World aerospace, fire and explosion, marine, mine, natural, rail, traffic and miscellaneous disaster.
1994: Disasters
Some of the major disasters in 1994
follow.
AEROSPACE
1. Jan. 3,
Russia: A Russian airliner experienced
engine failure and crashed in the wilderness in Siberia, killing all 111
passengers and nine crew members, as well as one person on the ground.
2.
Jan. 5,
Florida: Engine trouble forced an emergency
landing of a small plane south of Orlando, resulting in the death of all ten
people on board.
3.
Feb. 24,
Russia: Six crew members and seven
passengers were killed when a Russian cargo plane carrying 13.5 tons of coins
crashed during a landing attempt in Nalchik.
4.
Feb. 25,
Peru: An Expresso Aereo airliner crashed
in the Peruvian jungle bordering Brazil. The 31 people on board were not found.
5.
Mar. 22,
Russia: An Aeroflot Airbus 310 fell 32,000
feet to earth in Siberia; all 75 people on board were killed. An investigation
concluded that a crew member's children had been at the controls when the plane
went down.
6.
Mar. 23,
North Carolina: An F-16 fighter jet and a C-130
cargo plane collided in midair over Pope Air Force Base; both pilots thought
they had been cleared for landing. The pilots and crews escaped unharmed, but
wreckage from the F-16 hit an Army training unit on the ground; 23 paratroopers
died, and more than 80 were injured.
7.
Apr. 14,
Iraq: Two U.S. UH-60 Black-hawk
helicopters carrying members of an international Persian Gulf War coalition to
protect Kurds were mistakenly shot down by two U.S. F-15 fighters over a no-fly
zone in northern Iraq. All 26 on board died.
8.
Apr. 25,
Indonesia: A propeller driven airplane crashed
in the Kalimantan jungle in Borneo, killing at least ten people.
9.
Apr. 26,
Japan: A China Airlines jetliner caught
fire and crashed while attempting to land in Nagoya; 263 people were killed.
10.
Apr. 29,
Colombia: A Cessna airplane crashed near
Bogotá, resulting in the deaths of the nine people on board.
11.
May 27,
Colombia: A Transoriente passenger plane
crashed minutes after takeoff from Villavicencio, killing six and injuring 20
people. Two Colombian congressmen were among the injured.
12.
June 2,
Scotland: A Royal Air Force CH-47 Chinook
helicopter crashed in heavy fog near the Mull of Kintyre cliffs; all 29 people
on board, most of them officials from Northern Ireland, were killed.
13.
June 6,
China: A China Northwest Airlines jet on
its way to Guangzhou crashed soon after takeoff from Xi'an; all 160 people on
board were killed.
14.
July 1,
Mauritania: An Air Mauritania Fokker 28
passenger plane crashed in Tidjikdja during a sandstorm, killing 94 of the 101
people on board.
15.
July 2,
North Carolina: A USAir DC-9 carrying 52 passengers
and five crew members crashed shortly after an aborted landing in Charlotte,
resulting in 37 deaths. The accident appeared to be caused by a sudden
rainstorm.
16.
July 9,
India: A state government aircraft
carrying the governor of Punjab State and 12 other people crashed near Kulu.
All on board were killed.
17.
Aug. 5,
Russia: Forty-seven people were killed when
a military transport plane crashed on its approach to the Bada military base in
Siberia.
18.
Aug. 21,
Morocco: A Royal Air Maroc aircraft crashed
in the Atlas Mountains soon after takeoff from Agadir. All 44 people aboard,
including a Kuwaiti prince, died.
19.
Sept. 8,
Pennsylvania: A USAir Boeing 737 crashed just
outside Pittsburgh as it prepared to land; all 132 people aboard were killed.
It was the worst air disaster in the United States in seven year.
20.
Sept. 26,
Russia: A Russian passenger plane crashed
in bad weather outside the town of Vanavara in central Siberia, killing all 26
people aboard.
21.
Oct. 29,
Russia: An Antonov-12 crashed in a remote
part of Siberia while approaching Ust-llimsk to refuel; 21 people were killed.
22.
Oct. 31,
Indiana: An American Eagle commuter plane en
route to Chicago crashed in high winds and heavy rain in a field near Roseland;
all 68 people on board died.
23.
Nov. 1,
Mexico: A helicopter returning from a trip
to the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá crashed into the Caribbean Sea near the
island of Cozumel, killing at least 11 people, most of them American tourists.
24.
