Selected Industrial Disasters of the Twentieth Century
Date
Fatalities
Name; Type; Location
AD 1906
1060-1099 Deaths
Courrieres Coal-Dust Explosion; Mine Explosion; Pas de Calais, France
AD 1907
360-620 Deaths
Monongah Mine Disaster; Monongah, West Virginia
AD 1911
146 Deaths
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire; New York City
AD 1917
1654 Deaths
The Halifax Explosion; Ammunition Ship Explodes; Halifax Harbour, Canada
AD 1921
561 Deaths
BASF Plant Explosion; Fertilizer Plant Explodes; Oppau, Germany
AD 1931
3000 Deaths
Fushun Coal Mine Explosion; Coal & Methane; Fushun, Manchuria
AD 1942
1572 Deaths
Honkeiko Colliery Coal-Dust Explosion; Mine Explosion; Benxihu, China
AD 1947
562 Deaths
Texas City Disaster; Fertilizer ship explosion; Texas City, USA
AD 1956
1100 Deaths
Cali Dynamite Explosion Ammunition Trucks Explode; Cali, Colombia
AD 1957
0 Deaths
The Windscale Fire Nuclear Reactor Fire; Sellafield, UK
AD 1959
421 Deaths
Malpasset Dam Collapse; Flood; Frejus, France
AD 1963
2600 Deaths
Vaiont Dam Disaster Flood; Longarone, Italy
AD 1974
227 Deaths
Joelma Bank Building Fire; High Rise Fire; Sao Paulo, Brazil
AD 1975
372-431 Deaths
Chasnala Colliery Disaster; Mine Explosion/Flood; Chasnala, India
AD 1979
68-300 Deaths
Stepnagorsk Bioweapon Accident; Anthrax Outbreak; Novosibirsk Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Soviet Union (Kazakhstan)
AD 1979
0 Deaths
Three Mile Island; Nuclear Reactor Melt-Down; Harrisburg, USA
AD 1984
451-540 Deaths
Pemex Plant Explosion; Natural Gas Explosion; Mexico City, Mexico
AD 1984
7000-15000 Deaths
Bhopal Disaster; Poison Gas Leak; Bhopal, India
AD 1986
34 Deaths
Chernobyl Disaster; Nuclear reactor melt-down; Chernobyl, Ukraine
AD 1993
193 Deaths
1993 Oakdale Explosion; Chemical plant explosion; Oakdale, California
AD 1995
640 Deaths
Sampoong Department Store Collapse Building Collapse & Fire; Seoul, Korea