Disasters

AVIATION

February 25 All 22 persons aboard were killed when an Avensa Airlines (Venezuela) F27 turboprop crashed on a landing approach to Margarita Island in the Caribbean Sea.

March 4 A chartered British DC-7 airliner carrying vacationers from Mozambique to Luxembourg crashed in jungle swamps near Douala, Cameroon, killing all 111 persons aboard.

March 16 A Flying Tiger Super Constellation chartered for troop transport disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a flight from Guam to the Philippines. Of the 107 persons aboard, 93 were U.S. servicemen.

March 27 A Cubana Airlines plane with 22 persons aboard plummeted into the Caribbean on a flight from Santiago, Chile, to Havana, Cuba.

May 9 Only 3 of the 27 persons aboard survived when a Brazilian Convair crashed in flames and exploded while landing at Vitória, Brazil.

May 22 A U.S. Navy Constellation on a navigation training flight exploded in mid-air and crashed near Munich, Germany, killing all 26 persons aboard.

June 22 An Air France Boeing 707 bound for Chile from Paris, France, crashed into a hill while trying to land in a storm on the island of Guadeloupe, killing all 113 persons aboard.

July 7 An Alitalia DC-8, en route from Sydney, Australia, to Rome, Italy, crashed into a hill 60 miles east of Bombay, India, killing all 94 persons aboard. The crash appeared to have been caused by an in-flight fire.

July 19 A United Arab Airlines Comet IV on a flight from Hong Kong crashed on a jungle-covered mountain about 50 miles north of Bangkok, Thailand, killing all 26 persons aboard.

July 23 A Canadian Pacific Britannia turboprop crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Honolulu (Hawaii) Airport, killing 27 of the 40 persons aboard.

August 20 A Brazilian jetliner carrying 102 persons crashed during takeoff from Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, airport and skidded into the bay; 16 persons were killed.

August 23 A Colombian Airlines DC-3 crashed on take-off from Barrancabermeja, Colombia, killing 18 of the 31 persons aboard.

September 10 All 44 men aboard were killed when a U.S. Strategic Air Command jet tanker hit a mountain near Spokane, Washington, while attempting to land in fog and rain. [GenDisasters]

September 23 A Flying Tiger Super Constellation carrying 76 U,S, servicemen crashed into the sea about 500 miles west of Ireland. A Swiss ship rescued 48 survivors the following day.

October 12 An Iberia Airline plane crashed into a hill near Carmona, Washington, killing all 18 persons aboard.

November 10 A South Vietnamese DC-3 crashed on a jungle-covered mountain slope in central Vietnam, killing all 26 persons aboard.

November 23 A United Airlines Viscount turboprop plummeted into woods near Ellicott City, Maryland, after colliding with two swans. All 27 persons aboard were killed.

November 23 A Hungarian Malev Ilyushin-18 crashed in fog near Paris, France, killing all 21 persons aboard.

November 23 A Portuguese military transport crashed shortly after taking off from a refueling stop at São Tomé Island, killing 19 of the 32 persons aboard.

November 26 A Scandia airliner of the Viacão Aerea de São Paulo, carrying 23 persons, collided with a small cabin plane, carrying 4 persons, over rugged mountain country about 50 miles northeast of São Paulo, Brazil; all 27 persons were killed.

November 27 A Brazilian Airlines Boeing 707 bound for Los Angeles, California, crashed into a hillside near Lima, Peru. All 97 persons aboard were killed.

November 30 An Eastern Airlines DC-7B from Charlotte, North Carolina, crashed and burned while landing in heavy fog at Idlewild Airport in New York, New York, killing 25 of the 51 persons aboard.

December 14 All 50 persons aboard were killed when a Panair do Brasil Constellation crashed in the Amason jungle minutes before it was due to land at Rio de Janeiro, Argentina.

FIRE/EXPLOSION

March 3 A gasoline tanker truck exploded after colliding with a car near Latakia, Syria, killing 31 bystanders and injuring 39.

March 4 Nineteen persons were killed when a fireworks store exploded in a suburb of Tehran, Iran.

April 9 A munitions factory explosion at St. Just d'Ardèche, France, killed 16 workers and injured 15 more.

August 29 Fire in a bamboo-built section of Guayaquil, Ecuador, killed 20 persons, injured 30, and left 700 homeless.

October 3 Twenty-three persons, most of them women, were killed, and another 90 were injured, when an exploding boiler rocketed through thelunchroom of a telephone company building in New York City, New York. [GenDisasters]

MARINE

January 1 At least 70 persons drowned when a passenger boat sank on the Savitri River near Mhapal, India.

January 8 Seventeen Yugoslav seamen died and 11 were reported missing, of a 33-man crew, when their ship Sabac collided with the British freighter Dorington Court in the English Channel and split in half.

April 28 A junk carrying 23 refugees from Communist China to Hong Kong sank in heavy seas, drowning all but 1 aboard.

July 10 A motorboat sank in a canal in Portuguese Guinea, killing 30 of the 35 persons aboard.

August 18 Seventeen children and their Sunday school teacher drowned while on a church picnic when their boat sank on Lake Talquin near Quincy, Florida; one child survived. [GenDisasters]

October 20 The Norwegian tanker Boheme collided with a string of drifting oil barges and caught fire in the Mississippi River near Lutcher, Louisiana, killimg at least 12 aboard the tanker, critically injuring 2, and leaving 7 missing.

October 21 At least 32 of the 90 persons aboard the liner Sanct Svithun were reported dead or missing after it ran aground and sank in heavy seas off the Vikna Islands, Norway.

November 15 Eighteen of 25 crewmen aboard the Greek freighter Captain George drowned in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles northeast of Bermuda when they attempted to, after an 18-hour fire-fight, to abandon their ship, which was loaded with explosives.

November 18 Thirteen men were reported dead and 26 missing from the Japanese tanker Munakata Maru No. 1 after it collided with the Norwegian tanker Tharald Brovig off Kawasaki, Japan.

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This page was last updated on August 07, 2017.