Deadliest Incidents In History

1837 Surat fire — India

In April 1837, a fire broke out in the Indian city of Surat, then under British East India Company rule. It resulted in more than 500 deaths and the destruction of 9,737 houses in a 9+3⁄4-mile (16 km) radius. It was the most destructive fir

Glena dam disaster — Italy

1989 North Korea highway bridge collapse — North Korea

Cocoanut Grove fire — United States

The Cocoanut Grove fire was a nightclub fire in Boston, Massachusetts, US on November 28, 1942, which resulted in the deaths of 492 people. It is the deadliest nightclub fire in history and the third-deadliest single-building fire in the Un

1888 eruption of Mount Bandai — Japan

The 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai was a major volcanic eruption which occurred during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. The eruption occurred on July 15, 1888, pyroclastic flows buried villages on the northern foot of the mountain, a

Tragedia del Ycua — Paraguay

The Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire, also known as the Ycuá Bolaños Tragedy, occurred on 1 August 2004 in Asunción, Paraguay. After the fire broke out, exits were locked to prevent people from stealing merchandise. The building also lacked ad

Cinema Rex fire — Iran

The Cinema Rex fire (Persian: آتش‌سوزی سینما رکس آبادان, lit. 'Rex Abadan cinema fire') occurred on 19 August 1978 when the Cinema Rex in Abadan, Iran, was set ablaze, killing between 377 and 470 people. The event started when four individu

Cyclone Mocha — Bangladesh

Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Mocha was a powerful and deadly tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean which affected Myanmar and parts of Bangladesh in May 2023. The second depression and the first cyclonic storm of the 2023 North Indi

Mitsui Miike Coal Mine disaster — Japan

Miike coal mine (三池炭鉱, Miike Tankō), also known as the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine (三井三池炭鉱, Mitsui Miike Tankō), was the largest coal mine in Japan, located in the area of the city of Ōmuta, Fukuoka and Arao, Kumamoto, Japan. In 1960, it was the

Goldau landslide — Switzerland

1918 Cloquet Fire — United States

The Cloquet Fire ( kloh-KAY) was an immense forest fire in northern Minnesota, United States, in October 1918, caused by sparks on the local railroads amid dry conditions. The fire left much of western Carlton County devastated, mostly aff

Ringtheater fire — Austria

The Ringtheater fire occurred on 8 December 1881, in the popular Viennese Ringtheater, named after the road it was located at, the Schottenring. Before the fire, the privately run theater, with capacity for an audience of about 1700, had be

Sinking of Dongfang zhi Xing — China

MV Dongfang zhi Xing (Chinese: 东方之星; pinyin: Dōngfāng zhī Xīng; translated as Oriental Star or Eastern Star) was a river cruise ship that operated in the Three Gorges region of inland China. On the night of 1 June 2015, the ship was traveli

Senghenydd Colliery Disaster — United Kingdom

The Senghenydd colliery disaster, also known as the Senghenydd explosion (Welsh: Tanchwa Senghennydd), occurred at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales, on 14 October 1913. The explosion, which killed 439

Coalbrook mining disaster — South Africa

The Coalbrook mining disaster was the worst mining accident in the history of South Africa. The disaster occurred in the Coalbrook coal mine of Clydesdale Colliery on 21 January 1960 at around 19:00 when approximately 900 pillars caved in,

1967 floods and landslides in Caraguatatuba — Brazil

Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne derailment — France

The Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne derailment of December 12, 1917, was a railway accident involving a troop train carrying at least 1,000 French soldiers on their way home for leave from the Italian front in World War I. A derailment as the tra

St. Francis Dam disaster — United States

2018 Sunda Strait tsunami — Indonesia

The 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami (Indonesian: Tsunami Selat Sunda 2018) occurred on 22 December 2018 at around 21:38 local time after large parts of the southwestern side of Anak Krakatoa collapsed onto its caldera. The landslide spawned a tsu

Awash rail disaster — Ethiopia

On 13 January 1985, an express train derailed on a curved bridge over the gorge of the Awash River in Awash, Ethiopia. The official death toll was 428, with more than 500 injuries.

1751 Nadachi landslide — Japan

Conflagration at Wöllerdorfer Werke — Austria

Great Hinckley Fire — United States

The Great Hinckley Fire was a conflagration in the pine forests of the U.S. state of Minnesota that ignited on September 1, 1894, which burned an area of at least 200,000 acres (810 km2; 310 sq mi) (perhaps more than 250,000 acres [1,000 km

sinking of the Van Imhoff

Dancheon train disaster — North Korea

2026 Kabul hospital airstrike — Afghanistan

On 16 March 2026, Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan, was destroyed amid airstrikes carried out by the Pakistan Air Force during the 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan War. Hospital officials workin

sinking of Tōyo Maru No. 10 — Japan

sinking of the SS Japan — Japan

2017 Pedrógão Grande Wildfire — Portugal

A series of four initial deadly wildfires erupted across central Portugal in the afternoon of 17 June 2017 within minutes of each other, resulting in at least 66 deaths and 204 injured people. The majority of deaths took place in the Pedróg

2010 Ugandan landslide — Uganda

The 2010 Ugandan landslide occurred in the Bududa District in eastern Uganda on 1 March 2010. The landslide was triggered by heavy rain between 12 pm and 7 pm that day. At least 100 people were believed to have been killed, and 94 bodies we

El Virilla train accident — Costa Rica

The El Virilla train accident occurred in Costa Rica on 14 March 1926, when an overcrowded train carrying mostly farmers and laborers derailed while crossing a bridge across the Virilla River Canyon, killing 385 and injuring 93. The train w

