Disasters, part 2

[Aviation Disasters]

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

January 7 A hospital fire in Yokosuka, Japan, killed 8 adults and 8 new-born infants.

March 3 Sixty-three persons were killed in a chemical plant fire in Pusan, South Korea.

March 19 A fire in a Kurume, Japan, mental hospital killed 11 patients.

March 28 A fire inside a whiskey warehouse in Glasgow, Scotland, touched off an explosion that killed 19 firemen. The fire subsequently spread to a tobacco warehouse, an ice cream factory, an engine works, and other buildings. It took some 450 firefighters a week to extinguish the fires. [more information]

June 7 Hundreds of passengers suffered smoke inhalation and 148 persons were hospitalized when a fire broke out in a subway tunnel near Grand Central Terminal in New York City, New York. Subway service was restored after a three-hour delay.

July 14 Fire swept the Guatemala City (Guatemala) Hospital for the Insane, killing 225 persons and injuring about 300.

August 18 A boiler at an iron foundry in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, exploded, killing 17 persons.

September 2 An artillery shell exploded during a U.S. Army training exercise at Grafenwoehr, Germany, killing 16 soldiers.

October 19 A fire that razed the business center of Jolo, Philippines, killed at least 10 persons and left about 10,000 others homeless.

October 25 A natural gas explosion in a Windsor, Ontario, Canada, department store killed 10 persons and injured about 100 others. [more information]

November 13 Fire in a movie house at Amude, Syria, killed 152 children.

December 19 Fire broke out on the USS Constellation, an aircraft carrier under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, New York. Fifty workers were killed and at least 330 were injured. [more information] shipyard workers watch as firemen attempt to extinguish a fire on the USS Constellation

MARINE

February 24 A river boat carrying Hindus to a religious festival capsized near Chittagong, Pakistan, drowning 20 of the 60 persons aboard.

March 21 Fifty Yemenites drowned when their boat sank in the Red Sea.

March 22 A ferry carrying school children capsized near Taipei, Taiwan, drowning 18.

April 6 Fifty-seven persons died when a motor launch capsized in a storm in the Persian Gulf.

May 12 A boat overloaded with pilgrims capsized in the Krishna River in Andhra State, India; about 60 persons drowned.

June 13 Eighteen school children, a teacher, and two boatmen drowned when an excursion boat capsized in the Dunajec River of Poland.

July 11 A passenger launch on the Amazon River with 32 persons aboard overturned and sank near Belém, Brazil.

July 30 A motor launch capsized in the Godavari River in Andhra State, India, drowning 29 persons.

August 18 A boat carrying 46 passengers capsized in Delagoa Bay off Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, drowning all aboard.

October 21 The Norwegian tanker Polyana was sailing in the Persian Gulf near Qatar when it was struck by a series of explosions and a fire. Fourteen crewmen were missing and presumed dead and 29 were rescued.

October 22 The U.S. passenger freighter Alcoa Corsair and the Italian freighter Lorenzo Marcello collided in the Mississippi River near Buras, Louisiana. Ten persons were killed and more than 25 were injured.

December 14 Yugoslav and Greek tankers collided and burned in the Bosphorous Strait, killing 50 seaman.

December 21 A motor launch bound for Kuwait caught fire and sank in the Persian Gulf, killing 50 persons.

MINING

January 21 A collapse deep inside the Clydesdale Colliery at Coalbrook, South Africa, trapped 435 miners undergound. Attempts to rescue the men were unsuccessful, as were attempts to recover their bodies. [more information] a woman weeps near the entrance of the Coalbrook mine

February 1 Thirty-two miners died in a mine blast on Hokkaido Island, Japan.

February 22 An explosion inside a coal mine at Zwickau, Germany, killed 40 miners and trapped 74 others.

March 8 Eighteen persons died in a coal mine fire at Logan, West Virginia.

May 22 Fifty-four miners were killed in a coal mine blast at Ostrava, Czechoslovakia.

June 28 An explosion and cave-in of a coal mine at Six Bells, Wales, cost the lives of 45 persons.

July 19 At least 33 miners were killed when a fire broke out in an iron mine at Salzgitter, Germany.

August 17 A dam burst at a zinc mining site at Reocin, Spain, killing 23 persons.

August 17 Fifteen men died when a rockfall trapped them in a gold mine under the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa.

September 20 Sixty-seven miners drowned in a coal mine at Kyushu, Japan, after a gas explosion triggered a flood.

October 30 A gas explosion in a coal mine at Shiranuka, Japan, killed 17 miners.

NATURAL

January 6 A heat wave killed 13 persons in Australia.

January 13-14 An earthquake struck Arequipa, Peru, killing 60 persons.

January 16-17 A gale that struck Japan left over 100 people (mainly fishermen) dead or missing.

January 22 A landslide struck a school on Mindanao Island, Philippines, burying 40 children alive.

January 24 Twenty persons died in flooding caused by a cloudburst, in Carangola and Divino, Brazil.

February 21 A magnitude 5.6 earthquake killed 47 persons in Melouza and Beni Illmane, Algeria.

February 27 Winds reaching 160 m.p.h. caused 42 deaths on the island of Mauritius.

February 29-March 1 Two earthquakes, a tidal wave, and fire killed an estimated 20,000 persons in Agadir, Morocco.

March-April Rapid melting of above average snow levels caused flooding in both the Missouri and Mississippi river basins, especially from Missouri north into the Dakotas and Minnesota. a farm near Canton, Missouri, remains relatively dry despite the Mississippi River rising around it, thanks to a heavily re-inforced levee, in April

March 7-14 Flash floods caused an estimated 100 deaths in Bahia and Pernambuco states, Brazil.

April 24-28 An earthquake and associated aftershocks killed about 700 people in Lar and Gerash, Iran.

