Disasters timeline

  • Couronnes Disaster - Paris Métro Fire

    The first sign of trouble was at 6:53 p.m., when double train 43 completed the climb to Boulevard Barbès station with heavy smoke pouring from one... Read more

  • Wreck of the Old 97

    Of the Sixteen People on Ill-fated Train, Not One Escaped Serious Injury -Scene of Wreck Was Long Trestle Just North of Danville, Va.--Railroad Men... Read more

  • The Purdue Wreck

    Running at the rate of thirty miles an hour, a Big Four special train of six coaches, loaded with students of Purdue University, including the... Read more

  • Connellsville Train Wreck

    The most appalling disaster in the history of the Pittsburg Division of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad occurred at Laurel run, two miles west of... Read more

  • Fire kills over 600 people at Iroquois Theater in Chicago

    The Iroquois Theater Fire (December 30, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois) was the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history. The blaze took 571 lives... Read more

  • General Slocum Disaster

    The General Slocum worked as a passenger ship, taking people on excursions around New York City. On Wednesday, June 15, 1904, the ship had been... Read more

  • Sinking of the SS Norge

    SS Norge was a Danish passenger liner sailing from Copenhagen, Oslo and Kristiansand to New York, mainly with emigrants, which sank off Rockall in... Read more

  • New Market Train Wreck

    The No. 15 crashed head-on into the eastbound No. 12 train due to the unannounced schedule change. At that time, railroads had no block signals to... Read more

  • Grover Shoe Factory Disaster

    Located on the corner of Main and Calmar streets in the largely Swedish neighborhood of the Campello section of Brockton, the Grover factory burst... Read more

  • Kangra Earthquake of 1905

    1905 Kangra earthquake was a major earthquake that occurred in the Kangra Valley and the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh in India on 4 April... Read more

  • Wreck of the SS Valencia

    On Monday, January 22, 1906, the coastal passenger liner SS Valencia, en route from San Francisco to Seattle with 108 passengers and 65 crew... Read more

  • Courrières Mine Disaster

    The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners (including many children) in Northern France on 10... Read more

  • San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

    At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a magnitude 8.3 (Richter Scale) earthquake struck San Francisco. With thousands of un-reinforced brick buildings... Read more

  • Atlantic City Train Wreck

    By the wrecking of a three-coach electric train on the West Jersey and Seashore railroad, this afternoon, at least fifty passengers perished and... Read more

  • The Kingston Earthquake of 1907

    In 1907, 800 people died in another earthquake known as the 1907 Kingston earthquake, destroying nearly all the historical buildings south of... Read more

  • Battleship Iéna Explosion

    Iéna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy. Her design was derived from the preceding Charlemagne class battleships with a heavier... Read more

  • Pere Marquette Railway Disaster

    Thirty-one persons were killed and more than seventy injured, many of them seriously, when a Pere Marquette excursion train bound from Ionia to... Read more

  • Quebec Bridge Collapse

    When the huge uncompleted span of the St Lawrence cantilever bridge near Quebec fell into the river on August 29th last, one of the greatest... Read more

  • Monongah Mining Disaster

    The worst mining disaster in American History occurred in the community of Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907. Around 10 o'clock in the... Read more

  • Rhoads Opera House Fire

    On January 13, 1908 the Boyertown Opera House in the Rhoads Building on Philadelphia Ave. was the scene of a tragic fire. A kerosene lantern was... Read more

  • Collinwood School Fire

    The COLLINWOOD SCHOOL FIRE occurred on 4 Mar. 1908, killing 172 children and 2 teachers at Lakeview Elementary School in the village of COLLINWOOD.... Read more

  • Sunshine Rail Disaster

    The most terrible accident that the state has yet encountered occurred at Sunshine Station (formally known as Braybrook), on Monday night, when the... Read more

  • Tunguska Event

    It is generally accepted that the Tunguska event resulted from the catastrophic disruption of a large meteor high above the ground. Previous... Read more

  • Messina Earthquake of 1908

    On the early morning of December 28, 1908, the Italian city of Messina awoke to the deadliest earthquake in European history. Striking just days... Read more

  • Chicago Crib Disaster

    The temporary Crib used in the construction of the Southwest Land and Lake Tunnel System, situated on the line of the tunnel seventy-five hundred... Read more