10 The Versailles Wedding Hall Disaster
The
Versailles wedding hall , located in Talpiot, Jerusalem, is the site of the worst civil disaster in Israel's
history. At 22:43 on May 24, 2001, during the wedding of Keren and Asaf
Dror, a large portion of the third floor of the four-story building
collapsed. As a result, 23 people fell to their deaths through two
stories, including the groom's 80-year-old grandfather and his
three-year-old second cousin, the youngest victim. Another 380 were
injured, including the bride who suffered serious pelvic injuries that
required surgery. Asaf, who escaped serious injury, carried her in his arms from the rubble.
The disaster shocked the Israeli
public not only because it was one of the worst building disasters in
the country's history, but because the event was documented on a camcorder and broadcast on local and international television.
Date: May 24, 2001
Casualties: 23 People
9 Bradford City Stadium Fire
The
Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in
the history of English football. It occurred during a league match in
front of record numbers of spectators, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing
56 and injuring at least 265.
The Valley Parade stadium, long-established home to Bradford City Football Club,
had been noted for its antiquated design and facilities, including the
wooden roof of the main stand. Warnings had also been given about a
major build-up of litter just below the seats. The stand had been
officially condemned and was due for demolition.
The match against Lincoln City had started in a celebratory
atmosphere, with the home-team receiving the Football League Third
Division trophy. At 3.40 pm, a small fire was reported by TV commentator
John Helm,
but in less than four minutes, in windy conditions, it had engulfed the
whole stand, trapping some people in their seats. In the panic that
ensued, fleeing crowds had to break down locked exits to escape. There
were many cases of heroism, with more than fifty people receiving police
awards or commendations.
Date: May 11, 1985
Casualties: 56 People
8 Ramstein Air Show Disaster
The
Ramstein air show disaster occurred on Sunday August 28, 1988 during the
Flugtag '88 airshow at the US Ramstein Air Base near the city of Kaiserslautern, West Germany.
Aircraft of the Italian Air Force display team
collided during their display, crashing to the ground in front of a
crowd of about 300,000 people. 67 spectators and 3 pilots died. 346 spectators sustained serious injuries in the resulting explosion and fire, and hundreds of others had minor injuries.
It is the second-deadliest air show accident.
Date: August 28, 1988
Casualties: 70 People.
7 Sknyliv Airshow Disaster
Over 10,000 spectators attended the air show, staged to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Ukrainian Air Force's 14th Air Corps.
At 12:52pm, the Su-27 aircraft – flown by two experienced pilots – entered a rolling maneuver with a downward trajectory at low altitude;
having rolled upright once more the aircraft was still descending
rapidly and the left wing dropped shortly before the aircraft hit the
ground, at which point the crew initiated ejection.
The aircraft flattened out initially, skidding over the ground towards
stationary aircraft, striking a glancing blow against the nose of an Il-76
transport aircraft before beginning to explode and cartwheel into the
crowd of spectators. Both pilots survived with minor injuries.
77 spectators were killed, including 19 children (though initial
reports put the number of dead at 85). Another 100 were hospitalized for
head injuries, burns, and bone fractures.
Other injuries were less severe and did not require hospitalization: a total of 543 people were injured during the incident.
Following the disaster, the pilots stated that the flightmap they had received differed from the actual layout. On the flight data recorder, one pilot asks, "And where are our spectators?" Others have suggested that the pilots were slow to react to automated warnings issued by the flight computer.
Date: July 27, 2002
Casualties: 77 People
6 Station Nightclub Fire
The Station nightclub fire was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, killing 100 people. The fire began at 11:07 PM EST, on Thursday, February 20, 2003, at The Station, a glam metal and rock and roll-themed nightclub located at 211 Cowesett Avenue in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
The fire was caused by pyrotechnics set off by the tour manager of the evening's headlining band, Jack Russell's Great White,
which ignited flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings
surrounding the stage. A fast-moving fire engulfed the club in 5½
minutes. In addition to the 100 fatalities, 230 people were injured and
another 132 escaped uninjured. Video footage of the fire shows its
ignition, rapid growth, the billowing smoke that quickly made escape
impossible, and the exit blockage that further hindered evacuation.
Because it was a high-casualty fire caused by illegal indoor usage of
outdoor fireworks, the 2003 disaster bore similarities to the 2004 República Cromañón nightclub fire in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the 2008 Wuwang Club fire in Shenzhen, China; the 2009 Santika Club fire in Watthana, Bangkok, Thailand (cause is disputed); the 2009 Lame Horse fire in Perm, Russia; and the 2013 Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil.
Date: February 20, 2003
Casualties: 100 People
5 Ethiopian Airlines Crash
Ethiopian Airlines
Flight 961, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked on 23 November 1996,
en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi on an Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan service, by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia.