Nov. 16,
Ecuador: The head of the Ecuadorian Army,
General Miguel Iturralde Jaramillo, and nine other people, including some
military personnel, were killed when their helicopter crashed in the jungle
near the Peruvian border between La Boca and Ishpingo.
25.
Dec. 13,
North Carolina: An American Eagle commuter plane
flying from Greensboro to Raleigh-Durham crashed in rain and fog as it prepared
to land; 15 of the 20 people aboard were killed.
26.
Dec. 17,
Papua New Guinea: There were no survivors when a
plane traveling from Tabubil to Selbang hit a cliff wall and crashed in a
remote area. All 28 people on board were killed.
27.
Dec. 29,
Turkey: A Turkish Airlines jet carrying
mostly military personnel crashed in Van when it tried to land in a snowstorm;
55 people were killed.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
28.
Jan. 15,
Morocco: A fire swept through a public sauna
in the city of Tétouan; at least 24 people were killed.
29.
Jan. 23,
Argentina: Twenty-five apprentice
firefighters, some of them teenagers, were killed when they attempted to
extinguish a brush fire near Puerto Madryn in Patagonia.
30.
July,
Spain: Wildfires ravaged the Mediterranean
coast for a week in early July, damaging an estimated 360,000 acres and killing
21 people, including some firefighters.
31.
July 6,
Colorado: A mountain wildfire suddenly blew
out of control near Glenwood Springs, burning more than 2,000 acres and
trapping and killing 14 firefighters.
32.
July 14,
Italy: Twenty-seven people were killed
when a gas explosion leveled a home for the elderly in Motta Visconti.
33.
Oct. 24,
South Korea: A fire broke out on a packed
pleasure boat on Chungju Lake, engulfing the entire boat in flames within
minutes; more than 20 people died.
34.
November
2, Egypt: A river of flames flooded through
the town of Durunka in the Nile Valley, killing more than 500 people and
destroying buildings and property, when a fuel oil spill was set ablaze by
electrical wires during a torrential rain.
35.
Nov. 27,
China: When a fire broke out in a crowded
dance hall in the town of Fuxin in the northeastern province of Liaoning, 233
people were killed and 16 were injured.
36.
Dec. 8,
China: A fire in a theater in
Karamay—where more than 800 people, mostly schoolchildren and teachers, were
watching a variety show—caused at least 385 deaths and left 115 other people
critically injured.
37.
Dec. 10,
China: An explosion from a gas stove
sparked a fire in the Princess Discotheque in Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province;
17 people were killed in the blaze.
MARINE
38.
Jan. 15,
India: A ferry carrying religious pilgrims
sank in thick fog after ramming another boat near the mouth of the Ganges
River; more than 100 people died.
39.
Mar. 30,
France: Ten French sailors died when a
steam pipe burst on board their nuclear submarine. The Emeraude was
participating in exercises off the coast of Toulon.
40.
Apr. 1,
China: A shipboard fire on Qiandao Lake,
in the coastal Chekiang Province, killed 32 people.
41.
Apr. 5,
China: Two ferries crowded with
schoolchildren collided and capsized in the Yanmenxiang Reservoir in Chekiang
Province, killing 43 students.
42.
Apr. 19,
Indonesia: The Kaltimas II ferry capsized
during a severe storm in the straits between Java and Bali; at least 13 people
died.
43.
Apr. 29,
Kenya: More than 270 people drowned when
an overcrowded commuter ferry capsized and sank near Mombasa.
44.
June 12,
Gulf of Aden: About 50 Somalis, former refugees,
were feared dead when their ship sank en route from Yemen to Somalia.
45.
July 9,
China: As many as 49 people drowned when
their overloaded bus slid off a ferry and sank in the Yangtze River near
Yichang.
46.
July 13,
Cuba: A tugboat carrying 63 people sank
after it collided with—or was rammed by, according to some reports—a boat that
was pursuing it north of Havana; more than 30 passengers drowned.
47.
Aug. 20,
Bangladesh: An overloaded ferry capsized in the
Meghna River near Chandpur; more than 300 people drowned.
48.
Sept. 28,
Baltic Sea: The Estonia, en route from Tallinn,
Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden, capsized when rough waves broke through
improperly sealed cargo doors. More than 800 people died.
49.
Oct. 7,
Dominican Republic: A 38-foot-long wooden boat en route
to Puerto Rico caught fire and sank. Of 117 people aboard, 4 were confirmed
dead and 26 were missing.
50.
