Texas A&M observes 10-year anniversary of bonfire tragedy

Nov. 16, 2009
12 students were killed in 1999 when 60-foot-tall stack of logs collapsed
From The Dallas Morning News: Ten years after the tragedy that killed 12 students, the Texas A&M bonfire exists as a tradition in exile. A granite memorial to the dead students now occupies the grassy campus field where Aggies built towering bonfires to symbolize their desire to defeat the Texas Longhorns on the football field. A&M banned the bonfire from campus after a 60-foot-tall stack of logs collapsed during construction on Nov. 18, 1999. The twisted wreckage left 12 dead and 27 injured. But the 90-year tradition did not die. Each year, hundreds of A&M students labor through the fall months to keep the bonfire alive in a rural pasture 15 miles from campus.

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