Caught on camera: Footage of 1957 Dresden explosion uncovered

A documentarian is still working on a piece about the Dresden explosion.

Documentarians have stumbled on film footage of the aftermath of an excavation explosion that claimed the lives of six Dutch immigrants.

At the time, it was one of Ontario’s worst workplace tragedies.

Director Eric Philpott came across the story only recently, when he discovered that his late father had been the site engineer during the waterworks construction.

“Since starting work on this project we’ve made countless fascinating discoveries,” said Eric Philpott.

“We’ve found television footage of the tragedy, which we certainly didn’t know existed, and witnesses who we didn’t think were still alive. And we’ve had tremendous support from the community, for example one volunteer found the original engineering drawings for the pumping station, several of which were done by my father.”

Post-production crews now have 14 terabytes of footage, archival images, and 40 interviews to edit into one documentary.

They’ve launched a new crowd-funding website to try to raise the $60,000 they need to finish the project.

“While the Dresden tragedy occurred some time ago, the questions it raises are, unfortunately, still relevant today,” said Philpott.

“Workers are still dying on the job, immigrants are still disproportionately more vulnerable, and public awareness of the toll that workplace tragedies take is still very low in Canada. We hope this film will help to change that.”