The most terrible disasters. The worst natural disasters in history

14 August 2008 10:05

There are hundreds of tragedies of the 20th century... Mountains of corpses, blood, pain and suffering - this is what revolutions, world wars, political upheavals and monstrous incidents brought with them. And all of them, as a rule, are carefully photographed and recorded...

And this terrible list opens with photographs from aboard the infamous Titanic...

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TRAGEDY OF THE TITANIC. More than eighty years have passed since the moment when, on the frosty night of April 14-15, 1912, south of the island of Newfoundland, the giant Titanic, the largest and most luxurious ship of the beginning of the century, sank after colliding with a drifting iceberg. 1,500 passengers and crew died. And although there were enough terrible tragedies in the 20th century, interest in the fate of this ship does not wane even today. Here is a rather rare photograph of the ship three days before departure...


Unfortunately, we will have to come to terms with the fact that the complete truth about the sinking of the Titanic will never be known. Despite two investigations carried out immediately after the floating palace was swallowed up by the waves, many details remained unclear. The ship sets off on its fateful voyage...


As soon as Captain Smith was informed that the last ladder had been removed and secured, the pilot got down to business. At the pier, the mooring lines were released, securing the bow and stern to the powerful shore bollards. Then the tugs got to work. The long hull of the Titanic, centimeter by centimeter, began to move away from the pier... A retouched photograph of the Titanic's departure...


The complex sailing maneuvers were watched by hundreds of passengers on the Titanic's promenade decks and thousands of people on shore. Farewell...


And then something happened that could have ended very sadly. The New York steamship was in the harbor. At that moment, when the Titanic passed by, the bows of both ships were on the same line, the six steel cables with which the New York was moored were stretched and a strong crack was heard, similar to shots from a revolver, and the ends of the cables whistled in the air and fell onto the embankment into a frightened, fleeing crowd...


Of course, there are no photographs of the sinking Titanic. But. There are quite a lot of photographs taken from the rescue ship Carpathia. They managed to lift more than 100 people on board - all those who survived on five boats... "Carpathia"...


Killer iceberg...


Boat No. 12 is one of those that managed to reach the side of the Carpathia...


Saved. On board the Carpathia...


Newsboys. Terrible news...


HOLODOMOR. This terrible word is used to describe the mass death of the population of the Ukrainian SSR from famine in 1932-1933... In the USSR, the scale of the tragedy that occurred and its real causes were simply hidden... But witnesses recall that the streets of cities and villages were littered with the corpses of the dead, swollen from hunger of people...


Currently, there is a point of view in the scientific community according to which the mass death of the population of Ukraine was caused by the conscious and purposeful actions of the Soviet leadership...


During these terrible years, at least 4,500,000 people died in Ukraine...


There were corpses everywhere...


Hospitals and morgues could not cope with their responsibilities...


Improvised cemeteries stretched for tens of kilometers on the outskirts of the city...


Foreign journalists took photographs out of Ukraine at the risk of their own lives. And yet, something leaked to the press...

THE LAST AIRSHIP DISASTER. On May 6, 1937, the German aircraft Hidenburg exploded and burned - at that time the world's largest airship, its length was about 248 m, its diameter was more than 40 m. It was built in the 30s as a symbol of Hitler's new Germany... A photograph of that time from the archives of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper..


It could fly 15 thousand km at a maximum speed of 135 km/h. On two floors of the passenger compartment there were 26 double cabins, bars, a reading room, a restaurant, galleries, and kitchens. The ticket cost over $800. "Hidenburg" was destroyed by fire while approaching the mooring mast in Lakehurst (New Jersey, USA), completing a flight from Frankfurt (Germany)...


32 seconds after the explosion, the airship, more than 2 times the length of a football field, resembled a fantastic charred skeleton of curved metal. This disaster claimed 36 human lives...


The explosion was heard fifteen miles away. Thanks to the courage and self-control of the captain, the crew and 62 passengers were saved. The fire is directly related to the use of hydrogen, the only carrier gas Germany had available since the United States refused to supply helium in commercial quantities. There was also a version of the terrorist attack - in the early 1970s, information appeared that Nazi enemy Erich Spehl, one of the team members, had planted a time mine...


PEARL HARBOR. The most famous US naval base in the Hawaiian Islands. On December 7, 1941, during World War II, Japanese carrier aircraft launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and disabled the main forces of the American Pacific Fleet. On December 8, the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan...


The sun rose over Pearl Harbor that day in all its usual tropical glory. It was Sunday and the fleet was "home". The officers and sailors thought about the upcoming day of rest. As always on Sundays, the wake-up call was given late. At that moment, when the sounds of the bugle died down, unknown planes appeared in the sky. Without any delay, they began dropping bombs and torpedoes...


50 bombers, 40 torpedo bombers and 81 dive bombers attacked the ships of the Pacific Fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor...


When the last Japanese planes left, Navy and Marine Corps casualties stood at 2,835, with 2,086 officers and men killed or mortally wounded. The army's losses amounted to 600 people, of whom 194 were killed and 364 wounded. In addition to damage to ships and hangars, 92 navy aircraft were destroyed and 31 aircraft were damaged, and the army lost 96 aircraft...

HIROSHIMA - REVENGE FOR PEARL HARBOR? The Great Patriotic War ended on May 9, 1945. But the war did not end there. It lasted until September 2, 1945. And there were fights. And there were victories. And there were victims. And there were tragedies. And the worst of them is the atomic bombing of Japanese cities...

The area of ​​the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was about 26 square meters. miles, of which only 7 were completely built up. There were no clearly designated commercial, industrial and residential areas. 75% of the population lived in a densely built area in the city center...

The regiment commander, Colonel Tibets, named his aircraft “Enola Gay” in honor of his mother. The body of the atomic bomb, located in the bomb bay of the Enola Gay, was covered with a variety of both humorous and serious slogans. Among them was the inscription “from the guys from Indianapolis”...

On August 6, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, two B-29 bombers appeared over Hiroshima. People continued to work without entering the shelter and looked at enemy planes. When the bombers reached the city center, one of them dropped a small parachute, after which the planes flew away. At 8:15 a.m. there was a deafening explosion that seemed to tear apart heaven and earth in an instant...

A blinding flash and a terrible roar of explosion - after which the entire city was covered with huge clouds of smoke. Among the smoke, dust and debris, wooden houses burst into flames one after another, and until the end of the day the city was engulfed in smoke and flames. And when the flames finally subsided, the whole city was nothing but ruins. Charred and burned corpses were piled up everywhere, many of them frozen in the position in which the explosion had caught them. The tram, of which only one skeleton remained, was filled with corpses holding on to the belts...


A single bomb with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of TNT, which exploded at an altitude of 600 meters above the city, instantly destroyed 60 percent of the city to the ground. Of the 306,545 residents of Hiroshima, 176,987 people were affected by the explosion. 92,133 people were killed or missing, 9,428 people were seriously injured and 27,997 people were slightly injured. In an effort to reduce their responsibility, the Americans underestimated the number of casualties as much as possible - the number of killed and wounded military personnel was not taken into account when calculating losses. Many died from radiation sickness. There was nothing left of those who were near the epicenter - the explosion literally evaporated people...


AUSCHWITZ - 40 HECTARES OF DEATH. The largest extermination camp, it was called a death factory, a death conveyor, a death machine. In fact, in Polish Silesia, on several thousand hectares, the most monstrous state in the world was built with a population of several million people, of whom less than three thousand survived, with its own value system, economy, government, hierarchy, rulers, executioners, victims and heroes. The inscription above the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp read: “Work makes you free.” Entrance to Hell...


“You were brought here not to a sanatorium, but to a German concentration camp. Remember, there is only one way out from here - through the crematorium pipe.” This is how the voice of Deputy Commandant Frach spoke through the loudspeakers...


The engineers were given a task: a crematorium was needed, because otherwise there would be too many problems with the bodies of the dead. The engineers calculated: three furnaces, coal, loading 24 hours a day. They gave the answer: 340 people can be burned. The engineering management thanked them, but set a new task - to increase production capacity...

Two tons of human hair is what they didn’t have time to use. The camp supplied them at 50 pfennigs per kilogram. Industrialists took it willingly - they got inexpensive, durable fabric and ropes...


The gold hordes from the glasses were neatly stacked in a special room...


The main entrance... People were brought in carriages...

Up to six people slept on the bunks. In winter, many people had incontinence. And all this flowed from the upper bunks to the lower ones. And going to the toilet at night was a nightmare. The guards beat people because they had instructions: the latrine must be clean...


