April 17 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1421, the sea broke the dikes at Dort, Holland, drowning an estimated 100,000 people.
In 1521, the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Martin Luther after he refused to admit to charges of heresy.
In 1790, U.S. statesman, printer, scientist and writer Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.
File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
On April 17, 1970, with the world anxiously watching on television, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that sustained a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returned to Earth. File Photo courtesy of NASA
In 1912, the sister ship of the doomed RMS Titanic, the Olympic, radioed in that survivors of the ocean liner sinking were rescued and safely on board the RMS Carpathia.
In 1961, a force of anti-Castro rebels began the Bay of Pigs Invasion in an attempt to overthrow Cuba’s new communist government.
On April 17, 1524, Italian navigator Giovanni Verrazano discovered New York Harbor. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
In 1964, Jerrie Mock of Columbus, Ohio, became the first woman to complete a solo flight around the world.
In 1969, a jury found Sirhan B. Sirhan guilty of first-degree murder for the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Palestinians search in the car of Hamas leader in Gaza Abdel Aziz Rantisi following an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City on April 17, 2004. Rantisi died later of his wounds, according to hospital officials. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI
File Photo by Ron Bennett/UPI
In 1970, with the world anxiously watching on television, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that sustained a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returned to Earth.
In 1989, the Polish labor union Solidarity was granted legal status after nearly a decade of struggle and suppression — clearing the way for the downfall of the country’s Communist Party.
In 1993, a federal jury convicted two Los Angeles police officers and acquitted two others of violating the civil rights of Rodney King during his 1991 arrest and beating.
In 2004, the Israeli army confirmed it had killed Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Hamas co-founder and its leader in Gaza, in a missile strike. Two others also died with Rantisi, who had opposed any compromise with Israel.
In 2012, U.S. investor Warren Buffett, one of the world’s wealthiest people, said he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
File Photo by Molly Riley/UPI
In 2013, an explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant killed 15 people, injured dozens and caused massive property damage in the community.
In 2018, former first lady Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 after refusing medical treatment for her failing health. Her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, died less than one year later.
In 2024, Russian missile strikes targeting the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed more than a dozen people and injured scores more.
File Photo by State Emergency Service/EPA-EFE