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Death Tolls

I hope I'm not the only person who, when confronted by the news of some major loss of life, pauses for a moment to wonder how that death toll ranks in the history of disaster.

Although I've found several disaster web sites (here and here and here for example), I've found no single table of comparative fatalities. So here, with sincere apologies to anybody's wounded sensitivities, is my own attempt at a summary. All events are hot-linked to a web reference.

This is obviously a selective list but please feel free to draw my attention to anything you think I've missed. New additions will usually be flagged in my blog, Blogadoon.

NB: Please note disclaimer below: these figures exclude natural disasters, holocaust and war.

Location	Event	Date	Fatalities
China	Dam failures	1975	? 85,000
Iran	Political prisoners	1988	? 30,000
Bhopal	Union Carbide gas leak	1984	?? 15,000
New York	World Trade Center	2001	2,752
Tianamen Square	Suppression of demonstration	1989	?? 2,600
Halifax	Ships collide	1917	+2,000
Mississippi	Steamboat explodes	1865	? 1,800
Haiti	Passenger ferry	1993	? 1,700
Chongqing	Fire	1949	1,700
Canton	Theatre fire	1845	1,600
China	Mine explosion	1942	1,549
Atlantic	Titanic	1912	+1,500
Mecca	Pilgrim stampede	1990	1,426
Japan	Passenger ferry	1954	1,155
Colombia	Ammunition trucks	1956	? 1,100
Courrieres	Mine explosion	1906	1,060
New York	Steamer sinks	1904	1,021
St. Lawrence	Empress of Ireland	1914	1,012
Iraq	Shrine stampede	2005	+1,000
Red Sea	Ferry sinks	2006	? 1,000
Senegal	Ferry capsizes	2002	? 1,000
Lagos	Munitions depot	2002	? 1,000
Uganda	Cult murder	2000	+925
Guyana	Jonestown suicides	1978	914
Estonia	Passenger ferry	1994	852
Great Lakes	Steamer sinks	1915	812
Ufa, Russia	Train crash	1989	? 645
Chicago	Theatre fire	1903	602
Tenerife	Boeing 747s collide	1977	582
France	Train crash	1917	? 550
Japan	Boeing 747	1985	520
Texas	Freighter explosion	1947	+516
Boston	Nightclub fire	1942?	492
Vienna	Theatre fire	1881	?? 450
California	St Francis dam	1928	450
Japan	Mine explosion	1963	447
South Africa	Mine explosion	1960	437
Abadan	Theatre fire	1978	430
Ethiopia	Train crash	1985	392
Paris	DC-10 crash	1974	346
Ireland	Boeing 747	1985	329
Pakistan	Train crash	1990	+307
Agra	Train crash	1995	302
Riyadh	Saudi Arabian L-1011	1980	301
Costa Rica	Train crash	1926	+300
W Pakistan	Train crash	1957	? 300
New London	School explosion	1937	298
Persian Gulf	Iran Air A300 Airbus	1988	290
Yantai	Ferry fire	1999	290
Gaisal, India	Train crash	1999	285
Tanzania	Rail crash	2002	281
Chicago	American Airlines DC-10	1979	273
Lockerbie	Pan Am 103	1988	270
Sakhalin Island	Korean Air Lines 747	1983	269
Rockaway, Queen's	American Airlines A-300	2001	265
Gretna Green	Train crash	1915	227
Harold Shipman	Homicidal doctor	1975+	215
Mumbai	Train bombs	2006	? 200
Borneo	Killed by Dayaks	2001	200
Zeebrugge	Herald..Free Enterprise	1987	193
Madrid	Train bombs/TD>	2004	190
Sari Club, Bali	Terrorist bomb attack	2002	? 186
Moscow	Theatre siege	2002	+169
Oklahoma	McVeigh bomb	1995	168
Aberfan	School landslip	1966	144
Piper Alpha	Oil rig explosion	1988	167
Factory Fire	New York	1911	146
South Korea	Subway fire	2003	+133
Accra	Stadium panic	2001	126
Irkutsk	Airliner crash	2006	124
Barents Sea	Kursk	2000	118
Milan	Airport crash	2001	118
Sochi	Armavia crash	2006	113
Paris	Concorde	2000	113
Shijiazhuang	Explosions	2001	+108
Hillsborough	Stands collapse	1989	96
West Warwick RI	Nightclub fire	2003	96
Paros	Express Samina ferry	2000	82
Waco	FBI assault	1993	+80
Kenya	School fire	2001	58
Dover	Suffocated migrants	2000	58
Entre os Rios	Bridge collapses	2001	? 53
London	07/07 bombs	2005	52
London	Marchioness	1989	51
Amsterdam	El Al 747	1992	43
Lakehurst	Hindenburg	1937	36
Clapham	Train crash	1988	35
Tasmania	Lone assassin	1996	35
Paddington	Train crash	1999	31
Kings Cross	Station fire	1987	31
Chicago	Club stampede	2003	31
Chernobyl	Reactor	1986	+30
Omagh	IRA bomb	1998	29
Dunblane	Infant school	1996	17
Columbine	High school	1999	15
Florida	Space shuttle	1986	7
London	Fire of London	1666	6

Note that deaths from natural disasters have been excluded from the table above (because the death tolls are rarely more than an estimate); here is a (non-exhaustive) table of earthquake fatalities:

Location	Richter Scale	Date	Fatalities
Tangshan, China	7.8	28 July 1976	242,000
Indian Ocean	9.0	26 Dec 2004	220,000+
Mt Huascaran, Peru	7.5	31 May 1970	67,000
Quetta, Pakistan	7.6	30 May 1935	50,000+
NW Iran	7.7	20 Jun 1990	40,000+
Erzincan, Turkey	8.0	26 Dec 1939	40,000?
Kashmir	7.6	8 Oct 2005	39,600
Bam, Iran	6.7	26 Dec 2003	30,000+
Gujarat, India	6.7	26 Jan 2001	25,000
Izmit/ Istanbul	7.4	17 Aug 1999	17,000+

Note that major holocausts (such as the 1.5 million who died at Auschwitz, the 1.5 million slaughtered by Stalin, and the 1.5 million Armenian Christians slaughtered in Turkey during World War One) have been omitted.

Acts of war (such as the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff in which some 8,000 people died) have not been included, nor have approximately 22 million deaths from AIDS.

This page was last amended 10th October 2005.

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