At the same time, the Germans were experimenting with gas. It was served through holes in the ceiling. People didn't know where they were going. They were told that it was for sanitation. The SS men checked whether the prisoners were alive or not. They took a nail and poked it into the body... The road to the gas chamber...


"Cyclone-B"...


They took their anger out on the Russians. There were twelve thousand of them, maybe sixty people remained. For example, they had this punishment: in the barracks they opened the doors on one side and the other, but it was winter, and the prisoners had to stand naked. The guards also sprayed them with cold water from a hose...


They prepared soup for the prisoners, of course, without fat and meat. When they carried a full cauldron, the stew spilled. People licked the ground if a drop fell. The SS men also beat me for this...

Kids show hands with numbers...


Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. Less than seven thousand people remained there. The Germans destroyed all five crematoria and gas chambers, and took away most of the prisoners. Those who remained said themselves: we are no longer people after what we experienced here...


DEATH OF GOEBBELS. During the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the main ideologist of fascism, Joseph Goebbels, took poison, having first poisoned his family - his wife and six children. The corpses, according to his dying order, were burned. Here is a photograph showing the corpse of a criminal. The photo was taken in the Imperial Chancellery building on May 2, 1945 by Major Vasily Krupennikov. On the back of the photo, Vasily wrote: “We covered Goebbels’s sensitive spot with a handkerchief, it was very unpleasant to look at it”...


TSAR BOMB, "IVAN", "KUZKA'S MOTHER". A thermonuclear device developed at CCCP in the mid-50s by a group of physicists led by Academician I.V. Kurchatov


The development team included Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Trunov and Yuri Smirnov.


The original version of the bomb, weighing 40 tons, was rejected by the designers as too heavy. Then nuclear scientists promised to reduce its weight to 20 tons, and aircraft manufacturers proposed a program for corresponding modification of Tu-16 and Tu-95 bombers. The new nuclear device, according to the tradition adopted in the USSR, received the code designation “Vanya” or “Ivan”, and the Tu-95 chosen as the carrier was named Tu-95V.


The results of the explosion of the charge, which received the name Tsar Bomba in the West, were impressive - the nuclear “mushroom” of the explosion rose to a height of 64 kilometers, the shock wave resulting from the explosion circled the globe three times, and ionization of the atmosphere caused radio communications interference for hundreds of kilometers from the landfill within one hour...


The test of the world's most powerful thermonuclear device took place on October 30, 1961, during the XXII Congress of the CPSU. The bomb exploded within the nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The power of the explosion was about 50 megatons of TNT. No casualties or damage were officially reported...


ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY. The tragedy happened on November 22, 1963, Friday...

The number of proposed clues to this incident is confidently moving towards infinity. What is known for certain?..

On November 22, the president, along with his wife and Texas Governor John Connally, were driving from the Dallas airport to the city center. As the motorcade moved through the business district of the city, the president was greeted by more than 200 thousand people. At some point, the car slowed down, and that’s when shots rang out.


The bullets hit JFK in the head and throat. The President fell into the arms of his wife, and the next shot seriously wounded the Governor of Texas in the back.


This 40-second recording, made on a simple video camera by someone from Dallas, has become the most famous recording in the world. Immediately after the shots were fired, the car rushed to the clinic, where 14 surgeons fought for Kennedy’s life...

...but despite all their efforts, he died 35 minutes later...
45 minutes after the assassination attempt, the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was detained. But he, too, was mysteriously killed - 2 days later he was put to death by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Well, US Vice President Lyndon Johnson became the new president of the country. By the way, he was traveling in another car of the same motorcade...


The VIETNAM WAR began in August 1964 with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which coast guard ships of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam fired on American destroyers providing fire support to government forces of South Vietnam in their fight against guerrillas...

To defend South Vietnam, the United States deployed an army of half a million across the ocean, equipped with all types of modern weapons, except nuclear...


American soldiers fought fiercely in the impenetrable jungle against pro-communist guerrillas (Viet Cong)...

In huge areas, they destroyed thick foliage that hid the elusive enemy with pesticides, mercilessly bombed partisan areas and the territory of North Vietnam - everything was in vain...


Subsequently, hostilities covered the territory not only of Vietnam itself, but also of neighboring Laos and Cambodia...


50 thousand Americans died; Many times more Vietnamese were killed. By the beginning of 1968, the war had reached a dead end; peace negotiations began in May 1968, which lasted more than four years... On January 27, 1973, the US administration agreed to sign an agreement on the conditions for the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. The war, which the United States thought would be a cakewalk, turned out to be America's nightmare. The post-war crisis continued in the United States for more than 10 years. It’s hard to say how it would have ended if the Afghan crisis had not turned up…
In the second half of the 20th century, humanity learned two terrible phrases - “world terrorism” and “man-made disaster”... Since the 60s of the last century, cosmodromes and factories, trains and planes, houses and nuclear reactors have been blowing up one after another in this world ...

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BAIKONUR, OCTOBER 24, 1960. "Nedelin's catastrophe." Explosion of the R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile during testing at the cosmodrome...


The explosion and resulting fire killed more than 90 people, including the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces... According to unofficial data, there were 165...


The designer, academician M.K. Yangel, who was absent for a short time before the start, miraculously survived...


The disaster was kept secret until the end of the 90s...


However, much less tragic events were also classified then. Interestingly, there are still rumors in Baikonur to this day that the Soviet Union was sending people into space even before Gagarin. But since these attempts ended in the death of the astronauts, they were kept secret...


And the monument to the dead turned out to be very modest...


BLOODY TUESDAY IN MUNICH. On September 5, 1972, at the XX Olympics, the most monstrous tragedy in the history of sports competitions occurred. At 3:30 in the morning, 8 heavily armed terrorists belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization militant group Black September burst into one of the houses of the Olympic Village. They managed to take 11 members of the Israeli sports delegation hostage. The security of the Olympic Village simply did not notice the terrorists...

Having climbed through the metal mesh enclosing the athletes' dormitory, the terrorists unpack their weapons and enter entrance No. 1 of building 31. A few seconds later, they persistently knock on the door of the room in which the Israeli classical wrestling judge Yosef Gutfreund is located. Gutfreund is famous for his heroic physique and Herculean strength. Seeing suspicious people, he leans his whole body on the door and detains the criminals for a few seconds...


One of the terrorists orders one of the hostages to show the rooms in which the rest of the Israelis live. He refuses, and the terrorist fires a burst of Kalashnikov at him. Thus, he saves the lives of shooters, fencers, a race walker and a swimmer...

Still, 12 Israelis were captured by the terrorists. Demands were put forward - the immediate release of 234 terrorists from Israeli prisons and 16 from Western European prisons... Negotiations continued until late in the evening...


The bodies of all eleven dead athletes were sent to Israel. During the unsuccessful operation, two German citizens also died: a policeman and the pilot of one of the helicopters. In the homeland of the victims, in addition to relatives, the funeral ceremony was attended by the head of government Golda Meir, all ministers, members of the Knesset, members of the sports delegation who left the Olympics, thousands of Israeli citizens...


CHERNOBYL DISASTER. On April 26, 1986, 187 control and protection system rods entered the core to shut down the reactor. The chain reaction had to be broken. However, after 3 seconds, alarm signals were registered for exceeding the reactor power and increasing pressure. And after another 4 seconds - a dull explosion that shook the entire building. The emergency protection rods stopped before they were even halfway...


Sparkling clumps began to fly out from the roof of the fourth power unit, as if from the mouth of a volcano. They rose high up. It looked like fireworks. The clumps scattered into multi-colored sparks and fell in different places...

A black fireball soared up, forming a cloud that stretched horizontally into a black cloud and went to the side, spreading death, disease and misfortune in the form of small, small drops..


And at this time people were still working inside. There is no roof, part of the wall is destroyed... The lights went out, the phone went off. Floors are collapsing. The floor is shaking. The premises are filled with either steam, fog, or dust. Short circuit sparks flash. Radiation monitoring devices are off the charts. Hot radioactive water is flowing everywhere...

After the largest man-made disaster in world history, pine trees like these were born in the Zone...

...such animals...

...and these are the children...

These photographs were taken for one of the secret reports to the Central Committee of the USSR Politburo...


Now almost all houses in the Zone look like this...