The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board died, along with the hijackers; the official accident report stated that of the survivors four were uninjured and the remainder sustained injuries.
The incident is one of the only documented water landing attempts of a widebody airliner with survivors.
[not in citation given] Until the 11 September 2001 attacks, it was the deadliest hijacking involving a single aircraft, and the second deadliest hijacking after the 1990 Guangzhou Baiyun airport collisions.
4 USS Forrestal Fire
The 1967 USS Forrestal fire was a devastating fire and series of chain-reaction explosions on 29 July 1967, that killed 134 sailors and injured 161 on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59), after an electrical anomaly discharged a Zuni rocket on the flight deck. Forrestal was engaged in combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War at the time, and the damage exceeded US$72 million (equivalent to $509 million today) not including the damage to aircraft. Future United States Senator John McCain was among the survivors.
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3 World Trade Center Attack
The
September 11 attacks (also referred to as
September 11,
September 11th, or
9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area
on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people and
caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.
Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists to be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both 110-story towers collapsed
with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete
collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex, including the
47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C.,
but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, 2,996 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. It was the deadliest incident for firefighter and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.
Date: September 11, 2001
Casualties: 3,000 People
2 Great East Japan Earthquake
In the last 100 years, many tragic videos have been captured showing
the world’s natural disasters. Few clips have compared to videos taken
from the 2004 Indian Ocean and the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami
mega disasters. On March 11, 2011, an undersea megathrust earthquake
occurred off the coast of Japan. It was the most powerful known
earthquake to have ever hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful
earthquakes since modern record-keeping began, in 1900. The earthquake
triggered a collection of extremely destructive tsunami waves, up to 38
meters (124 ft). In some cases, the water traveled up to 10 km (6 mi)
inland.
In addition to loss of life and destruction of infrastructure, the
tsunami caused a number of nuclear accidents, of which, by far, the most
serious was an ongoing level 7 event, and 20 km (12 mi) evacuation zone
around the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The plant was protected by
a seawall designed to withstand a 5.7 m (19 ft) tsunami, but not the 14
m (46 ft) maximum wave which arrived 41–60 minutes after the
earthquake. The overall cost of the quake could exceed $300 billion,
making it the most expensive natural disaster on record. The Japanese
National Police Agency has confirmed approximately 15,000 deaths.
The earthquake moved Honshu 2.4 m (7.9 ft) east, and shifted the
Earth on its axis by almost 10 cm (3.9 in). The Bank of Japan offered
15 trillion yen (US$183 billion) to the banking system on March 14, in
an effort to normalize market conditions. It is unusual for an
earthquake to exceed the magnitude of 8.5. The 9.0 mark of this quake
has surprised many seismologists. Sadly, over 100,000 children were
uprooted from their homes during the disaster, some of whom were
separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the
school day. Many videos have emerged showing the destruction. I have
selected a clip that shows a collection of large ocean waves
overpowering a Japanese city.
Date: March 11, 2011
Casualties: 15,000 People
1 Indian Ocean Tsunami
On December 26, 2004, an undersea megathrust earthquake occurred off
the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series
of devastating tsunamis along the coast of most landmasses bordering
the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries.
The event was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded
history. Indonesia was the hardest hit, followed by Sri Lanka, India
and Thailand. With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, the earthquake
was the third largest ever recorded. Sadly, relief agencies reported
that one-third of the casualties were children.
The 2004 earthquake was the biggest in the Indian Ocean in 700 years,
or since around A.D. 1400. The event has been described as the
deadliest natural disaster since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and the
1970 Bhola cyclone. The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami has caused
an enormous amount of environmental problems. Severe damage has been
reported in mangroves, coral reefs, forests, coastal wetlands,
vegetation, sand dunes and rock formations. The Great Nicobar and Car
Nicobar Islands were the worst hit among all the islands because of
their proximity to the quake and relative flatness. Entire islands were
washed away by the ocean, and the island of Trinket was split in two.
Communications are yet to be restored with the Nancowry group of
islands. Some of the Nancowry Islands were completely submerged in the
disaster. The tsunami also had a severe humanitarian and political
impact in Sweden, which was the hardest hit country outside Asia. 543
Swedish tourists, mainly in Thailand, died in the event. The tsunami
caused the Queen of the Sea rail disaster, which occurred when a crowded
passenger train was destroyed on a coastal railway in Sri Lanka by the
tsunami. More than 1,700 people died in the crash, making it the most
deadly train wreck in history. A large number of people captured the
tsunami on tape. This video includes a collection of separate clips.
Date: December 26, 2004
Fatalities: 230,000 People
