Events in History Relating to Catastrophies
August 24, 79
Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
November 25, 1120
The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son of Henry I of England.
December 14, 1287
St. Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
November 4, 1333
Flood of the Arno River, causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.
January 9, 1349
The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
January 16, 1362
A storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German city of Rungholt on the island of Strand.
November 18, 1421
A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the Netherlands.
November 5, 1530
St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands
November 2, 1570
A tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1,000 people.
October 12, 1654
The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
September 2, 1666
The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul's Cathedral.
September 5, 1666
Great Fire of London ends: 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only 16 people are known to have died.
October 26, 1689
General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
November 25, 1703
The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.
November 28, 1729
Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.
March 20, 1760
The "Great Fire" of Boston, Massachusetts destroys 349 buildings.
November 11, 1778
Cherry Valley Massacre: an attack by Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces on a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.
March 21, 1788
A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
October 9, 1799
Sinking of HMS Lutine, with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
September 18, 1812
The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
February 12, 1816
The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.
May 26, 1822
116 people die in the Grue Church fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway's history.
June 10, 1838
Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered.
November 25, 1839
A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster.
November 29, 1847
Whitman Massacre: Missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 15 others are killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, causing the Cayuse War.
April 4, 1850
The Great Fire of Cottenham, a large part of the Cambridgeshire village (England) is burnt to the ground under suspicious circumstances.
September 27, 1854
The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
October 6, 1854
The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead starts shortly after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.
December 3, 1854
Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.
October 26, 1859
The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.
September 7, 1860
Steamship Lady Elgin sinks on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 400 lives.
December 12, 1862
USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
December 26, 1862
The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
February 7, 1863
HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
October 5, 1864
The Indian city of Calcutta is almost totally destroyed by a cyclone; 60,000 die.
April 27, 1865
The steamboat SS Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.
May 25, 1865
In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
May 16, 1874
A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
February 24, 1875
The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
October 31, 1876
A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
December 5, 1876
Brooklyn Theater Fire kills at least 278 people in Brooklyn, NY.
December 29, 1876
The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
September 3, 1878
Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
June 6, 1882
More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbour.
June 10, 1886
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces.
March 11, 1888
The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
May 31, 1889
Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
December 29, 1890
United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
March 4, 1894
Great fire in Shanghai. Over 1,000 buildings are destroyed.
September 1, 1894
Great Hinckley Fire: A forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota, kills more than 400 people.
October 22, 1895
In Paris an express train overruns a buffer stop and crosses more than 30 metres of concourse before plummeting through a window at Gare Montparnasse.
June 28, 1896
An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania resulted in a massive cave-in that killed 58 miners.
September 10, 1897
Lattimer Massacre – a sheriff's posse kills twenty unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania, United States.
March 4, 1899
Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300.
May 1, 1900
The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
May 24, 1901
Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.
May 8, 1902
In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
April 29, 1903
A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta, Canada.
January 23, 1904
Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
February 7, 1904
A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
January 9, 1905
According to the Julian Calendar which is used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
January 8, 1906
A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.
March 10, 1906
The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.
May 11, 1907
A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot.
August 29, 1907
The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.
November 7, 1907
Jesús García saves the entire town of Nacozari de Garcia, Sonora by driving a burning train full of dynamite six kilometers away before it can explode.
December 6, 1907
A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia kills 362 workers.
December 11, 1907
The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire.
December 14, 1907
The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Scilly Isles in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
December 19, 1907
A group of 239 coal miners die during a mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
March 4, 1908
The Collinwood School Fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
September 17, 1908
The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.
November 30, 1908
A mine explosion in the mining town of Marianna, Pennsylvania kills 154.
March 27, 1910
A fire during a barn-dance in Ököritófülpös, Hungary, kills 312.
December 19, 1912
William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over 1,000 people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.
March 21, 1913
Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio.
November 9, 1913
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people.
April 20, 1914
Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner's strike.
December 15, 1914
A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyūshū, Japan, kills 687. This accident is the worst coal mine disaster in Japanese history.
November 29, 1915
Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina Island, California.
September 11, 1916
The Quebec Bridge's central span collapses, killing 11 men. The bridge initially collapsed in toto on August 29, 1907.