THE 1988 EARTHQUAKE THAT DESTROYED THE CITY OF SPITAK. Also in Armenia, the cities of Leninakan, Stepanavan, Kirovakan were destroyed. 58 villages in the north-west of the republic were reduced to ruins, almost 400 villages were partially destroyed.


450 mine rescuers arrived from the fraternal union republics in Armenia. 6.5 thousand military personnel, 25 teams of military doctors, and 400 units of army equipment are participating in rescue operations in the disaster zone.


Tens of thousands of people died, 514 thousand people were left homeless. The loss of national wealth amounted to 8.8 billion rubles.


Over the past 80 years, this is the most powerful earthquake in the Caucasus...


On March 1, 1995, FAMOUS TV JOURNALIST VLAD LISTYEV was KILLED at the entrance of his house.


The murder of the general director of ORT and simply a popular person came as a shock to millions of people. He was so loved and popular that even the then head of state Boris Yeltsin, abandoning everything, rushed to Ostankino to apologize to the television crew. The investigation began almost immediately, sketches of the alleged killers were made and published, but the hot pursuit did not produce results.


Over the past 11 years, the wording of the Prosecutor General's Office messages has remained almost unchanged. Only the volume of investigation materials has changed: this year there are already more than 200 volumes.


CAPTURE OF BUDENNOVSK. On June 14, 1995, detachments of Chechen militants under the command of Shamil Basayev entered Budennovsk and took about 1,500 hostages. The terrorists, having made the cessation of hostilities and the start of negotiations in Chechnya a condition for the release of the hostages, gained a foothold in the city hospital.

On June 17, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB made several attempts to storm the hospital. During these operations, both the terrorists and the attackers were killed and wounded, but the hostages suffered the most (from the attackers’ fire) - up to 30 people died and many were wounded. During the assault, the terrorists forced the hostages, including women, to stand at the windows and shout to the Russian servicemen: “Don’t shoot!”

After the failure of the assault on June 18, through the mediation of S.A. Kovalev, negotiations began between Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and Basayev, during which it was possible to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages. The conditions for their release were: the cessation of hostilities on the territory of Chechnya and the resolution of controversial issues through negotiations. A detachment of militants traveled on buses provided by the federal side to the mountainous Chechen village of Zandak. At the same time, 120 hostages who volunteered to accompany the terrorists were used as “human shields”. In total, as a result of this terrorist action in Budennovsk, 105 civilians were killed, including 18 women, 17 men over 55 years old, a boy and a girl under 16 years old. 11 police officers and at least 14 military personnel were also killed.


THE MURDER OF YITZHAK RABIN. Every Israeli knows the name of the killer of the Israeli prime minister. Yigal Yigal Amir is a member of the underground ultra-ultra-right nationalist organization "Eyal" (Lions of Judah).

The murder took place on November 4, 1995 in Tel Aviv, the evening after thousands of people demonstrated in support of the peace process. Yitzhak Rabin, wounded in the back by two bullets, was taken to the nearby Ihillov hospital in the back seat of a government limousine.

By 11 p.m., Rabin's personal secretary reported that the prime minister had been fatally shot.


The aging leader of the Workers' Party, Yitzhak Rabin, whose policies were subject to severe criticism, was instantly canonized. It is now customary in Israel to name squares, streets and educational institutions after him...


HOUSE EXPLOSIONS IN MOSCOW AND VOLGODONSK IN 1999. A series of terrorist attacks in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999 claimed the lives of more than 300 people. The explosions occurred in a situation where fighting was taking place in Dagestan between federal troops and invading armed separatist detachments from Chechnya, led by Shamil Basayev...


Explosion on Guryanov Street. On September 8, 1999, at 11:58 p.m., an explosion occurred in the basement of a 9-story residential building 19 on Guryanova Street (Pechatniki district) in the southeast of Moscow. The building was partially destroyed, one section of the residential building collapsed. Rescuers worked on the ruins of a residential building for several days...


According to official data, the explosion killed 109 people and injured 160 people. As explosives experts established, an explosive device with a capacity of 300-400 kg of TNT went off in the basement of the house. The blast wave deformed the structures of neighboring house 19. A few days later, houses 17 and 19 were destroyed by explosives experts, the residents were relocated to other houses...


There were speculations in the media that this was a terrorist attack. A day of mourning for those killed in the explosion was set for September 13. On the same day, a sketch of a man who allegedly rented a basement in a residential building was shown on television...


Explosion on Kashirskoye Highway. On September 13, at 5 a.m., a new explosion occurred on Kashirskoye Highway in an 8-story residential building number 6/3. As a result of the explosion, the house was completely destroyed, almost all the residents in the residential building - 124 people - were killed, 9 people were injured and rescuers pulled them out of the rubble, and 119 families were affected. Due to the fact that the house was made of brick, almost all the inhabitants who were in it during the explosion died...


On the same day, September 13, in the Maryino area, supplies of explosives were found in sugar bags, sufficient to destroy several more residential buildings. A state of emergency was not declared, but unprecedented security measures were taken in Moscow and other cities, and all attics and basements were checked. Residents of residential buildings spontaneously organized round-the-clock watches for several months...


On September 16, a few days after the explosions in Moscow, at 5.40 am, the city of Volgodonsk, Rostov Region, was rocked by a terrible explosion. A GAZ-53 van filled with explosives exploded near the police department building and next to a 9-story residential building on Gagarin Street, 35. A crater with a diameter of 15 m and a depth of 3 m formed in the courtyard of the house. 437 people lived in 144 apartments of the panel building - 18 people died.


TRAGEDY IN THE TRANSITION ON PUSHKIN SQUARE. Another powerful explosion occurred in Moscow. The explosive device was planted by two young Caucasians...


They allegedly approached commercial booth number 40 and asked to sell them goods for US dollars. The seller refused, then the young people asked the seller to look after the bag while they went to exchange dollars for rubles. Literally a few minutes after they left, a homemade explosive device lying in the bag with a capacity of 400 grams to 1.5 kg of TNT went off...

According to witnesses who were in the passage at that moment, first there was a strong bang and a bright flash, then a blast wave rolled through the tunnel and heavy smoke poured out. People began to run out. Those who were closer to the epicenter had numerous burns and wounds, and blood was pouring out. The explosion was so strong that it literally tore the clothes off the victims...


The explosion killed 7 people, 93 sought medical help. Of these, 59 people were taken to city hospitals, 34 refused hospitalization. Among the victims were three children...


THE DEATH OF "KURSK". On August 12, 2000, a tragedy broke out in the Barants Sea, riveting hundreds of millions of people to their television screens

For several days, Russian and British naval forces tried to rescue 118 crew members of the nuclear submarine from underwater captivity.


However, all efforts were in vain...


As the investigation later established, the tragedy was caused by the explosion of the so-called “thick torpedo” in the torpedo compartment. All submariners on board died.


TRAGEDY AT DUBROVKA. On October 23, 2002, at 21:15, armed people in camouflage burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka, on Melnikov Street (formerly the Palace of Culture of the State Bearing Plant). At that time, the musical “Nord-Ost” was playing at the cultural center; there were more than 700 people in the hall. The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building...


At 10 o'clock in the evening it became known that the theater building was captured by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev, among the terrorists there were women, all of them were hung with explosives...


On October 24, at a quarter past midnight, the first attempt was made to establish contact with the terrorists: State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov entered the center building. At half past midnight, several shots were heard in the building. The hostages who managed to contact the television companies by mobile phones asked not to begin the assault: “These people say that for every one of their own killed or wounded, they will kill 10 hostages”...


On October 26, at five hours and 30 minutes, three explosions and several machine gun bursts were heard near the Palace of Culture building. At about six o'clock the special forces began the assault, during which nerve gas was used. At half past seven in the morning, an official representative of the FSB reported that the Theater Center was under the control of the special services, Movsar Barayev and most of the terrorists had been destroyed...


At 7:25 a.m., Russian Presidential Assistant Sergei Yastrzhembsky officially announced that the operation to free the hostages was completed. The number of neutralized terrorists in the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka alone amounted to 50 people - 18 women and 32 men. Three terrorists detained...


On November 7, 2002, the Moscow prosecutor's office published a list of citizens who died as a result of the actions of terrorists who seized the theater center on Dubrovka. It included 128 people: 120 Russians and 8 citizens from near and far abroad countries. Five hostages received gunshot wounds as a result of the militants' actions. The four dead hostages could not be identified for a long time, and their names were not included in the lists of health authorities...


