of the deadliest disasters ever to happen in each state. They varied a lot from state to state. For Idaho it was the Sunshine Mine disaster. "On May 2, 1972, a deadly fire broke out at the Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho. Tragically, many miners didn't make it to the exit. Some 91 workers lost their lives. The disaster was key to change the law and led to the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977."

NPR did a story on the 40th anniversary of the disaster where Kathy Atha who worked at First Nation Bank in Pinehurst, a few miles west of Kellogg recalled how she first found out about the accident. "A gentleman came into the bank. He was very agitated, he was upset, and he said the Sunshine Mine was on fire. I called my husband and he said, ‘It’s a hard rock mine. What’s going to burn?’ Then we got home and we started seeing the news reports and we just really realized the magnitude of the whole situation and immediately started hearing about those who had died.”