January 19, 1917
Silvertown explosion: 73 are killed and 400 injured in an explosion in a munitions plant in London.
December 6, 1917
Halifax Explosion: In Canada, a munitions explosion kills more than 1900 people and destroys part of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
June 22, 1918
The Hammond circus train wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana.
July 9, 1918
Great train wreck of 1918: in Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.
July 12, 1918
The Japanese Imperial Navy battle ship Kawachi blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
October 4, 1918
An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey. Fires and explosions continue for three days forcing massive evacuations and spreading ordnance over a wide area, pieces of which are still being found in 2007.
November 7, 1918
The 1918 influenza epidemic spreads to Western Samoa, killing 7,542 (about 20% of the population) by the end of the year.
January 15, 1919
Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
June 20, 1919
150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
January 28, 1922
Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapses.
September 8, 1923
Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
March 8, 1924
The Castle Gate mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.
April 16, 1925
During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.
April 12, 1927
April 12 Incident: Chiang Kai-shek orders the CPC members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
May 18, 1927
The Bath School Disaster: Forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
November 21, 1927
Columbine Mine Massacre: Striking coal miners are allegedly attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes.
March 12, 1928
In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing over 600 people.
September 7, 1929
Steamer Kuru capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. 136 lives are lost.
March 4, 1930
Floods ransack Languedoc and the surrounding area in south-west France, resulting in twelve départements being submerged by water and causing the death of over 700 people.
October 5, 1930
British Airship R101 crashed in France en-route to India on its maiden voyage.
March 15, 1931
SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 on board.
November 9, 1932
Riots between conservative and socialist supporters in Switzerland kill 12 and injure 60.
October 10, 1933
United Airlines Chesterton Crash: A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
September 8, 1934
Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 135 people.
September 22, 1934
An explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery in Wales, leading to the deaths of 266 miners and rescuers.
April 14, 1935
"Black Sunday Storm", the worst dust storm of the U.S. Dust Bowl.
March 18, 1937
The New London School explosion kills three hundred, mostly children.
March 21, 1937
Ponce Massacre: 18 people and a 7-yr-old girl in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by a police squad acting under orders of US-appointed PR Governor, Blanton C. Winship.
June 15, 1937
A German expedition led by Karl Wien lost sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. The worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
December 13, 1937
Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.
March 1, 1939
Japanese Imperial Army ammunition dump exploded at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94.
May 23, 1939
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
January 29, 1940
Three trains on the Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi station. 181 people are killed.
April 23, 1940
The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
September 12, 1940
An explosion at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey kills 51 people and injures over 200.
November 11, 1940
Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
June 5, 1941
Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.
July 10, 1941
Jedwabne Pogrom: the massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne in Poland.
January 16, 1942
Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
February 28, 1942
The heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed.
October 23, 1942
All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
November 28, 1942
In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 491 people.
April 14, 1944
Bombay Explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
October 20, 1944
Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
November 7, 1944
A passenger train derails in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico from excessive speed when descending a hill. 16 people are killed and 50 are injured.
November 10, 1944
The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood (AE-11) explodes at Seeadler Harbour, Manus, Admiralty Islands
April 16, 1945
More than 7,000 die when the German refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine torpedo.
May 8, 1945
Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
December 7, 1946
A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.
March 25, 1947
An explosion in a coal mine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
April 16, 1947
Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
May 1, 1947
Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano; 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded.
September 16, 1947
Typhoon Kathleen hit Saitama, Tokyo and Tone River area, at least 1,930 killed.
November 18, 1947
The Ballantyne's Department Store fire, Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41 (New Zealand's worst ever fire)
April 7, 1948
A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead.
May 30, 1948
A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
November 1, 1948
Off southern Manchuria, 6,000 people are killed as a Chinese merchant ship explodes and sinks.
April 5, 1949
A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements.
January 7, 1950
A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, kills 41 people.
November 25, 1950
The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm, paralyzes the northeastern United States and the Appalachians, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, records 57 inches of snow. 323 people die as a result of the storm.
February 6, 1951
The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
June 13, 1952
Catalina affair: a Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.
December 4, 1952
Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
December 20, 1952
United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
June 18, 1953
A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tokyo, Japan killing 129.
December 24, 1953
Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.
September 26, 1954
Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
June 11, 1955
Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
January 1, 1956
A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.