SEPTEMBER 11 – WAR WITHOUT RULES. America has never known such a tragedy... The worst nightmares have come true... Manhattan, 8 hours 44 minutes in the morning on September 11, 2001, a minute before the tragedy.


At 8:45 a.m., the first kamikaze plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. The footage shows how the second one flies up...


One of the towers, 110 floors high, was rammed right through...


An explosion and immediately a strong fire. The last person to answer the phone from the upper floors shouted "We are dying!"


A series of powerful explosions took place along the perimeter of the Twin Towers...


The fire burst out. The top of the building “falls” into the base...


The two tallest buildings of the World Trade Center collapsed after standing for less than an hour...


The streets of Manhattan south of Colon Street are shrouded in such dense smoke that rescuers cannot get there...


BESLAN - A BITTER LESSON. At approximately 8 a.m. on September 1, 2004, near the village of Khurikau, on the border of the Mozdok and Pravoberezhny regions of North Ossetia, approximately 60 km from Beslan, armed people stopped a local district police officer, a police major, and put him in their car. According to preliminary data, it was with the help of the ID of an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the militants in a GAZ-66 and two cars freely passed several checkpoints on the way to Beslan...


During the ceremonial assembly on the occasion of September 1, they broke into the territory of school No. 1. In total, according to the education committee of the Beslan administration, 895 students and 59 teachers and technical staff of the school were present at the line. The number of parents who came to see their children off to school is unknown...


Having opened indiscriminate fire in the air, the militants ordered everyone present to enter the school building, but the majority - mostly high school students and adults - were able to simply run away. Those who could not do this - primary school students and their parents and some teachers - were driven into the gym by the bandits...

Then everything happened like in a nightmare... An explosion was recorded inside the school. Data on the number of hostages is still scattered. Based on lists compiled by relatives and parents of students, it was established that there could be 132 children in the school. In total, according to unconfirmed data, the militants managed to capture from 300 to 400 people...


Information appears that the gym is mined... Bodies are burning in the gym, they are being poured from fire hoses. Strong explosions inside the school occur with some persistent frequency. Meanwhile, the crowd slowly but surely begins to approach the building. Soldiers of the internal troops are trying to get in their way. “Better let me in,” one of the men says calmly. And they retreat. People want to go to the gym and see with their own eyes how many people were killed there...


The hostages are shot, they die from dehydration and suffocation...


This is what the gym looked like after the assault...


Sad results: in Beslan they say that about six hundred people were saved. No one denies that there were at least a thousand hostages - so the total number of victims is about 400 people. There is still no exact data - many are missing...


At the end of December 2004, the strongest earthquake and tsunami in the last 40 years occurred in six countries in Southeast Asia.


The first and most powerful earthquake occurred on December 26 at about 03:00 in the Indian Ocean. Literally a few minutes later, a destructive tsunami wave reached land - first of all, the island of Sumatra (Indonesia), and then Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives /


Eyewitnesses described how, in absolutely sunny, windless weather, the water suddenly began to recede from the beach, and then a six-meter wave formed. Those who were able to escape in these few minutes were saved. Tons of water swept away everything in its path: people, cars and even entire hotels

The number of victims reached 400 thousand people. About 100 thousand more have not yet been found or identified.


The largest number of victims - more than 10 thousand - was registered in Indonesia, off the coast of which there was an epicenter measuring 9 points on the Richter scale.


Then hundreds of settlements were flooded and wiped off the face of the earth.


Seismologists call the December events exceptional. According to them, no more than five such earthquakes have been recorded over the past century.

This region of South-East Asia still cannot recover from the terrible destruction.

Every year, many disasters of various types occur in the world due to natural phenomena, technical problems, specialist errors and many other unfavorable factors. All of them often lead to tragic consequences.
They remain forever in the memory of those people who have lost relatives and friends. In memory of those who provided any assistance at the center of events, and all those who could not help, but were worried about the fate of people in trouble. This article lists the worst disasters that have ever happened in history: on water, in air, and on land.

In 1931, China experienced the largest flood in history. The Yangtze River ranks third among major rivers, with about 700 different rivers flowing into it. Every year during the rains it overflowed and caused damage.

In August 1931, the Yangtze River and the neighboring Yellow River overflowed their banks, merging into one powerful stream, and destroyed the dams. This led to a global flood. They, destroying everything in their path, flooded 16 Chinese provinces, which is about 300,000 thousand hectares of land.


More than 40 million people were affected, left without shelter, clothing or food. The water did not go away for about 4 months. As a result of prolonged famine and disease, the death toll exceeded 3.5 million people. To prevent such a tragedy, two protective dams were later built and two reservoirs were created.

Fertilizer plant

In 1984, the largest environmental disaster in history occurred in the Indian city of Bhopal. On the night of December 3, at a chemical plant producing fertilizers, one of the tanks containing the poisonous gas methyl isocyanate exploded. The volume of the tank was 40 tons.

Presumably, the cause of this accident was a violation of safety regulations. Heating occurred in the tank containing methyl isocyanate and reached a critical temperature. As a result, the emergency valve burst and gas escaped from the container.


Due to strong winds, the gas cloud quickly spread over 40 square kilometers. Unsuspecting, sleeping people had their eyes and lungs eaten away. In the first week, more than 3000 thousand people. In subsequent years, 15,000 thousand people died from disease. And about 100,000 thousand people needed treatment.
The uncleaned area of ​​the chemical plant is still infecting people. Thousands of people suffer from toxic contaminations, many children are born with disabilities.

Chernobyl tragedy

One of the worst nuclear accidents occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. The accident was level 7 on the nuclear event scale.

The nuclear power plant was located near the city of Pripyat, which was built specifically for station workers. At that moment, more than 47,000 thousand people lived in it. Early in the morning of April 26, there was a powerful explosion of a nuclear reactor in the building of the fourth power unit.


This was led to by the ill-conceived and erroneous actions of the station engineers during testing of the turbogenerator. As a result of the accident, the nuclear reactor was completely destroyed, and a fire started in the power unit building, which was extinguished for more than a week. 600 firefighters died while extinguishing it, receiving the largest dose of radiation.

The consequences of the accident were terrifying; thousands of people lived their calm, measured lives just a few kilometers from the accident and did not know what had happened. Information about the accident was not disseminated for the first 24 hours, but when the release of radioactive substances reached a critical level, the evacuation of Pripyat and nearby settlements began.

About 800,000 thousand people participated in the liquidation of the accident. According to unofficial data, half of the liquidators received a lethal dose of radiation.

Boat trip

In 1987, the largest water disaster occurred. On December 20, the Philippine ferry Dona Paz, carrying passengers, collided with the tanker Vector, which was carrying more than 8,000 thousand barrels of oil.

As a result of the impact, the ferry was broken in half, and oil poured out of the holes in the tanker. Almost instantly a fire started, both ships and the surface of the water were burning. To escape, people jumped into the water, where fire and sharks awaited them.

Rescuers arrived only after 8 hours, only 26 people remained alive. The death toll has exceeded 4200 people. The exact cause of the accident has not been established.

Deadly tsunami

On December 26, 2004, the most powerful tsunami in history occurred in the Indian Ocean. Due to a strong underwater earthquake of magnitude 9, a rock shift occurred at a depth of 30 kilometers, which gave rise to this destructive tsunami. At that time, there was no system in the Indian Ocean that would detect a tsunami, so they could not prevent this tragedy.

Within a few hours, waves up to 20 meters high reached the coast, crushing everything in their path. Within hours, the waves caused incredible destruction in Thailand, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

In total, the tsunami reached the shores of 18 countries. It claimed the lives of more than 300,000 thousand people, 15,000 thousand people were missing and about 1.5 million people were left homeless. Restoration work lasted about five years, houses, schools and resort areas were rebuilt. After the tragedy, a system of evacuation of people was organized and a tsunami warning system was created.

Cyclone named after a flower

The devastating cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 3, 2008. The wind speed reached 240 km/h. The tropical cyclone destroyed many small settlements. And almost completely destroyed the large city of Yangon. The population was left without shelter and electricity.


As a result of the most terrible natural disaster, the death toll was 90,000 thousand people. More than 55,000 thousand people were never found. In total, more than 1.5 million people were affected. Many countries came to the rescue of Myanmar, providing material and humanitarian assistance.