Oct. 22,
South China Sea: A Maltese oil tanker, Thanassis A,
encountered violent waters caused by Typhoon Teresa and sank 370 miles
southeast of Hong Kong; 16 crew members were killed.
51.
Dec. 2,
Philippines: The Cebu City, an inter-island
ferry carrying over 600 people, collided with a freighter near Rosario in
Manila Bay. More than 34 people drowned and more than 100 were missing.
52.
Dec. 4,
Bangladesh: At least 36 people drowned when a
cargo ship and a ferry collided on the Bolai River near the town of Sunamganj.
53.
Dec. 9,
North Atlantic Ocean: The Salvador Allende, a Ukrainian
cargo ship, sank 150 miles off the coast of Bermuda in a storm. Rescue attempts
were hampered by the bad weather, and 22 of the 31 crew members were not found.
54.
Dec. 26,
Japan: Two people died and 16 were missing
after their fishing boat sank in rough seas in the Pacific Ocean.
MINE
55.
Jan. 25,
India: A fire broke out in the state-owned
New Kenda coal mine near the town of Asansol, trapping and killing 55 miners.
56.
Feb. 22,
South Africa: A waste reservoir exploded at the
Harmony Gold Mining Company in Virginia, releasing a torrent of chemically
tainted black slime that flooded the suburb of Merriespruit. At least 16 people
died.
57.
Feb. 23,
South Africa: An underground fire that broke out
at the Koornfontein coal mine in Middelburg killed 19 workers.
58.
Aug. 29,
Philippines: A methane gas explosion in a coal
mine in the town of Malangas on the island of Mindanao caused the deaths of at
least 82 miners.
NATURAL
59.
Jan. 17,
California: An earthquake measuring 6.6
magnitude hit Southern California, killing more than 57 people. The quake's
epicenter was in the town of Northridge, northeast of Los Angeles. Damage
estimates neared $30 billion.
60.
Feb. 16,
Indonesia: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude
rocked Sumatra, leaving more than 200 dead.
61.
March 27,
Southeast United States: More than
40 people were killed as Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and
Tennessee were hit by a series of tornadoes.
62.
May 2,
Bangladesh: A cyclone carrying heavy winds and
rain caused severe flooding in southeastern coastal areas; the storm appeared
to hit land near Cox's Bazar. More than 300 people died.
63.
June,
China: Typhoon Russ arrived via the South
China Sea on June 8 and stayed over land for weeks, inundating six provinces.
More than 800 people drowned, including at least 200 in Guangdong Province
alone. The storm's fierce rains caused $100 million of damage from flooding.
64.
June 6,
Colombia: An earthquake in the Cauca and
Huila regions caused a mudslide that claimed the lives of more than 500 people,
left more than 1,500 missing, and rendered thousands homeless.
65.
July,
Georgia: Tropical Storm Alberto caused
nearly two weeks of torrential rains and flooding in southern Georgia and
northern Alabama and Florida, forcing the evacuation of entire towns and
ruining thousands of acres of crops. More than 30 deaths were reported.
66.
Aug. 18,
Algeria: An earthquake measuring 5.6
magnitude hit northwestern Algeria, killing at least 170 people and leaving
thousands homeless.
67.
Aug. 21,
China: Typhoon Fred brought torrential
rains and caused flooding in the coastal province of Chekiang in eastern China,
leaving more than 700 people dead. Damage to property and industry was
estimated at $1.16 billion.
68.
Oct. 4,
Japan: An earthquake measuring a magnitude
of 8.1 hit Japan and the Russian Kurile Islands. At least ten residents of the
Kurile Islands were reported dead.
69.
Oct. 21, Philippines: Typhoon Teresa hit Manila and nearby provinces with
90-mile-per-hour winds, killing at least ten people, causing electrical
blackouts, and destroying crops and homes.
70.
Oct.
16-24, Texas: Heavy rains caused flooding around
Houston; 19 people died and 48 counties were declared state disaster areas.
71.
Nov. 5,
Italy: Torrential rains in the Piedmont,
Liguria, Valle d'Aosta, and Lombardy regions caused at least 64 deaths and
possibly up to $6.6 billion in damage. The storms also caused damage and deaths
in France, Morocco, and Spain.
72.
Nov.
10-11, Haiti: Tropical Storm Gordon caused flash
floods that killed at least 829 people (officials said the death toll could be
as high as 2,000), as well as ruining houses and roads and wiping out crops and
livestock.
73.
Dec.