June 20, 1956
A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.
June 30, 1956
A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 (Flight 718) collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States, killing all 128 on board the two planes.
January 31, 1957
Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
February 17, 1957
A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.
September 29, 1957
20 MCi (740 petabecquerels) of radioactive material is released in an explosion at the Soviet Mayak nuclear plant at Chelyabinsk.
October 10, 1957
The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident.
January 26, 1958
Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsizes off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.
February 6, 1958
Eight Manchester United F.C. players are killed in the Munich air disaster.
February 28, 1958
A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains the worst school bus accident in U.S. history.
March 1, 1958
Turkish passenger ship Uskudar capsized and sank at Izmit Bay, Kocaeli, Turkey, killing at least 300.
March 19, 1958
The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
May 22, 1958
Sri Lankan riots of 1958: This riot is a watershed event in the race relationship of the various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total number of deaths is estimated to be 300, mostly Sri Lankan Tamils.
June 17, 1958
The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing being built connecting Vancouver and North Vancouver, Canada, collapses into the Burrard Inlet, killing many of the ironworkers and injuring others.
September 15, 1958
A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.
January 22, 1959
Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.
June 23, 1959
A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway kills 34 people.
June 30, 1959
A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
September 27, 1959
Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.
November 14, 1959
Four members of the Clutter family are murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. The book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is about these murders.
November 15, 1959
Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.
December 16, 1960
1960 New York air disaster: While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.
January 3, 1961
The SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho, leaks radiation, killing three workers.
January 8, 1962
The Harmelen train disaster kills 93 people in The Netherlands.
January 30, 1962
Two of the high-wire Flying Wallendas are killed when their seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
March 16, 1962
A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 missing.
June 3, 1962
An Air France Boeing 707 charter, Chateau de Sully crashes after an aborted takeoff from Paris, killing 130.
June 22, 1962
An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashes in bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies killing 113.
October 12, 1962
Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
April 10, 1963
129 people die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
April 12, 1963
The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
October 31, 1963
An explosion at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) in Indianapolis kills 74 people during an ice skating show. The explosion also injures 400. A faulty propane tank connection in a concession stand is blamed.
November 9, 1963
At Miike coal mine, Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458, and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, in Japan, a three-train disaster occurs in Yokohama, kills more than 160 people.
December 22, 1963
The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.
February 10, 1964
Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) collides with the destroyer HMAS Voyager (D04) off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
August 9, 1965
A fire at a Titan missile base near Searcy, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.
November 13, 1965
The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives.
January 17, 1966
A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident.
February 4, 1966
All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
March 4, 1966
Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
October 21, 1966
Aberfan disaster: A coal tip falls on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
December 24, 1966
A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
February 7, 1967
Serious bushfires in southern Tasmania claim 62 lives and destroy 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land.
January 21, 1968
A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
April 6, 1968
In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
May 22, 1968
The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
October 2, 1968
A peaceful student demonstration in Mexico City ends in the Tlatelolco massacre.
December 25, 1968
42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
January 14, 1969
An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) near Hawaii kills 27 people.
February 18, 1969
The Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disaster occurs, killing all on board.
February 15, 1970
A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.
February 21, 1970
Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
September 26, 1970
The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
October 15, 1970
Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
October 30, 1970
In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November 1, 1970
A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 144 young people.
November 12, 1970
The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
November 13, 1970
Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster.
December 15, 1970
South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes off Korean Strait and 308 killed.
December 17, 1970
Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
March 18, 1971
A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200.
July 30, 1971
An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162.
September 13, 1971
State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to end a prison revolt. 42 people die in the assault.
November 10, 1971
In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city of Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine aircraft.
December 4, 1971
The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert; the incident would be noted in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water".
February 26, 1972
The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
May 13, 1972
Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators cause 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
May 30, 1972
In Tel Aviv members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
January 7, 1973
Mark Essex fatally shoots 10 people and wounds 13 others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana before being shot to death by police officers.
January 22, 1973
A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria killing 176.
January 23, 1973
A volcanic eruption devastates Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar chain of islands off the south coast of Iceland.
February 21, 1973
Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.
June 3, 1973
A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
June 20, 1973
Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.
August 2, 1973
A flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
February 1, 1974
A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
June 1, 1974
Flixborough disaster: an explosion at a chemical plant kills 28 people.
