Almanac for February 24th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 24th: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-24-G2G3J0KAQ

Artist Birthday: Wilhelm Grimm

Bummer February 24th

February 24, 1809: London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns down. No one is injured, but the loss of the building is a financial disaster for its owner, Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

February 24, 2004: Swiss air traffic controller Peter Nielsen is stabbed to death at his home in Kloten. His killer is Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian architect whose wife and two daughters both died when BAL Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 collided in mid-air with a DHL cargo plane on July 1, 2002. Nielsen was the sole air traffic controller on duty when the collision occurred. 

Kaloyev is originally sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter by a Swiss court, but later has his sentence reduced to less then four years since he experienced diminished mental capacity at the time of the stabbing due to his grief and trauma. Kaloyev is considered something of a folk hero in his hometown of Ufa, where many other parents of the deceased child passengers from Flight 2937 live.

February 24, 2010: Animal trainer Dawn Brancheau is pulled underwater and drowned by an orca during an animal show at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.

February 24, 2012: 14-year-old Gabriela Yukari Nichimura dies at a nearby hospital after falling 20 meters (about 66 feet) from her seat on the La Tour Eiffel drop-tower ride at Hopi Hari amusement park in São Paulo, Brazil. The ride has no seat belts, but the chairs have locks; Nichimura’s lock opened while the ride was in operation, causing her to fall.