Today in History: March 24, Exxon Valdez runs aground off Alaska, creates massive oil spill
Today is Tuesday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2026. There are 282 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.
Also on this date:
In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.
In 1921, the Women’s Olympiad, the first international women’s sporting event, began in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
In 1980, Catholic Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador, an advocate for the poor and oppressed, was shot and killed as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador. (Pope Francis would declare Romero a saint on Oct. 14, 2018.)
In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia in a campaign to stop ethnic cleansing, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it attacked a sovereign country.
In 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators said the jetliner was deliberately downed by the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
In 2016, a U.N. war crimes court convicted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić of genocide and nine other charges for orchestrating a campaign of terror that left 100,000 people dead during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia; Karadžić received a sentence of 40 years in prison, later increased to life.
Today’s Birthdays: Chef and TV presenter Mary Berry is 91. Musician Carol Kaye is 91. Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 87. Singer Nick Lowe is 77. Golf Hall of Famer Pat Bradley is 75. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 75. Actor Kelly LeBrock is 66. TV personality Star Jones is 64. Actor Lara Flynn Boyle is 56. Actor Alyson Hannigan is 52. Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning is 50. Actor Jessica Chastain is 49. Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Bosh is 42. Dancer Val Chmerkovskiy is 40. Actor Christopher Briney is 28. NFL safety Damar Hamlin is 28.