August 30, 1974
A Belgrade-Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.
August 30, 1974
Powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. 8 killed, 378 injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities.
November 2, 1974
78 die when the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
November 21, 1974
The Birmingham Pub Bombings perpetrated by the IRA kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but subsequently acquitted.
January 5, 1975
The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
February 28, 1975
A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
June 24, 1975
An Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727 crashes at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. 113 people die.
November 10, 1975
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
February 2, 1976
The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
March 9, 1976
Forty-two people die in the 1976 Cavalese cable-car disaster, the worst cable-car accident to date.
June 16, 1976
Soweto uprising: a non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd and kill 566 children.
September 19, 1976
Turkish Airlines Boeing 727 hits the Taurus Mountains, outskirt of Karatepe, Osmaniye, Turkey, killing all 155 passengers and crew.
October 6, 1976
Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom, by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
October 13, 1976
A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).
October 20, 1976
The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only 18 people aboard the ferry survived.
January 15, 1977
The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.
January 18, 1977
Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
March 27, 1977
Tenerife disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). 61 survived on the Pan Am flight.
April 27, 1977
28 people are killed in the Guatemala City air disaster.
May 28, 1977
In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
November 6, 1977
The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.
November 19, 1977
Transportes Aereos Portugueses Boeing 727 crashes in Madeira islands killing 130.
January 26, 1978
The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US, strikes the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h).
March 16, 1978
Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history.
November 15, 1978
A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
January 29, 1979
Brenda Spencer kills two people and wounds eight at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shootings.
January 30, 1979
Varig 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
March 14, 1979
In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
June 3, 1979
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date.
September 21, 1979
Two RAF Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump-jets from RAF Wittering collide over the UK. Both pilots ejected safely. One of the jets broke up in midair and fell harmlessly into a field but the other dropped onto the centre of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, destroying two houses and a bungalow. Several people are injured in the accident and three people are killed.
November 3, 1979
Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally.
December 3, 1979
In Cincinnati, Ohio, eleven fans are killed during a stampede for seats before a Who concert at Riverfront Coliseum.
March 27, 1980
The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
August 19, 1980
Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
November 21, 1980
A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). 87 people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
November 21, 1980
Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole. The resulting whirlpool sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet down to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
February 10, 1981
A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
February 11, 1981
100,000 US gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers.
June 6, 1981
A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the actual figure is closer to 1,000 killed.
June 28, 1981
A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of Islamic Republic Party.
July 17, 1981
A walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri collapses killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 caused by structural failure.
December 1, 1981
A Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in Corsica killing all 180 people on-board.
December 11, 1981
El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.
December 19, 1981
Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
February 15, 1982
The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
April 26, 1982
57 people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
June 24, 1982
British Airways Flight 9, sometimes referred to as "the Jakarta incident", flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
September 11, 1982
The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
October 20, 1982
During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
November 3, 1982
The Salang tunnel fire in Afghanistan kills up to 2,000+ people.
November 25, 1982
The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire destroys an entire city block, including the Northwestern National Bank building and the recently closed Donaldson's Department Store.
February 16, 1983
The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people.
April 18, 1983
A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.
May 20, 1983
A car-bomb explosion kills 17 and injures 197 in the centre of Pretoria, South Africa.
November 5, 1983
Byford Dolphin diving bell accident kills five and leaves one severely injured.
November 27, 1983
A Colombian Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing 181.
December 7, 1983
An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid Barajas International Airport, killing 93 people.
September 20, 1984
A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people.
November 14, 1984
Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.
November 19, 1984
A series of explosions at the PEMEX petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City starts a major fire and kills about 500 people.
December 3, 1984
Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000-600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
December 20, 1984
The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
March 8, 1985
A failed assassination attempt on Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon, kills at least 45 and injures 175 others.
April 8, 1985
Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
May 25, 1985
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
November 6, 1985
In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the April 19 Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, eventually killing 115 people, 11 of them Supreme Court justices.
December 27, 1985
Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside Rome and Vienna airports.
February 19, 1986
Akkaraipattu massacre, massacre of 80 Tamil farm workers by the Sri Lankan Army in the eastern province of Sri Lanka.
March 24, 1986
The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
March 31, 1986
A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166.