Nature's cruelty

A powerful earthquake destroyed part of the island of Haiti in 2010, the magnitude of which was 7.0. The first tremors were registered on January 12, 20 kilometers from the capital of Haiti. A number of the strongest tremors continued with tremors of magnitude 5.9.
After the terrible shaking, more than 3 million people were left homeless. 60% of residential buildings and many public buildings such as schools, hospitals, cathedrals were destroyed.


The number of deaths during the natural disaster and under the rubble was 222,570 thousand people, 311,000 thousand people were wounded, and about 1,000 people were never found.

Not a cheap flight

The crash of a Japanese Boeing 747 in 1985 is considered the worst air disaster. And it ranks second in terms of death toll. On August 12, due to a Japanese holiday, there were 524 people on board along with the crew.

The cause of the disaster was poor-quality repairs to the aircraft. 12 minutes into the flight, the plane’s keel comes off, the control system fails, and at an altitude of 1,500 meters the plane crashes into a mountain.


Due to a strong fire at the crash site, the rescue operation began only 14 hours later. Many of the wounded never received help. Rescuers found notes from passengers with appeals to their families. Dead 520 people, only 4 people survived.

This article describes only a small part of the disasters that have been recorded in world history. The most widespread and tragic of them are collected here. All of them claimed millions of lives of children, adults, and old people of different nationalities and religions. After all, trouble is indifferent to gender, age and race.

Humanity will never forget the accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. An explosion and fire occurred on April 20, 2010, 80 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana, at the Macondo oilfield. The oil spill was the largest in US history and virtually destroyed the Gulf of Mexico. We remembered the largest man-made and environmental disasters in the world, some of which are almost worse than the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Could the accident have been avoided? Man-made disasters often occur as a consequence of natural disasters, but also because of worn-out equipment, greed, negligence, inattention... The memory of them serves as an important lesson for humanity, because natural disasters can harm people, but not the planet, but man-made ones pose a threat to absolutely the entire surrounding world.

15. Explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West - 15 victims

On April 17, 2013, an explosion occurred at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The explosion occurred at 19:50 local time and completely destroyed the plant, which belonged to the local company Adair Grain Inc. The explosion destroyed a school and a nursing home located near the plant. About 75 buildings in the city of West were seriously damaged. The explosion killed 15 people and injured about 200 people. Initially, there was a fire at the plant, and the explosion occurred while firefighters were trying to control the fire. At least 11 firefighters were killed.

Witnesses said the explosion was so strong that it was heard about 70 km from the plant, and the US Geological Survey recorded ground vibrations of magnitude 2.1. “It was like an atomic bomb explosion,” said eyewitnesses. Residents in several areas near West were evacuated due to a leak of ammonia used in the production of fertilizers, and authorities warned everyone about the leak of toxic substances. A no-fly zone was introduced over West at an altitude of up to 1 km. The city resembled a war zone...

In May 2013, a criminal case was opened into the explosion. The investigation found that the company stored the chemicals that caused the explosion in violation of safety requirements. The US Chemical Safety Board found that the company failed to take adequate measures to prevent the fire and explosion. In addition, at that time there were no rules that would prohibit the storage of ammonium nitrate near populated areas.

14. Flooding of Boston with molasses - 21 victims

The molasses flood in Boston occurred on January 15, 1919, after a giant molasses tank exploded in Boston's North End, sending a wave of sugar-containing liquid sweeping through the city's streets at high speed. 21 people died, about 150 were hospitalized. The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company during Prohibition (fermented molasses was widely used to produce ethanol at the time). On the eve of the introduction of a complete ban, the owners tried to make as much rum as possible...

Apparently, due to metal fatigue in an overflowing tank with 8700 m³ of molasses, the sheets of metal connected by rivets came apart. The ground shook and a wave of molasses up to 2 meters high poured into the streets. The pressure of the wave was so great that it moved the freight train off the tracks. Nearby buildings were flooded to a height of one meter and some collapsed. People, horses, and dogs got stuck in the sticky wave and died from suffocation.

A Red Cross mobile hospital was deployed in the disaster zone, a US Navy unit entered the city - the rescue operation lasted a week. The molasses was removed using sand, which absorbed the viscous mass. Although the factory owners blamed the anarchists for the explosion, the townspeople extracted payments from them totaling $600,000 (approximately $8.5 million today). According to Bostonians, even now on hot days a cloying smell of caramel emanates from old houses...

13. Explosion at the Phillips chemical plant in 1989 - 23 victims

The explosion at the Phillips Petroleum Company chemical plant occurred on October 23, 1989, in Pasadena, Texas. Due to an oversight by employees, a large leak of flammable gas occurred, and a powerful explosion occurred, equivalent to two and a half tons of dynamite. A tank containing 20,000 gallons of isobutane gas exploded and the chain reaction caused 4 more explosions.
During scheduled maintenance, the air ducts on the valves were accidentally closed. Thus, the control room displayed that the valve was open, while it appeared to be closed. This led to the formation of a cloud of steam, which exploded at the slightest spark. The initial explosion registered a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale and debris from the explosion was found within a 6 mile radius of the explosion.

Many of the fire hydrants failed, and the water pressure in the remaining hydrants dropped significantly. It took firefighters more than ten hours to bring the situation under control and completely extinguish the flames. 23 people were killed and another 314 were injured.

12. Fire at a pyrotechnics factory in Enschede in 2000 - 23 victims

On May 13, 2000, as a result of a fire at the S.F. pyrotechnics factory. Fireworks in the Dutch city of Enshede, an explosion occurred, killing 23 people, including four firefighters. The fire started in the central building and spread to two full containers of fireworks illegally stored outside the building. Several subsequent explosions occurred with the largest explosion felt as far away as 19 miles.

During the fire, a significant part of the Rombek district was burned and destroyed - 15 streets were burned, 1,500 houses were damaged, and 400 houses were destroyed. In addition to the deaths of 23 people, 947 people were injured and 1,250 people were left homeless. Fire crews arrived from Germany to help fight the fire.

When S.F. Fireworks built a pyrotechnics factory in 1977, it was located far from the city. As the city grew, new low-cost housing surrounded the warehouses, causing terrible destruction, injury and death. Most local residents had no idea that they lived in such close proximity to a pyrotechnics warehouse.

11. Explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough - 64 victims

An explosion occurred in Flixborough, England on June 1, 1974, killing 28 people. The accident happened at the Nipro plant, which produced ammonium. The disaster caused a whopping £36 million in property damage. British industry had never known such a catastrophe. The chemical plant at Flixborough virtually ceased to exist.
A chemical plant near the village of Flixborough specialized in the production of caprolactam, the starting product for synthetic fiber.

The accident happened like this: the bypass pipeline connecting reactors 4 and 6 ruptured, and steam began to escape from the taps. A cloud of cyclohexane vapor containing several tens of tons of substance was formed. The source of the cloud's ignition was probably a torch from a hydrogen installation. Due to the accident at the plant, an explosive mass of heated vapors was released into the air, the slightest spark was enough to ignite them. 45 minutes after the accident, when the mushroom cloud reached the hydrogen plant, a powerful explosion occurred. The explosion in its destructive force was equivalent to the explosion of 45 tons of TNT, detonated at a height of 45 m.

About 2,000 buildings outside the plant were damaged. In the village of Amcotts, located on the other side of the River Trent, 73 of the 77 houses were badly damaged. In Flixborough, located 1200 m from the center of the explosion, 72 of 79 houses were destroyed. The explosion and subsequent fire killed 64 people, 75 people inside and outside the enterprise received injuries of varying severity.

Plant engineers, under pressure from the owners of the Nipro company, often deviated from the established technological regulations and ignored safety requirements. The sad experience of this disaster showed that in chemical plants it is necessary to have a fast-acting automatic fire extinguishing system that allows fires of solid chemicals to be eliminated within 3 seconds.

10. Hot steel spill - 35 victims

On April 18, 2007, 32 people were killed and 6 injured when a ladle containing molten steel fell at the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation plant in China. Thirty tons of liquid steel, heated to 1500 degrees Celsius, fell from an overhead conveyor. Liquid steel burst through the doors and windows into the adjacent room where the workers on duty shift were located.

Perhaps the most horrific fact discovered during the study of this disaster is that it could have been prevented. The immediate cause of the accident was the unlawful use of substandard equipment. The investigation concluded that there were a number of deficiencies and safety violations that contributed to the accident.

When emergency services reached the scene of the disaster, they were stopped by the heat of molten steel and were unable to reach the victims for a long time. After the steel began to cool, they discovered 32 victims. Surprisingly, 6 people miraculously survived the accident and were taken to the hospital with severe burns.

