# Disasters
Shoals of Sharks Savagely Attacked Survivors of the SS Cape San Juan, a US Troopship
On November 11, 1943, the US freighter and troop transport ship, the Cape San Juan was making its way from San Francisco to Townsville, Australia with 1438 souls on board when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
The Deadliest Wildfire in Recorded History Happened in Peshtigo, Wisconsin
According to Wikipedia, a wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled, and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas. While naturally occurring wildfires may be beneficial to forest ecosystems, they can also cause destruction to properties and human.
A Fiery Midair Collision Between Planes That Horrified the World
The world's deadliest mid-air collision between planes occurred on November 12, 1996, over the village of Charkhi Dadri in India. The planes involved in the crash were Saudi Arabian (Saudia) Flight 763, a Boeing 747 en route from Delhi to Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, and Kazhakstan Airlines Flight 1907 which was inbound from Chimkent, Kazhakstan.
Related Contributors
The Tragedy of the SS Sultana Was a Horrific Maritime Disaster in U.S. History
The worst maritime disaster in US maritime history occurred on April 27, 1865, when the SS Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River killing 1,168 people. The SS Sultana was a side-wheel commercial steamboat constructed out of wood normally tasked with transportation in the lower Mississippi. Even though it only had a capacity of 376 passengers, on the day of the tragedy the steamboat was carrying 2,137 passengers which was six times its normal capacity. This is an excerpt that describes the reason for the overcrowding on the SS Sultana: "The American Civil War had ended just weeks before, and repatriated Union prisoners of war, having endured hellish conditions in Confederate military prisons, were eager to return to their homes in the North."
A Horrifying Aircraft Disaster That Shook the World Involved Two Jumbo Jets
The deadliest disaster in aviation history occurred on March 27, 1977, on the Spanish island of Tenerife. It involved two Boeing 747s, KLM Flight 4085 and PanAm Flight 1736 which resulted in 583 deaths. Only 61 passengers were able to make it out of the fiery crash alive.
The Number of Lives Lost From the Sinking of the Gustloff Makes It the Worst Disaster at Sea
In 1945, the German populace who found themselves in the path of the advancing Soviet Union army were scrambling to get out rather than find themselves at the mercy of the Soviet forces. A massive evacuation effort called Operation Hannibal was set into motion in order to transport civilians, soldiers, and equipment back to safety via the Baltic Sea.
The Horrifying Story of How Hundreds of Sharks Circled the Survivors of the USS Indianapolis
The deadliest mass shart attack in human history occurred in 1945 when the USS Indianapolis, an American warship, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. This disaster is known as the greatest loss of life at sea from a single ship in the history of the US Navy due to the fact that only 316 out of a crew of 1136 sailors managed to survive their horrifying ordeal at sea.
Regretful Decisions in History: Hydrogen filled Hindenburg, Thalidomide to treat morning sickness, The Donner Party
Whether you agree or not, but most of your decisions come back and haunt you. Imagine how regretful all those publishing companies who rejected Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone must have been after realizing that they turned down not just any book — but one of the biggest hits of the century.