The main road to the Tasman Peninsula, south-east of Hobart, has been cut off, stranding thousands of people, many of them tourists in the historic site of Port Arthur.

BBC: Australia bushfires: Thousands stranded in Tasmania

The offsetting of refinery shutdowns in the Northeast by, for instance, the expansion of Motiva Enterprises a joint venture between Shell (RDS.A) and Saudi Refining of its Port Arthur, Texas refinery to 600, 000 barrels a day, may also help prevent supply-constraint driven gasoline prices spikes.

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In 1904, the Russian Fleet took heavy losses when the Japanese fleet blocked them as they were trying to escape from Port Arthur in the battle of the Yellow Sea, part of the Russian-Japanese War.

CNN: Sunday,

Incredibly, the video was of Valero's 250, 000-barrels-a-day Port Arthur refinery.

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The list of towns which have been hit by such tragedies comes readily to mind - Hungerford, Port Arthur, Dunblane - with dozens more incidents where the death toll is not large enough to confer such notoriety.

BBC: Coming to terms with tragedy