9. Oil train crash in Lac-Mégantic - 47 victims

An explosion of an oil train occurred on the evening of July 6, 2013 in the town of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada. The train, owned by The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and carrying 74 tanks of crude oil, derailed. As a result, several tanks caught fire and exploded. 42 people are known to have died, and another 5 people are listed as missing. As a result of the fire that engulfed the city, approximately half of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.

In October 2012, epoxy materials were used during engine repairs on the GE C30-7 #5017 diesel locomotive to quickly complete the repairs. During subsequent operation, these materials deteriorated, and the locomotive began to smoke heavily. Leaking fuel and lubricants accumulated in the turbocharger housing, which led to a fire on the night of the crash.

The train was driven by driver Tom Harding. At 23:00 the train stopped at Nantes station, on the main track. Tom contacted the dispatcher and reported problems with the diesel engine, strong black exhaust; the solution to the problem with the diesel locomotive was postponed until the morning, and the driver went to spend the night at a hotel. A train with a running diesel locomotive and dangerous cargo was left overnight at an unmanned station. At 11:50 p.m., 911 received a report of a fire on the lead locomotive. The compressor did not work in it, and the pressure in the brake line decreased. At 00:56 the pressure dropped to such a level that the hand brakes could not hold the cars and the out of control train went downhill towards Lac-Mégantic. At 00:14, the train derailed at a speed of 105 km/h and ended up in the city center. The cars derailed, explosions followed and burning oil spilled along the railway.
People in a nearby cafe, feeling the tremors of the earth, decided that an earthquake had started and hid under the tables, as a result they did not have time to escape from the fire... This train accident became one of the deadliest in Canada.

8. Accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station - at least 75 victims

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is an industrial man-made disaster that occurred on August 17, 2009 - a “black day” for the Russian hydropower industry. As a result of the accident, 75 people died, the equipment and premises of the station were seriously damaged, and electricity production was suspended. The consequences of the accident affected the ecological situation of the water area adjacent to the hydroelectric power station, as well as the social and economic spheres of the region.

At the time of the accident, the hydroelectric power station carried a load of 4100 MW, out of 10 hydraulic units, 9 were in operation. At 8:13 local time on August 17, hydraulic unit No. 2 was destroyed, with significant volumes of water flowing through the hydraulic unit shaft under high pressure. Power plant personnel who were in the turbine room heard a loud bang and saw the release of a powerful column of water.
Streams of water quickly flooded the machine room and the rooms below it. All hydraulic units of the hydroelectric power station were flooded, while short circuits occurred on the operating hydraulic units (their flashes are clearly visible on the amateur video of the disaster), which put them out of action.

The lack of obviousness of the causes of the accident (according to Russian Energy Minister Shmatko, “this is the largest and most incomprehensible hydropower accident that has ever happened in the world”) gave rise to a number of versions that were not confirmed (from terrorism to water hammer). The most likely cause of the accident is fatigue failure of the studs that occurred during the operation of hydraulic unit No. 2 with a temporary impeller and an unacceptable level of vibration in 1981-83.

7. Piper Alpha explosion - 167 victims

On July 6, 1988, an oil production platform in the North Sea called Piper Alpha was destroyed by an explosion. The Piper Alpha platform, installed in 1976, was the largest structure on the Piper site, owned by the Scottish company Occidental Petroleum. The platform was located 200 km north-east of Aberdeen and served as the control center for oil production at the site. The platform contained a helipad and a residential module for 200 oil workers working in shifts. On July 6, an unexpected explosion occurred on the Piper Alpha. The fire that engulfed the platform did not even give the staff the opportunity to send an SOS signal.

As a result of a gas leak and subsequent explosion, 167 people out of 226 on the platform at that moment were killed, only 59 survived. It took 3 weeks to extinguish the fire, with high winds (80 mph) and 70-foot waves. The final cause of the explosion could not be established. According to the most popular version, there was a gas leak on the platform, as a result of which a small spark was enough to start the fire. The Piper Alpha accident led to significant criticism and subsequent review of safety standards for oil production in the North Sea.

6. Fire in Tianjin Binhai - 170 victims

On the night of August 12, 2015, two explosions broke out at a container storage area in the port of Tianjin. At 22:50 local time, reports began to arrive about a fire at the warehouses of the Ruihai company located in the port of Tianjin, which transports hazardous chemicals. As investigators later found out, it was caused by spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose that had dried and heated in the summer sun. Within 30 seconds of the first explosion, a second explosion occurred - a container containing ammonium nitrate. The local seismological service estimated the power of the first explosion at 3 tons of TNT equivalent, the second at 21 tons. Firefighters who arrived at the scene were unable to stop the spread of the fire for a long time. The fires raged for several days and 8 more explosions occurred. The explosions created a huge crater.

The explosions killed 173 people, injured 797, and left 8 people missing. . Thousands of Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen, Kia and Hyundai vehicles were damaged. 7,533 containers, 12,428 vehicles and 304 buildings were destroyed or damaged. In addition to death and destruction, the damage amounted to $9 billion. It turned out that three apartment buildings were built within a one-kilometer radius of the chemical warehouse, which is prohibited by Chinese law. Authorities have charged 11 officials from the city of Tianjin in connection with the explosion. They are accused of negligence and abuse of power.

5. Val di Stave, dam failure - 268 victims

In northern Italy, above the village of Stave, the Val di Stave dam collapsed on July 19, 1985. The accident destroyed 8 bridges, 63 buildings, and killed 268 people. Following the disaster, an investigation found that there had been poor maintenance and little operational safety margins.

In the upper of the two dams, rainfall had caused the drainage pipe to become less effective and become clogged. Water continued to flow into the reservoir and the pressure in the damaged pipe increased, also causing pressure on the shore rock. The water began to penetrate the soil, liquefy into the mud and weaken the banks until finally erosion occurred. In just 30 seconds, water and mud flows from the upper dam broke through and poured into the lower dam.

4. The collapse of a waste heap in Namibia - 300 victims

By 1990, Nambia, a mining community in southeastern Ecuador, had a reputation for being an "environmentally hostile environment." The local mountains were pitted by miners, riddled with holes from mining, the air humid and filled with chemicals, toxic gases from the mine and a huge waste heap.

On May 9, 1993, most of the coal slag mountain at the end of the valley collapsed, killing about 300 people in a landslide. 10,000 people lived in the village in an area of ​​about 1 square mile. Most of the town's houses were built right at the entrance to the mine tunnel. Experts have long warned that the mountain has become almost hollow. They said that further coal mining would lead to landslides, and after several days of heavy rains the soil softened and the worst predictions came true.

3. Texas explosion - 581 victims

A man-made disaster occurred on April 16, 1947 in the port of Texas City, USA. A fire on board the French ship Grandcamp led to the detonation of about 2,100 tons of ammonium nitrate (ammonium nitrate), which led to a chain reaction in the form of fires and explosions on nearby ships and oil storage facilities.

The tragedy killed at least 581 people (including all but one of the Texas City Fire Department), injured more than 5,000, and sent 1,784 to hospitals. The port and a large part of the city were completely destroyed, many businesses were razed to the ground or burned down. More than 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars were mangled, with property damage estimated at $100 million. These events sparked the first class action lawsuit against the US government.

The court found the Federal Government guilty of criminal negligence committed by government agencies and their representatives involved in the production, packaging and labeling of ammonium nitrate, aggravated by gross errors in its transportation, storage, loading and fire safety measures. 1,394 compensations totaling approximately $17 million were paid.

2. Bhopal disaster - up to 160,000 victims

This is one of the worst man-made disasters that occurred in the Indian city of Bhopal. As a result of an accident at a chemical plant owned by the American chemical company Union Carbide, which produces pesticides, a toxic substance, methyl isocyanate, was released. It was stored at the factory in three partially buried tanks, each of which could hold about 60,000 liters of liquid.
The cause of the tragedy was the emergency release of methyl isocyanate vapor, which in the factory tank heated above the boiling point, which led to an increase in pressure and rupture of the emergency valve. As a result, on December 3, 1984, about 42 tons of toxic fumes were released into the atmosphere. A cloud of methyl isocyanate covered nearby slums and the railway station, located 2 km away.