21-22, Philippines: Typhoon Axel, carrying 85-mph
winds, killed 19 people on Leyte Island and sank two fishing boats, leaving 27
crew members missing.
RAIL
74.
Jan. 20,
Uzbekistan: Thirteen people were killed when a
cargo train crashed into a passenger train 80 miles from Tashkent.
75.
Mar. 8,
South Africa: At least 63 people were killed and
370 were injured when a speeding commuter train derailed outside the town of
Durban.
76.
Aug. 11,
Russia: A commuter train collided with
several derailed freight cars and overturned, killing at least 21 people. The
crash occurred in the village of Dvuluchnoye in Belgorod Province.
77.
Sept. 22,
Angola: A train carrying granite derailed,
killing 300 people and injuring 147 as it plunged into a ravine near Tolunda in
the province of Huila. The crash was blamed on faulty brakes.
78.
Dec. 2,
Hungary: An express train on its way to
Budapest derailed at Szajol, killing at least 24 people waiting at the station.
79.
Dec. 31,
Myanmar: A passenger train derailed and
plummeted into a ravine near the town of Wuntho, killing 102 people.
TRAFFIC
80.
Mar. 23,
Kazakhstan: Fourteen bus passengers were killed
and 12 were injured in a collision with a train near Almaty. The driver had
ignored the signals of the oncoming train.
81.
Apr. 1,
Peru: A bus carrying Easter celebrants
swerved to avoid another vehicle and plunged down a steep cliff near Izcuchaca;
44 people were killed.
82.
May 17,
India: A tour bus collided with a tanker
transporting explosive chemicals in Baroda; 12 people were killed.
83.
May 20,
Brazil: A bus collided head-on with a truck
near Rio Claro; 29 people died, most of them university students.
84.
May 27,
Kenya: An overcrowded bus carrying high
school students home from a sports meet overturned near Gatanga; 21 people were
killed.
85.
June 4,
Pakistan: A bus on its way from Hyderabad to
Mirpur Khas caught fire near Tando Jam, killing all 32 passengers, 15 of whom
were children; the driver escaped.
86.
July 3,
Texas: In a deadly day on Texas highways
14 people were killed when an 18-wheeler hit a van from behind outside
Weatherford. Near Snyder a tractor-trailer slammed broadside into a pickup
truck, killing three adults and nine children. Another six people died when
their car collided with a tractor-trailor that had overturned near Ballinger.
87.
Oct. 20,
China: At least 17 people were killed when
a freight train smashed into a commuter bus at an unguarded railway crossing
outside Beijing.
88.
Oct. 21,
South Korea: A central section of the Sungsoo
Bridge, which crosses the Han River in Seoul, collapsed during the morning rush
hour; 32 people were confirmed dead.
89.
Oct. 26,
Brazil: A bus lost control on a wet road
near Rondonópolis in central Brazil and slammed into a truck; 18 people were
killed and 13 were injured.
90.
Oct. 27,
Brazil: Twelve passengers and the driver of
a bus headed towards Formiga were killed when it crossed a divider and collided
with a fuel truck.
91.
Oct. 28,
Indonesia: At least 13 people were killed when
a public transit minibus was hit by an express train in the Lamongan district
of Java.
92.
Nov. 8,
China: An overcrowded bus carrying
predominantly migrant workers crashed into a train in Henan Province, killing
16 people and injuring 35.
93.
Dec. 14,
Mozambique: Two trucks traveling on a highway
north of Maputo had a head-on collision, causing barrels of oil on one of the
trucks to burst into flame; 45 people died and dozens were wounded.
94.
Dec. 26,
Arizona: A head-on collision between a
pickup truck and another vehicle on a rural stretch of highway in a Navajo
Indian reservations left eight people dead.
95.
Dec. 28,
Venezuela: A passenger bus slammed into
another bus on a mountain highway, shoving it into an oil pipeline that
exploded; at least 30 people died.
MISCELLANEOUS
96.
May 23,
Saudi Arabia: At least 250 Muslim worshippers
died during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca when a crowd stampeded during a
'stone the devil' ritual at a sacred cavern in Mina.
97.
July 17,
Rwanda: Rwandan refugees crossing from
Gisenyi to Goma, Zaire, stampeded when rebel mortar shells began exploding in
Gisenyi; an estimated 30 to 50 people were killed.
98.
Nov. 23,
India: An estimated 130 people were killed
when a stampede broke out during a massive protest rally being held in the city
of Nagpur by tribes demanding greater opportunities.
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