Disasters timeline
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Eruption of Mount Lamington
Mount Lamington began to erupt on the night of 18 January 1951. Three days later there was a violent eruption when a large part of the northern... Read more
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Woodbridge Train Wreck
A temporary wooden trestle adjacent to Fulton Street in Woodbridge had come into use that very afternoon so that labourers building the New Jersey... Read more
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Ringway Dakota Accident of 1951
On 27 March 1951 a Douglas Dakota 3 cargo aircraft registered G-AJVZ operated by Air Transport Charter en route from Ringway Airport, Manchester,... Read more
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Sakuragichō Train Fire
A disastrous train fire occurred at the Sakuragi-cho Station on the Keihin-Tohoku line when a MOHA-63 train touched a sagging overhead wire and... Read more
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Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 Crashes into a US Navy Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan
Cubana de Aviación Flight 493, registration CU-T188, was a Douglas DC-4 en route from Miami, Florida, United States, to Havana, Cuba, on April 25,... Read more
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Pan Am's Clipper Great Republic Crashes
The Johannesburg to New York City flight was on the Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana), to Monrovia, Liberia leg of its journey. At 0301h during a... Read more
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United Airlines Flight 610 Crashes, Killing 50
After completing its first two segments, Flight 610 departed Salt Lake City at 12:11 a.m. en route to its next destination of Denver. At around... Read more
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United Airlines Flight 615 Crashes, Killing 50
At 04:25 Flight 615 was cleared for a straight-in approach on the southeast course of the Oakland radio range from Newark. At 04:27 the flight... Read more
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American Airlines Flight 6780 Crashes
Flight 6780 originated at Buffalo, New York, for Newark, New Jersey, with stops scheduled at Rochester, New York, and Syracuse, New York. The first... Read more
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Pan Am's Clipper Good Hope Crashes, Killing 50
Flight 202 originated at Buenos Aires, destination New York, with en route stops scheduled at Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Port... Read more
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American Airlines Flight 910 Collides with a Single Engine Temco Swift
American Flight 910 took off from San Francisco at 23:05 for a flight to Dallas. At 06:56 the following morning, a Temco Swift airplane (N3858K, cn... Read more
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Harrow and Wealdstone Rail Crash
The hope that 1952 would prove to be a good year from the point of view of train accident casualties has been extinguished by the disaster at... Read more
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The Great Smog of London
The Great Smog of '52 or Big Smoke was a severe air pollution event that affected London in December 1952. A period of cold weather combined with... Read more
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North Sea Flood of 1953
A storm formed south of Iceland on January 30th, 1953 and it was not a cause for concern at the time because the barometric pressure was not... Read more
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MV Princess Victoria Sinks
A car ferry has sunk in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales in living memory claiming the lives of more than 130 passengers and crew. The... Read more
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Warner Robins Tornadoes
A series of tornadoes in Peach, Houstoun, Marion, Twiggs and Bibb Counties left 310 people injured, 20 people dead (some sources say 19) and more... Read more
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American Airlines Flight 723 Crashes
Flight 723 was cleared for a contact approach to runway 10. On final approach, while still miles west of the airport, the Convair descended too... Read more
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Tangiwai Rail Disaster
At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 kilometres west... Read more
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British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 781 Crashes
BOAC Flight 781 departed Rome, Italy on a flight to London, England. While climbing through 27,000 feet, the plane experienced a sudden in-flight... Read more
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Blons Avalanches of 1954
The Blons avalanches in Austria was one of the worst mass burials by avalanche in recorded history. This happened on February 10 and February... Read more
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South African Airways Flight 201 Crashes
On 8 April 1954, Flight 201 departed Rome for Cairo and Johannesburg. The flight was used with a leased British Overseas Airways Corporation De... Read more
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Sinking of the SS Tōya Maru
Typhoon No. 15, Marie, which had blown through Honshū, was in the Sea of Japan at 12:00 on September 26, 1954, proceeding Northeast at a speed of... Read more
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Hurricane Hazel
Leaving a death toll in Hati of more than 200 and an injured list of at least 500, according to unofficial reports reaching here, Hurricane Hazel... Read more
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Air India's Kashmir Princess Crashes
The Air-India Constellation (named "Kashmir Princess") departed Hong Kong at 04:25 GMT for a flight to Jakarta. On board were Chinese and east... Read more
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Le Mans Disaster
As the race entered its third hour the cars were breaking records at every lap when Jaguar Driver Mike Hawthorn received a signal from his pit crew... Read more