The Bhopal disaster is the largest in terms of casualties in modern history, causing the immediate death of at least 18 thousand people, of which 3 thousand died directly on the day of the accident, and 15 thousand in subsequent years. According to other sources, the total number of victims is estimated at 150-600 thousand people. The large number of victims is explained by the high population density, late informing residents about the accident, lack of medical personnel, as well as unfavorable weather conditions - a cloud of heavy vapors was carried by the wind.

Union Carbide, which was responsible for the tragedy, paid victims $470 million in an out-of-court settlement in 1987 in exchange for a waiver of claims. In 2010, an Indian court found seven former Indian executives of Union Carbide guilty of negligence causing death. Those convicted were sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 100 thousand rupees (approximately $2,100).

1. Banqiao Dam tragedy - 171,000 dead

The designers of the dam cannot even be blamed for this disaster; it was designed for severe floods, but this was completely unprecedented. In August 1975, the Banqiao Dam burst during a typhoon in western China, killing about 171,000 people. The dam was built in the 1950s to generate electricity and prevent flooding. Engineers designed it with a safety margin of a thousand years.

But on those fateful days in early August 1975, Typhoon Nina immediately produced more than 40 inches of rain, exceeding the area's annual rainfall total in just one day. After several days of even more heavy rain, the dam gave way and was washed away on August 8th.

The dam failure caused a wave 33 feet high, 7 miles wide, traveling at 30 mph. In total, more than 60 dams and additional reservoirs were destroyed due to the failure of the Banqiao Dam. The flood destroyed 5,960,000 buildings, killed 26,000 people immediately and another 145,000 died later as a result of famine and epidemics due to the natural disaster.

The volcano that destroyed ancient Pompeii cannot be responsible for the worst natural disaster in history, despite the fact that many films have been made and many songs have been sung on the subject. Modern natural disasters claim countless lives. Take a look at our grim list. It contains only the most terrible disasters of all time.

Earthquake in the Syrian city of Aleppo (1138)

Fortunately, these days the news reports do not shock us with giant faults in the Dead Sea area. Now there is a relatively stable tectonic relief. Syria experienced unprecedented cataclysms in the 12th century. Seismic activity in the north of the country continued for almost a year and ultimately resulted in a devastating cataclysm. In 1138, the city of Aleppo was completely destroyed, other settlements and military installations were damaged. In total, the disaster took the lives of 230,000 people.

Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (2004)

This is the only event on the list that many of us caught. This tragedy is considered the deadliest in modern history. It all started with an underwater earthquake of magnitude 9.3 off the coast of Indonesia. Then the disaster transformed into a violent tsunami, rushing to the shores of 11 countries. In total, 225,000 people died, and about a million more people along the Indian Ocean coast were left homeless. It's sad that this happened during the heyday of earthquake-resistant architectural technology, and not in the days of dugouts with thatched roofs.

Antioch earthquake (526)

People like to compare the potential end of the world to disasters of biblical proportions. The earthquake in Antioch is the only natural disaster that is more or less close to the biblical era. This natural disaster occurred in the first millennium after the birth of Christ. The Byzantine city experienced an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 between May 20 and May 29, 526. Due to the high population density (which was rare for the region at the time), 250,000 people died. The fires that arose as a result of the cataclysm also contributed to the increase in the number of victims.

Earthquake in Gansu Province of China (1920)

The next natural disaster on our list created a giant rift over 160 kilometers long. According to experts, the greatest damage was caused not by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, but by landslides, which carried away entire cities underground and were the main reason slowing down the provision of assistance. According to various estimates, the cataclysm claimed the lives of 230,000 to 273,000 inhabitants.

Tangshan Earthquake (1976)

Another terrible earthquake of the 20th century shows that the natural disaster itself is not as terrible as the imperfect infrastructure of the area in which it occurs. Tremors with a magnitude of 7.8 hit China's Tangshan on the night of July 28 and instantly leveled 92 percent of residential buildings in this million-strong city. Lack of food, water and other resources became the main obstacles in rescue efforts. In addition, railway tracks and bridges were destroyed, so there was nowhere to wait for help. Many victims died under the rubble.

Cyclone at Coringa, India (1839)

By the early 19th century, Coringa had become the main Indian port city at the mouth of the Godavari River. On the night of November 25, 1839, this title had to be relinquished. The cyclone that struck destroyed 20,000 ships and 300,000 people. Many victims were thrown into the open sea. Now there is a small village on the site of Coringa.

Cyclone Bhola, Bangladesh (1970)

The Bay of Bengal regularly experiences natural disasters, but none was more devastating than Cyclone Bhola. Hurricane wind gusts on November 11, 1970 reached 225 kilometers per hour. Due to extreme poverty in the region, no one was able to warn the population of the impending danger. As a result, the cyclone destroyed more than half a million lives.

Chinese earthquake (1556)

Despite the fact that in the 16th century a system for assessing the magnitude of tremors had not yet been introduced, historians have calculated that the earthquake that occurred in China in 1556 could have had a magnitude of 8.0 - 8.5. It so happened that the densely populated area took the brunt of the attack. The disaster created deep canyons that forever trapped more than 800,000 people.

Flood on the Yellow River (1887)

One of the largest rivers in the world is responsible for more deaths than all other rivers combined. In 1887, the deadliest flood was recorded, which was exacerbated by heavy rains and the destruction of dams in the Changshu area. The flooded low-lying plains claimed the lives of about two million Chinese.

Flood on the Yangtze River (1931)

A record natural disaster occurred with the onset of heavy rains and flooding on the Yangtze River in April 1931. This natural disaster, coupled with dysentery and other diseases, claimed about three million lives. In addition, the destruction of rice fields caused widespread famine.

No matter how far scientific and technological progress goes, disasters have happened, are happening and will probably continue to happen for a long time. Some of them could have been avoided, but most of the worst events in the world were inevitable because they happened at the behest of Mother Nature.

The worst plane crash

Collision of two Boeing 747s

Humanity does not know of a more terrible plane crash than the one that occurred on March 27, 1977 on the island of Tenerife, which belongs to the Canary group. On this day, at Los Rodeo airport, two Boeing 747s collided, one of which belonged to KLM, the other to Pan American. This terrible tragedy claimed 583 lives. The reasons that led to this disaster are a fatal and paradoxical combination of circumstances.

Los Rodeos airport was seriously overloaded on this ill-fated Sunday. The dispatcher spoke with a strong Spanish accent, and the radio communications suffered from serious interference. Because of this, the Boeing commander, KLM, misinterpreted the command to abort the flight, which became the fatal cause of the collision of two maneuvering aircraft.

Only a few passengers managed to escape through the holes created in the Pan American plane. The wings and tail of another Boeing fell off, which led to a fall one hundred and fifty meters from the accident site, after which it was dragged for another three hundred meters. Both flying cars caught fire.

There were 248 passengers on board the Boeing KLM, none of whom survived. The Pan American plane became the site of the death of 335 people, including the entire crew, as well as the famous model and actress Eve Meyer.

The worst man-made disaster

On July 6, 1988, the worst disaster known to the history of oil production occurred in the North Sea. It happened on the Piper Alpha oil platform, which was built in 1976. The number of victims was 167 people, the company suffered a loss of about three and a half billion dollars.

The most offensive thing is that the number of victims could have been much lower if not for ordinary human stupidity. There was a large gas leak, followed by an explosion. But instead of stopping the oil supply immediately after the accident began, the maintenance personnel waited for management's command.

The countdown went on for minutes, and soon the entire platform of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation was engulfed in fire, even the living quarters caught fire. Those who could have survived the blast were burned alive. Only those who managed to jump into the water survived.

Worst water accident ever

When the topic of tragedies on the water is raised, one involuntarily recalls the film “Titanic”. Moreover, such a catastrophe really happened. But this shipwreck is not the worst in the history of mankind.

Wilhelm Gustloff

The sinking of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff is rightfully considered the biggest disaster that occurred on the water. The tragedy occurred on January 30, 1945. Its culprit was a submarine of the Soviet Union, which hit a ship that could accommodate almost 9,000 passengers.

This, at that time, a perfect product of shipbuilding, was made in 1938. It seemed unsinkable and housed 9 decks, restaurants, a winter garden, climate control, gyms, theaters, dance floors, swimming pools, a church and even Hitler’s rooms.

Its length was more than two hundred meters, it could sail half the planet without refueling. The ingenious creation could not sink without outside intervention. And it happened in the person of the crew of the submarine S-13, commanded by A. I. Marinesko. Three torpedoes were fired at the legendary ship. In a matter of minutes he found himself in the abyss of the Baltic Sea. All crew members were killed, including about 8,000 representatives of the German military elite who were evacuated from Danzig.