July 2016 Baghdad bombings — Iraq

On 3 July 2016, Islamic State (IS) militants carried out coordinated bomb attacks in Baghdad that killed up to 1,000 civilians and injured hundreds more. A few minutes after midnight local time (2 July, 21:00 UTC), a suicide truck-bomb targ

2013 Mediterranean Sea migrant shipwreck — Italy

On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea, Somalia and

Re'im music festival massacre — Israel

On 7 October 2023, the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Islamist political organization Hamas, initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 378 people (344 civilians and

Monongah Mining disaster — United States

The Monongah mining disaster was a coal mine explosion on December 6, 1907, at Fairmont Coal Company's Nos. 6 and 8 mines in Monongah, West Virginia, which killed 362 miners. It has been described as "the worst mining disaster in American h

Oaks explosion — United Kingdom

The Oaks explosion, which happened at a coal mine in South Yorkshire on 12 December 1866, remains the worst mining disaster in England. A series of explosions caused by firedamp ripped through the underground workings at the Oaks Colliery a

1981 Chengdu-Kunming Railway Train Crash — China

The 1981 Chengdu–Kunming rail crash occurred on July 9, 1981, when train number 442 passed the failed Liziyida bridge near Ganluo County, Sichuan province. More than 200 died in the accident while 146 were injured. It is the worst train dis

Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision — India

On 12 November 1996, Saudia Flight 763, a Boeing 747-100 en route from Delhi, India, to Jeddah, with a stopover in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Shymkent, Kazakhstan, to Delhi, c

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 — France

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a scheduled flight from Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport to London Heathrow Airport, with an intermediate stop at Orly Airport in Paris. On 3 March 1974, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the flight crashed into

Pretoria Pit Disaster — United Kingdom

The Pretoria Pit disaster was a mining accident on 21 December 1910, when an underground explosion occurred at the Hulton Colliery Bank Pit No. 3, known as the Pretoria Pit, in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, then in the historic county of Lanca

2024 Wayanad landslide — India

A series of landslides occurred in Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Chooralmala, and Vellarimala villages in Meppadi panchayat, Vythiri taluk in Wayanad district, Kerala, India in the early hours of 30 July 2024. The landslides were caused by heav

Pan Am N736PA — Spain

Beslan school siege — Russia

The Beslan school siege, also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or the Beslan massacre, was a terrorist attack that occurred from 1 September 2004 to 3 September 2004 in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, Russian Federation. I

2017 Putumayo landslide — Colombia

The Mocoa landslide was a natural disaster that took place in 2017. Pre-dawn on 1 April 2017, locally heavy rain triggered flash flooding and landslides in the city of Mocoa, Putumayo, Colombia, killing at least 336 people, injuring 400, an

Air India Flight 182 — India

Air India Flight 182 was a scheduled international flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (as Air India Flight 181) to Mumbai’s Sahar International Airport with regular Mirabel-London-Delhi stops. On the morning of June 23, 1985,

1994 Karamay fire — China

The Karamay fire (Chinese: 克拉玛依大火) of 8 December 1994 at the Friendship Theatre in Karamay, Xinjiang, China, was among the most notorious fires in China. Its notoriety derives partly from the allegation that the schoolchildren, who were ent

Sierra Leone mudslides — Sierra Leone

On the morning of August 14, 2017, significant mudflow events occurred in and around the capital city of Freetown in Sierra Leone. Following three days of torrential rainfall, mass wasting of mud and debris damaged or destroyed hundreds of

Fire of Szatmárököritó — Hungary

The Fire of Szatmárököritó was a disaster that occurred on March 27, 1910, in the village of Szatmárököritó, Szatmár County, Kingdom of Hungary at the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The local granary barn used as a venue of large Easte

2017 Sinai mosque attack — Egypt

At 1:50 PM EET on 24 November 2017, the al-Rawda mosque was attacked by roughly 40 gunmen during Friday prayers. The mosque is located in the village of Al-Rawda east of the town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt's North Sinai Governorate. It is one

Sukkur rail disaster — Pakistan

The Sukkur rail disaster occurred on 4 January 1990 in the village of Sangi, near Sukkur in Sindh, Pakistan, claiming 307 lives. This makes it the deadliest rail accident in the country's history. The Bahauddin Zakaria Express, on an 800-ki

1983 Beirut barracks bombing — Lebanon

On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. T

1999 Russian apartment bombings — Russia

In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, t

sinking of Sekirei Maru — Japan

sinking of the MV Sewol — South Korea

On the morning of Wednesday, 16 April 2014, the ferry MV Sewol sank while en route from Incheon towards Jeju City in South Korea. The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi; 1.5 nmi) north of Byeongpungdo

2010 South Kivu road tanker explosion — DR Congo

This is a list of notable tank truck fires and explosions.

Saudia Flight 163 — Saudi Arabia

Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled Saudia passenger flight departing from Quaid-e-Azam Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, bound for Kandara Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, via then-Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which caug

Soma mine disaster — Turkey

On 13 May 2014, blasting at Eynez coal mine in Soma, Manisa, Turkey, caused an underground mine fire, which burned until 15 May. In total, 301 people were killed, making it the worst mine disaster in Turkey's history. The mine, operated by

2016 Mosul massacre — Iraq

On 7 February 2016, the Islamic State executed over 300 police and army personnel, as well as civil activists by a firing squad in Mosul, Iraq.

2024 Barsalogho massacre — Burkina Faso

On 24 August 2024, jihadists from Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) killed between 200 and 600 civilians digging trenches for the Burkinabe government around the town of Barsalogho, Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso. The massacre

1957 Gambar train crash — Pakistan

On September 29, 1957, a Karachi-bound express passenger train collided at full speed with a stationary oil-tanker train before midnight, at Gambar Railway Station. 300 people were killed and 150 wounded by the accident.