During the hard economic times of the 1960s and 1970s, West Virginia faced a number of tragic disasters that brought even more trouble and drew national media attention. These included the Silver Bridge Collapse in 1967, the Farmington Mine Disaster in 1968, the Marshall University football team plane crash in 1970, the Buffalo Creek Flood in 1972, and the Willow Island construction accident in 1978. Together, these events killed hundreds of people and added to the struggles the state was already facing.