SHIPWRECKS
Shipping disasters as a result of collisions, fires, explosions or military action are among the most famous of human tragedies. Some wrecks were carrying treasures that has since been discovered by divers. Some famous ship disasters are mentioned below
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| Remains of Titanic lying at the bottom of the ocean |
Mary Rose
This Tudor galleon sank in 1545 as Henry VII watched from the shore. She was found in 1968, raised in 1982, and is exhibited in Portsmouth.
Spanish Armada
Between August and October 1588 military action and storms combined to destroy the Spanish fleet off the British coast. About half the 130 ships that set out were wrecked, killing about 4000 people.
St George Defense and Hero
On December 4th 1811 these three British warships were stranded off the Jutland coast. More than 2000 people died.
Tek Sing
This chinese junk carrying 2000 passengers amd 350000 pieces of porcelain sank in 1822. It was found in 1999 and its treasures sold at a high price.
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| The unsinkable Titanic |
Sultana
On 27 April 1865 a steamboat from USA was destroyed bya boiler explosion. This was the USA's worst ever marine accident and a total of 1547 people died.
Princess Alice
On September 3 1878 this pleasure streamer was taking people on a holiday trip down the Thames in London. She collided and 786 people died.
Titanic
On the night of 14 April 1912 the "unsinkable" Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank killing 1517 people. The wrecks were discovered in 1986.
Lusitania
The British liner was torpedoed on January 30 1945 by a soviet submarine, S 13. Between 5348 and 7800 people died.
Dona Pez
It sank off the Philippines on 20 December 1987, killing upto 3000 people. This was the world's worst ferry tragedy.
AIR DISASTERS
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| The Twin Towers |
Worst ever
The two terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, New York, on September 11, 2001, killed all the passengers and crew on the both hijacked planes. More than 2000 people also died in the buildings.
On the ground
On 27 March 1977, two boieng 747's collided and caught fire on the runway of Los Rhodeos airport in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The aircrafts were carrying 614 passengers and 30 crew between them.
Single craft disaster
On 12 August 1985 a JAL boeing 747 on an internal flight from Tokyo to Osaka crashed, killing 520 passengers. Only 4 passengers survived.
Mid air collision
At Charkhi Dadri, India on November 12 1996, a Saudi airways Boeing 747 collided with a Kazakh Airlines. A total of 349 people died.
The Hindenburg disaster
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| Hindenburg |
The Hindenburg was the world's biggest airship at 245m long. The airship made several successful transatlantic crossings, then flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. She arrived on 6 May 1937 after a 3-day trip. As the airship was moored, she caught fire and turned into an inferno.
RAIL DISASTERS
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| Rail accident |
Rail travel is one of the safest ways of journeying from place to place, taking into account the large number of passengers carried and distance travelled. But there have been accidents. One of the earliest rail disasters was at Versailles, France. It happened on 8th May 1842, when the Versailles to France train crashed.
World's worst
On June 1981 a train plunged off a bridge crossing the Bagmati river, India. The driver may have had to brake sharpely to avoid hitting a sacred cow. The train was overcrowded and almost 800 people died.
UK
On 22 May 1915 , a troop trai crashed head into another another at Quintinshill near Gretna Green, Scotland. 227 people died and 246 were injured.
USA
Two USA accidents both resulted in 101 deaths. On 10 August 1987 a bridge at Chatsworth, Illinois caught fire and collapsed as a train was passing over. In the crash, 81 people were killed immediately and another 20 died later. As many as 372 were injured. The second accident happened on 9 July 1918 at Nashville when two trains collided head on.
American Underground
America's worst subway accident was on 1 November 1918 at Brooklyn, New York. A train was derailed in the Malbone street tunnel leaving 97 dead.
British Underground
British's worst tube disaster took place on 8 March 1943 at Betnal Green, London. About 173 people who were trying to enter the station were killed in the crash.
ROAD DISASTERS
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| A Tragic Road Accident |
Many people were killed and injured on the roads. More than 40,000 a year in the USA, but accidents involving more than a few drivers or pedestrians are rare.
Worst road disaster
On 3 November 1982, a petrol tanker collided with a Soviet army truck and exploded in the 2.7km Salang tunnel in Afghanistan. Around 2000 or perhaps 3000 people were killed.
US road disaster
The worst US road disaster took place on 15 December 1967. The silver bridge across the Ohio river from Kanauga, Ohio, to point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed during heavy rush hour. 60 vehicles plunged into the river.
British road accidents
On May 27 1975 a coach crashed near North Yorkshire, killing 33.
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