April 14, 1986
1 kilogram (2.2 lb) hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These are the heaviest hailstones ever recorded.
August 21, 1986
Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.
August 31, 1986
The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.
September 5, 1986
Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
December 31, 1986
A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
January 4, 1987
The Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.
April 21, 1987
The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
April 23, 1987
28 construction workers die when the L'Ambiance Plaza apartment building collapses while under construction in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
June 19, 1987
The ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45.
September 13, 1987
Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and leading some to die from radiation poisoning.
October 21, 1987
Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, Doctors & Nurses.
November 18, 1987
King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.
November 25, 1987
Super Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that swallows entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
November 29, 1987
A Korean Air Boeing 707 explodes over the Thai-Burmese border, killing 155.
December 8, 1987
The Queen Street Massacre: Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills 8 people at the offices of Australia Post in Melbourne, Australia before being killed himself.
December 20, 1987
History's worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
April 28, 1988
Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
July 31, 1988
32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
October 12, 1988
Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
November 13, 1988
Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
January 17, 1989
Stockton massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
February 8, 1989
An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain in Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal, killing 144.
February 24, 1989
United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
April 7, 1989
Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
June 4, 1989
Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
October 23, 1989
Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas killed 23 and injured 314.
November 22, 1989
In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad, killing him.
December 6, 1989
The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
December 22, 1989
Kempsey bus crash: Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific Highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales
February 14, 1990
92 people are killed aboard Indian Airlines Flight 605 at Bangalore, India.
March 25, 1990
In The Bronx, a fire at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.
September 5, 1990
Eastern University massacre, massacre of 158 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan army at the Eastern University in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
September 9, 1990
1990 Batticaloa massacre, massacre of 184 minority Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.
November 13, 1990
In Aramoana, New Zealand, David Gray shoots dead 13 people, in what became known as the Aramoana Massacre.
December 3, 1990
At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 on the runway, killing 7 passengers and 1 crew member aboard flight 1482.
April 5, 1991
An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard.
April 29, 1991
A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
May 26, 1991
Lauda Air Flight 004 explodes over rural Thailand, killing 223.
June 3, 1991
Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
June 12, 1991
1991 Kokkadichcholai massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
June 30, 1991
32 miners are killed when a coal mine fire in the Donbass region of the Ukraine releases toxic gas.
October 5, 1991
An Indonesian military transport crashes after takeoff from Jakarta killing 137.
October 16, 1991
Luby's massacre: George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20 in Luby's Cafeteria.
October 20, 1991
The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.
November 14, 1991
In Royal Oak, Michigan, a fired United States Postal Service employee goes on a shooting rampage, killing four and wounding five before committing suicide.
March 17, 1992
A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
April 22, 1992
In an explosion in Guadalajara, Mexico, 206 people are killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 left homeless.
July 31, 1992
A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.
September 18, 1992
An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing 9 replacement workers.
October 9, 1992
A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu
October 13, 1992
An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov Airlines registered SSSR-82002, crashed near Kiev, Ukraine.
November 20, 1992
In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
January 5, 1993
The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
March 12, 1993
Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
September 22, 1993
A barge strikes a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama, causing the the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history. 47 passengers are killed.
September 22, 1993
A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia.
October 7, 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, as the Mississippi River falls below flood stage.
December 11, 1993
Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
January 3, 1994
An Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkutsk, Russia, killing 125 people including one on the ground.
May 2, 1994
In a bus disaster in Poland, 32 people die.
June 16, 1994
A Chinese operated Tupolev TU-154 crashes 10 minutes after takeoff killing 160.
June 28, 1994
Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan, 7 persons killed, 660 injured.
September 8, 1994
A USAir Boeing 737 crashes in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, near the city of Aliquippa.
October 21, 1994
In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
October 31, 1994
An American Eagle ATR-72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 68 passengers and crew.
March 20, 1995
A sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway kills 12 and wounds 1,300 persons.
June 29, 1995
The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.
July 9, 1995
The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lankan Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.
September 22, 1995
An E-3B AWACS crashes outside Elmendorf AFB, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board are killed.
September 22, 1995
Nagerkovil school bombing, is carried out by Sri Lankan Air Force in which 34 (at least) people died, most of them are ethnic Tamil school children.
October 25, 1995
A commuter train slams into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students.