Wreck of the Wilhelm Gustloff (video)

The greatest environmental tragedy

Shrunken Aral Sea

Among all environmental disasters, the leading place is occupied by the drying out of the Aral Sea. At its best, it was the fourth largest lake in the world.

The disaster occurred due to the unreasonable use of water used to water gardens and fields. The drying out was due to the ill-considered political ambitions and actions of the leaders of those times.

Gradually, the coastline moved far into the sea, which led to the extinction of most species of flora and fauna. In addition, droughts began to become more frequent, the climate changed significantly, shipping became impossible, and more than sixty people were left without work.

Where did the Aral Sea disappear: strange symbols on the dry bottom (VIDEO)

Nuclear disaster

What could be worse than a nuclear disaster? The lifeless kilometers of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl region are the embodiment of these fears. The accident occurred in 1986, when one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded early on an April morning.

Chernobyl 1986

This tragedy claimed the lives of several hundred tow truck workers, and thousands died over the next ten years. And only God knows how many people were forced to leave their homes...

The children of these people are still born with developmental anomalies. The atmosphere, land and water around the nuclear power plant are contaminated with radioactive substances.

Radiation levels in this region are still thousands of times higher than normal. No one knows how long it will take for people to settle in these places. The scale of this disaster is still not fully known.

Chernobyl accident 1986: Chernobyl, Pripyat - liquidation (VIDEO)

Disaster over the Black Sea: Tu-154 of the Russian Ministry of Defense crashed

Crash of Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Not long ago there was a crash of a Tu-154 aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense en route to Syria. It claimed the lives of 64 talented artists of the Alexandrov ensemble, nine famous leading TV channels, the head of a charitable organization - the famous Doctor Lisa, eight military personnel, two civil servants, and all crew members. A total of 92 people died in this terrible plane crash.

On this tragic morning in December 2016, the plane refueled in Adler, but unexpectedly crashed just after takeoff. The investigation took a long time, because it was necessary to know what the cause of the Tu-154 crash was.

The commission that investigated the causes of the accident named overloading of the plane, fatigue of the crew and low professional level of training and organization of the flight among the circumstances leading to the disaster.

Results of the investigation into the Tu-154 crash of the Russian Ministry of Defense (VIDEO)

Submarine "Kursk"

Submarine "Kursk"

The sinking of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, in which 118 people on board were killed, occurred in 2000 in the Barents Sea. This is the second largest accident in the history of the Russian submarine fleet after the disaster on the B-37.

On August 12, as planned, preparations for training attacks began. The last written confirmed actions on the boat were recorded at 11.15.

A few hours before the tragedy, the crew commander was informed about the cotton, which he did not pay attention to. Then the boat shook violently, which was attributed to the activation of the radar station antenna. After that, the boat captain no longer contacted us. At 23.00 the situation on the submarine was declared as an emergency, which was reported to the leadership of the fleet and the country. The next morning, as a result of search operations, the Kursk was found at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 108 m.

The official version of the cause of the tragedy is the explosion of a training torpedo, which occurred as a result of a fuel leak.

Submarine Kursk: what really happened? (VIDEO)

Wreck of the ship "Admiral Nakhimov"

The wreck of the passenger ship "Admiral Nakhimov" occurred in August 1981 near Novorossiysk. There were 1,234 people on board the ship, 423 of whom lost their lives on that fateful day. It is known that Vladimir Vinokur and Lev Leshchenko were late for this flight.

At 23:12, the ship collided with the dry cargo ship "Petr Vasev", as a result of which the electric generator was flooded and the light went out on the "Nakhimov". The ship became uncontrollable and continued to move forward by inertia. As a result of the collision, a hole of up to eighty square meters was formed in the starboard side. Panic began among the passengers; many climbed onto the left side and thus descended into the water.

Almost a thousand people ended up in the water, and they were also dirty with fuel oil and paint. Eight minutes after the collision, the ship sank.

Steamer Admiral Nakhimov: shipwreck - Russian Titanic (VIDEO)

Oil platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico

The worst environmental disasters in the world in 2010 were joined by another one that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, eighty kilometers from Louisiana. This is one of the most dangerous man-made accidents for the environment. It happened on April 20 on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

As a result of pipe rupture, about five million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

A spot measuring 75,000 square meters formed in the bay. km, which amounted to five percent of its total area. The disaster took the lives of 11 people and injured 17.

Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (VIDEO)

Concordia crash

On January 14, 2012, the list of the worst incidents in the world was supplemented with one more. Near Italian Tuscany, the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran into a rock outcropping, leaving a hole seventy meters in size. At this time, most of the passengers were in the restaurant.

The right side of the liner began to submerge in the water, then it was thrown onto a sandbank 1 km from the crash site. There were more than 4,000 people on the ship who were evacuated throughout the night, but not everyone was saved: 32 people were still killed and a hundred were injured.

Costa Concordia – the crash through the eyes of eyewitnesses (VIDEO)

Eruption of Krakatoa in 1883

Natural disasters show how insignificant and helpless we are in the face of natural phenomena. But all the worst disasters in the world are nothing compared to the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, which occurred in 1883.

On May 20, a large smoke column could be seen above the Krakatoa volcano. At that moment, even at a distance of 160 kilometers from him, the windows of houses began to tremble. All the nearby islands were covered with a thick layer of dust and pumice.

Eruptions continued until August 27. The final explosion culminated in sound waves that circled the entire planet several times. At that moment, the compasses on the ships sailing in the Sunda Strait stopped showing correctly.

These explosions led to the submersion of the entire northern part of the island. The seabed rose as a result of the eruptions. Much ash from the volcano remained in the atmosphere for another two to three years.

The tsunami, which was thirty meters high, washed away about three hundred settlements and killed 36,000 people.

The most powerful eruption of Krakatoa Volcano (VIDEO)

Earthquake in Spitak in 1988

On December 7, 1988, the list of “Best Disasters in the World” was replenished with another one that occurred in the Armenian Spitak. On this tragic day, tremors literally “wiped” this city from the face of the earth in just half a minute, destroying Leninakan, Stepanavan and Kirovakan beyond recognition. In total, twenty-one cities and three hundred and fifty villages were affected.

In Spitak itself, the earthquake had a force of ten, Leninakan was struck by a force of nine, and Kirovakan was struck by a force of eight, and almost the rest of Armenia was hit by a force of six. Seismologists estimate that this earthquake released the energy equivalent to the force of ten exploding atomic bombs. The wave that this tragedy caused was recorded by scientific laboratories almost all over the world.

This natural disaster deprived 25,000 people of their lives, 140,000 of their health, and 514,000 of their homes. Forty percent of the republic's industry was out of order, schools, hospitals, theaters, museums, cultural centers, roads and railways were destroyed.

Military personnel, doctors, and public figures throughout the country and abroad, both near and far, were called to help. Humanitarian aid was actively collected around the world. Tents, field kitchens and first aid stations were set up throughout the area affected by the tragedy.

The saddest and most instructive thing about this situation is that the scale and casualties of this terrible disaster could have been many times smaller if the seismic activity of the region had been taken into account and all buildings had been built taking these features into account. The lack of preparedness of the rescue services also contributed.

Tragic days: earthquake in Spitak (VIDEO)

2004 Tsunami Indian Ocean - Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka

In December 2004, a devastating tsunami of terrible force caused by an underwater earthquake hit the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other countries. Huge waves devastated the area and killed 200,000 people. The most annoying thing is that most of the dead are children, since in this region there is a high proportion of children to the population, moreover, children are physically weaker and less able to resist water than an adult.

Aceh province in Indonesia suffered the greatest losses. Almost all buildings there were destroyed, 168,000 people died.

Geographically, this earthquake was simply huge. Up to 1200 kilometers of rock have moved. The shift occurred in two phases with an interval of two to three minutes.

The number of victims was so high because there was no common warning system along the entire Indian Ocean coast.

There is nothing worse than disasters and tragedies that deprive people of life, shelter, health, destroy industry and everything that a person has worked on for many years. But it often turns out that the number of casualties and destruction in such situations could have been much less if everyone had been conscientious about their professional responsibilities; in some cases, it was necessary to provide in advance an evacuation plan and a warning system for local residents. Let's hope that in the future humanity will find a way to avoid such terrible tragedies or reduce the damage from them.

Tsunami in Indonesia 2004 (VIDEO)

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