Shipping Disasters

April 10 - 15,1912 
RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton with 1336 Passengers and 888 Crew, Sank about 600 kilometres south of Newfoundland on April 15,1912 after hitting an iceberg.

May 29, 1914

The Empress of Ireland

 

At least 1,012 people were killed when The Empress of Ireland passenger liner collided with a Norwegian freighter on the St. Lawrence River in Canada. It was carrying 1,057 passengers and 420 crew.

October 25, 1927

Principessa Mafalda

 

The luxury Italian liner Principessa Mafalda was headed for Rio de Janeiro from Cape Verde islands with 288 crew and 971 passengers when it caught fire and sank off the Brazilian coast. More than 300 people, many of whom were Italian immigrants, died.

January 31, 1953

Princess Victoria

The Princess Victoria sank in the North Channel (between Scotland and Northern Ireland) during a severe storm. About 133 people were killed.

October 29, 1955

Novorossiysk

 

The Novorossiysk, flagship of the Black Sea squadron of the Soviet Navy, was moored near the shore at Sevastopol. It exploded and then capsized and sank with the loss of 609 crew.

July 25, 1956

Stockholm and the Andrea Doria

 

The Swedish American Line's Stockholm and the Italian Line's Andrea Doria collided 45 miles off the coast of Nantucket Island in the United States.
The Stockholm lost five crew members, while the Andrea Doria sank, losing 45 passengers out of the 1,134 who were on board.

April 22, 1980

Don Juan

 

The inter-island ferry Don Juan, en route from Manila to Bacolod, sank in the Tablas Strait off Mindoro Island after it collided with the barge Tacloban City. At least 1,000 died.

August 31, 1986

Admiral Nakhimov

 

Passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collided with cargo ship Pyotr Vasev off the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Between passengers and crew, 423 people died.

March 6, 1987

Herald

 

The car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized and sank shortly after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The vessel had 463 passengers and crew on board when it left the port with its bow doors still open, and 193 were killed.

December 20, 1987

Dona Paz

 

In the worst peacetime sea tragedy, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with the tanker Vector in the Sibuyan Sea, killing 4,375 on the ferry and 11 of the Vector's 13-man crew.

April 11, 1991

Moby Prince

 

140 people on board the Italian ferry the Moby Prince died with only one crew member surviving when it rammed an anchored oil tanker, the Agip Abruzzo.

December 15, 1991

Salem Express

 

464 people were killed when the Salem Express hit coral outside the port of Safaga, 600 km south-east of Cairo in the Red Sea.

Sept. 28, 1994

Estonia

In Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster, 852 people drowned when the Estonia, carrying 989 people, sank off the Finnish island of Utoe, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm.

December 2, 1994

Achille Lauro

 

The luxury liner Achille Lauro sank about 250 km off Somalia, more than two days after catching fire. The ship had been hijacked in 1985 by Palestinians, who killed an elderly Jewish-American passenger, wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, and dumped his body overboard.

February 3, 2006

Al-Salam Bocaccio 98

 

The ferry Al-Salam Bocaccio 98, on a journey between Duba in Saudi Arabia and Safaga in Egypt, sank 90 km from Safaga after a fire broke out on the car deck. Of the 1,414 people aboard, 1,026 were killed.

June 21, 2008

Princess of the Stars 

 

The Philippine passenger and cargo vessel Princess of the Stars sank off Romblon province in central Philippines after being hit by a typhoon. It is thought only 52 of the 825 onboard survived.

January 13, 2012

Costa Concordia

 

The Costa Concordia, a six-year old, 114,500 tonne luxury cruise liner, hit rocks and keeled over. It was carrying 4,229 passengers and crew.