November 13, 1995
A truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claims responsibility.
January 19, 1996
The barge North Cape oil spill occurred as an engine fire forced the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
January 31, 1996
An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
February 15, 1996
At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.
March 18, 1996
A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162.
April 3, 1996
A United States Air Force airplane carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashes in Croatia, killing all 35 on board.
April 28, 1996
In Tasmania, Australia, Martin Bryant goes on a shooting spree, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 21 more.
June 25, 1996
The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
July 18, 1996
Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Québec's costliest natural disasters ever.
September 27, 1996
The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
October 2, 1996
An AeroPerú Boeing 757 crashes in Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Lima, Peru, killing 70.
October 11, 1996
Pala accident: a wood lorry and school bus collide in Jõgeva county, Estonia, killing eight children.
November 7, 1996
A Nigerian Boeing 727 crashes into a lagoon 40 miles southeast of Lagos, killing 143.
November 12, 1996
A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date.
November 21, 1996
A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33.
November 25, 1996
An ice storm strikes the central U.S. killing 26 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida and winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
December 30, 1996
In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.
February 4, 1997
En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
April 3, 1997
The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
April 22, 1997
Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria – 93 villagers killed.
June 13, 1997
Uphaar cinema fire, in New Delhi, India, killed 59 people, and over 100 people injured.
June 16, 1997
The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed.
August 3, 1997
Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; 40-76 villagers killed.
September 26, 1997
A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.
December 15, 1997
A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
December 24, 1997
The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
December 30, 1997
In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages.
January 4, 1998
Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
January 11, 1998
Sidi-Hamed massacre takes place in Algeria, over 100 people are killed.
January 25, 1998
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide attack on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth, killing 8 people injuring 25 others.
March 26, 1998
Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
October 7, 1998
Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming.
October 11, 1998
A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.
October 29, 1998
The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden claims 63 lives and injures 200.
December 8, 1998
Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
December 29, 1998
Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
March 24, 1999
Mont Blanc Tunnel Fire: 39 people die when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine catches fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel.
April 5, 1999
Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
April 14, 1999
NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees – Yugoslav officials say 75 people are killed.
April 14, 1999
A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
April 20, 1999
Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado.
August 31, 1999
A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground.
September 23, 1999
Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history since 1960.
September 30, 1999
Japan's worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tōkai-mura, northeast of Tokyo.
October 5, 1999
The Ladbroke Grove rail crash in west London kills 31 people.
November 18, 1999
In College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 27 injured at Texas A&M University when a massive bonfire under construction collapses.
December 26, 1999
Severe weather in France kills over 100 people and causes extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid (see Lothar).
March 28, 2000
A Murray County, Georgia, school bus is hit by a CSX freight train (3 children die in this accident).
April 8, 2000
Nineteen Marines are killed when a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona.
May 13, 2000
In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.
September 26, 2000
The MS Express Samina sinks off Paros in the Agean sea killing 80 passengers.
October 31, 2000
A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50.
November 11, 2000
In Kaprun, Austria, 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
November 15, 2000
A chartered Antonov AN-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola killing more than 40 people. New Jharkhand state came into existence in India.
November 17, 2000
A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
December 30, 2000
Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a period of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.
January 10, 2001
A large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.
February 9, 2001
The American submarine USS Greeneville (SSN-772) accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.
February 28, 2001
Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
March 4, 2001
Hintze Ribeiro disaster, a bridge collapses in northern Portugal, killing up to 70 people.
March 5, 2001
In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
May 24, 2001
The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.
June 1, 2001
Dolphinarium massacre: an Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
June 5, 2001
Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
June 8, 2001
Mamoru Takuma stabs 8 elementary school pupils to death during the Osaka school massacre.
October 19, 2001
SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people.
December 29, 2001
A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.
January 17, 2002
Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
February 12, 2002
An Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
February 20, 2002
In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
February 27, 2002
Godhra train burning: a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya;
March 27, 2002
Passover Massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover meal in Netanya, Israel.
May 9, 2002
In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
May 25, 2002
China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.
May 25, 2002
A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique kills 197 people.
June 24, 2002
The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history.
June 29, 2002
Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.
August 19, 2002
A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
September 26, 2002
The overcrowded Senegalese ferry MV Joola capsizes off the coast of Gambia killing more than 1,000.