May 5-6 Tornadoes killed 30 persons in southeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas.

May 21-June 30 Two massive earthquakes off the coast of Chile devastated that country and spawned tsunamis that caused major damage on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

May 28 Rainstorms touched off floods that left more than 166 persons dead in Luzon, Philippines.

June 1-22 A heat wave, with temperatures of 109° to 121° F, killed 425 persons in northeastern India and West Pakistan.

June 9 Typhoon Mary battered Fukien Province, China, and Hong Kong, killing an estimated 1,600 people.

June 27-28 Typhoon Olive left about 100 people dead and hundreds missing in the Philippines.

July 4 Floods caused 30 deaths in the Kathrawa Peninsula of India.

July 31-August 2 Typhoon Shirley and ensuing floods left 104 persons dead and 95 others missing on Formosa.

August 6 Two days of storms in the southern Philippines left 35 persons missing and presumed dead.

August 13-14 Torrential rains spawned by Typhoon Wendy killed an estimated 18 persons in central Japan.

August 25 Flooding in Orissa State, India, left 47 persons dead and an estimated 1,500,000 homeless.

August 31 Typhoon Della killed an estimated 41 persons in southern Japan.

September 3-5 An estimated 155 persons were drowned in floods in northern India.

September 4-14 Hurricane Donna killed an estimated 240-350 persons in the Caribbean and along the east coast of the United States and caused damage in excess of a billion dollars. Hurricane Donna batters Biscayne Bay, Florida, with winds of up to 110 m.p.h.

September 15-19 Flash floods caused an estimated 50 deaths in Italy.

October 10 A cyclone and resultant tidal wave killed about 6,000 people in East Pakistan, Ramgati and Hatia islands, and the coastal area of the Bay of Bengal.

October 13 Typhoon Lola caused the deaths of an estimated 32 persons and damage of more than $10,000,000 in the Philippines.

October 20-November 1 Floods brought on by torrential rains left a reported 325 dead and 5,000 families homeless in Nicaragua.

October 31 A cyclone hit Chittagong, East Pakistan, and the surrounding coastal area, killing an estimated 6,000 people.

November 1 Heavy rains caused flooding in the interior regions of Nicaragua that killed more than 325 people.

RAIL

January 5 Fifteen persons were killed in a train derailment at Monza, Italy.

January 6 A train rammed into a bus in Opole, Poland, killing 16 persons.

February 1 A freight train rammed a standing passenger train near Devon, South Africa, killing 15 persons.

February 7 A train derailed on a steep incline at Sewell, Chile; 25 persons were reported killed.

March 1 A passenger train collided with an oil tank truck in Bakersfield, California, killing 14 persons and injuring 55 others. [more information]

May 15 An express train collided with a local train at Leipzig, Germany, killing 59 persons.

August 2 Two streetcars collided in Vienna, Austria, killing 18 persons.

November 14 Two passenger trains collided near Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, killing 110 persons.

November 29 A freight train crashed into a school bus at Lamont, Alberta, Canada, killing 16 students.

STRUCTURAL

May 22 A temporary bridge over the Aix-les-Bains race course in France collapsed onto the track during a race directly in the path of Chris Threlfall, who had no time to avoid the wreckage. Threlfall and six persons who were on the bridge were killed.

May 30 A 30-foot-tall temporary grandstand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway collapsed just before the start of the Indianapolis 500. Two persons were killed and more than 70 injured. series of photos showing the temporary stands collapsing at Indianapolis

June 12 A house in Lajore, Pakistan, collapsed during a wedding party, killing the bride and groom and 28 others.

TRAFFIC

January 11 A bus plunged over a cliff near Renosa, Mexico, killing 29 persons.

January 30 Forty-two persons were reported killed when a bus overturned at Sativa Norte, Colombia.

February 15 Twenty workmen were killed when the truck in which they were riding plunged into a chasm at Diamantina, Brazil.

March 4 Twenty persons died when a bus plunged off a 100-foot cliff at Chunkok, Korea.

March 4 Eight children and two adults burned to death when a bus smashed into a gasoline tank that had fallen from a truck, at Torreón, Mexico.

April 1 Twenty-two teen-age students were killed when a bus overturned in Beirut, Lebanon.

April 10 A truck bringing Indians to a Palm Sunday service slid off a mountain road into a ditch near La Paz, Bolivia, killing 37 persons.

April 18 A bus crashed into a tree in Bombay State, India, killing 23 persons.

May 28 A bus swerved off a road into a canal in Rawalpindi, Pakistan; 22 of 34 persons aboard drowned.

June 23 A trunk overturned in Sabre, Transvaal, South Africa, killing 18 persons.

July 19 An army truck fell into a flooded stream near Taxila, Pakistan, killing 22 soldiers.

July 28 A bus plunged off a mountain road into a gorge near Huancayo, Peru, killing 29 high school students.

July 30 A truck plunged off a mountain road at Trabzon, Turkey, killing 33 of its 65 occupants.

August 4 A bus fell over a bridge into a river at Macaé, Brazil, killing 15 persons.

August 24 A bus plunged into the Turvo Tiver at São José do Rio Prêto, Brazil, killing 60 persons.

October 17 A bus went over an embankment into a deep gully near Mancha Grande, Ecuador; 35 persons were killed and 22 others injured.

MISCELLANEOUS

January 26 Thirty-one persons were trampled to death and another 38 were injured at the Seoul, South Korea, train station in a rush by passengers to catch a Chinese New Year Eve train to Mokpo, South Korea.

March 2 Twelve persons were crushed to death in a rush to get into a Yokohama, Japan, theater.

April 1 Fifteen persons in a canoe drowned when a dam on the Paraibo River in Pernambuco State, Brazil, burst.

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This page was last updated on September 10, 2018.