October 2, 2002
The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks.
October 11, 2002
A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
October 29, 2002
Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno, a fire destroys a luxurious department store where 1500 people shopping. Over 60 people died and over 100 are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
November 6, 2002
12 people are killed in a fire on board a train bound for Vienna from Paris.
November 13, 2002
The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill.
November 22, 2002
In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
December 27, 2002
Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya.
January 18, 2003
A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
January 31, 2003
The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
February 20, 2003
During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the club ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
March 5, 2003
In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
May 12, 2003
The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.
October 4, 2003
Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
October 15, 2003
The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi runs into a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
October 26, 2003
The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.
December 23, 2003
PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
January 3, 2004
Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people on board.
February 1, 2004
251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
February 5, 2004
Twenty-three Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. Twenty-one bodies are recovered.
February 14, 2004
In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
February 18, 2004
Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
March 11, 2004
Madrid Train Bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid (Spain) kill 191 people.
March 17, 2004
Unrest in Kosovo results in more than 22 killed, 200 wounded, and the destruction of 35 Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.
March 19, 2004
Äänekoski bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
April 22, 2004
Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.
May 2, 2004
Yelwa massacre of more than 630 nomad Muslims by Christians in Nigeria.
August 24, 2004
89 passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
September 3, 2004
Beslan school hostage crisis: Day 3: The Beslan hostage crisis ends with the deaths of over 300 people, over half of which are children.
November 6, 2004
An express train collides with a stationary car near the village of Ufton Nervet, England, killing 6 and injuring 150.
November 26, 2004
Ruzhou School massacre: a man stabs and kills eight people and seriously wounds another four in a school dormitory in Ruzhou, China.
November 30, 2004
Lion Air Flight 538 crash lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 26.
December 30, 2004
A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
March 23, 2005
A major explosion at the Texas City Refinery kills 15 workers.
July 7, 2005
A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system killing 56 people, including four alleged suicide bombers.
October 2, 2005
Ethan Allen Boating Accident: The Ethan Allen tour boat capsizes on Lake George in Upstate New York, killing twenty people.
November 9, 2005
Suicide bombers attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.
January 12, 2006
A stampede during the Stoning the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.
February 17, 2006
A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
March 20, 2006
Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop.
May 12, 2006
Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 150 dead.
July 9, 2006
At least 122 people are killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia.
July 11, 2006
209 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
October 2, 2006
Five school girls are murdered by Charles Carl Roberts in a shooting at an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania before Roberts commits suicide.
December 9, 2006
Moscow suffers its worst fire since 1977, killing 45 women in a drug rehabitation center.
January 1, 2007
Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board.
January 3, 2007
National Express has its worst ever coach crash just outside Heathrow Airport.
February 3, 2007
A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
March 23, 2007
Burnley Tunnel catastrophe occurs in Melbourne, Australia.
April 11, 2007
2007 Algiers bombings: Two bombings in the Algerian capital of Algiers, kills 33 people and wounds a further 222 others.
July 27, 2007
Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase; there are no survivors. This is the first known incidence of two news helicopters colliding in mid-air, and the worst civil aviation incident in Phoenix history.
October 19, 2007
Philippines. Amidst corruption controversies hounding the Arroyo administration, a bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati, which killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.
October 23, 2007
A powerful Cold front in the Bay of Campeche causes the Usumacinta Jackup rig to collide with Kab 101, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after they evacuated the rig.
November 7, 2007
Jokela school shooting in Tuusula, Finland, resulting in the death of nine people.
November 13, 2007
An explosion hits the south wing of the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Quezon City, killing four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounding six.
November 15, 2007
A Cyclone named Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans.
November 23, 2007
MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sank in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands.
December 3, 2007
Winter storms caused the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, also closing a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods.
December 5, 2007
Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska mall, killing eight people before taking his own life.
December 11, 2007
Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
May 2, 2008
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 130,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
November 25, 2008
A car bomb in St. Petersburg, Russia, kills three people and injures one.
January 31, 2009
In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
February 7, 2009
Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.
March 27, 2009
Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails killing at least 99 people.
June 22, 2009
2009 Washington Metro subway crash: Two Metro trains collide in Washington, D.C., USA, killing 9 and injuring over 80.
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