List of transportation fires

This is a list of transportation fires where a ship or other transportation has caught on fire.

The Portuguese frigate Graça Divina e São João Baptista ablaze on the Tagus, in 1771

List of transportation fires

Ship fires

• 1800 – British warship Queen Charlotte — 673 deaths
• 1840 – Steamship Lexington in Long Island Sound — 139 deaths
• 1865 – Sultana on the Mississippi River, near Memphis, Tennessee — 1,547 deaths
• 1893 – Freighter Cabo Machichaco in Santander, Spain — 500 deaths
• 1904 – Steamship General Slocum in New York City — 1,021 deaths
• 1906 – SS Hankow fire in Hong Kong — 130+ deaths (14 October)[1]
• 1908 – SS Sardinia in Malta – at least 118 deaths[2][3]
• 1913 -- SS Volturno (1906) burned at sea, later scuttled --135 deaths
• 1917 – Munitions ship Mont-Blanc burned, drifted and detonated in the Halifax Explosion — roughly 2,000 deaths
• 1924 – SS City of Singapore at Port Adelaide – 3 deaths, 13 injured
• 1934 – SS Morro Castle off Asbury Park, New Jersey — 137 deaths, ship gutted and beached
• 1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor, sinking USS Arizona (BB-39) and several other ships; extensive fires generated aboard and around ships
• 1942 – SS Normandie in New York City, ship capsized and sank at pier
• 1944 – Bombay Explosion (1944) – SS Fort Stikine docked in Bombay, India underwent a fire which caused two explosions and set fire to the area killing around 800 people
• 1944 – Port Chicago disaster – SS E A Bryan docked in Port Chicago, California underwent massive explosions and fire while munitions were loaded. 320 people were killed and 390 were injured.
• 1947 – Texas City Disaster— two ships' cargoes of ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded, killing 581, more than 5000 injured.
• 1947 – SS Xi'an in Hong Kong — 200 deaths[4]
• 1949 – SS Noronic in Toronto, Ontario Canada — 118 to 139 deaths
• 1963 – Lakonia near Madeira burned — 128 deaths
• 1965 – SS Yarmouth Castle near Nassau, Bahamas — 90 deaths
• 1965 – Orient Trader in Toronto, Ontario, Canada— no deaths or injuries. Was towed from pier into harbour and was totally destroyed by fire. 1960 ORIENT TRADER, Orient Mid-East Great Lakes Services, Piraeus. 21st Jul.1965 Caught fire Toronto harbour, CTL. 1966 Scrapped Valencia.[5]
• 1967 – USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin — 134 deaths.
• 1972 – STV Royston Grange — Collided at Río de la Plata with the Tien Chee, a tanker carrying 20 000 tons of crude oil. - 83 deaths
• 1972 – RMS Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong, ship sank in harbour[6]
• 1985 – MS Chidambaram off the Malabar coast of India — 34 deaths.[7]
• 1987 – Doña Paz in the Philippines — an estimated 4,000 deaths
• 1990 – MS Scandinavian Star off Norway — 159 deaths
• 1991 – Moby Prince disaster in Livorno, Italy. 140 killed.
• 1994 – Achille Lauro near Somalia
• 2001 – MS Windoc in Allanburg, Ontario, Canada — Bridge lowered on the ship, this tore off the wheelhouse and funnel and caused a fire that burned out the aft cabins and engine room. No deaths.
• 2006 – Star Princess in the Caribbean — one death
• 2007 – Cutty Sark, 19th-century clipper in dry dock as a museum ship in Greenwich, London extensively damaged while undergoing restoration on May 21
• 2011 – MS Nordlys, Norwegian cruise ship, September 15, two deaths[8][9]
• 2014 – MS Norman Atlantic in Strait of Otranto, Greece — 12 deaths confirmed (including two rescue crew members who died indirectly), 18 others believed dead.
• 2019 – MV Conception, dive boat in California's Channel Islands – 34 deaths.
• 2020 – MT New Diamond about 65 kilometres (40 mi) east of Sri Lanka in the Sangaman Kanda Point - 1 dead

Train and rail fires

• 1903 – Paris Métro train fire kills 84
• 1913 – Ais Gill rail crash in England kills 14 chiefly through fire on September 1
• 1915 – Quintinshill rail crash in Scotland kills 227 chiefly through fire on May 22
• 1951 – Sakuragicho commuter train fire, Yokohama, Japan, 106 killed on April 24
• 1964 – New York City Subway fire at Grand Central Station, which started on an automated shuttle train and destroyed several subway cars, some platforms, and station support beams on April 21.
• 1972 – Hokuriku railroad tunnel fire in Tsuruga, Japan, 31 killed and 637 injured
• 1974 – New York City Subway fire at the BMT's Metropolitan Avenue Station of the Myrtle Avenue Line in Middle Village, Queens NY 11379, resulting in the complete destruction of the station's entire wooden island platform, destroying R27's 8202-03, 8237, R30 # 8512 in the process, with partial fire damage to R32 # 3659 as well on July 16.
• 1974 – Magude train disaster on March 27 in Magude, Portuguese Mozambique, 70 killed and 200 injured
• 1978 – Taunton train fire on British Rail kills 12 on July 6
• 1984 – Summit tunnel fire in West Yorkshire, England
• 1987 – King's Cross Underground Station fire, London, England, 31 killed, 100 injured on November 18
• 1995 – 1995 Baku Metro fire kills over 200
• 1996 – Channel Tunnel fire between France and England on November 18
• 1998 – Yaounde train explosion fuel train explosion, kills 120 people
• 2000 – Kaprun disaster, Austrian funicular train fire, kills 155 people
• 2002 – Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt
• 2002 – The Godhra train burning at Godhra, Gujarat, India took place which left 59 people dead leading to the 2002 Gujarat violence
• 2003 – Daegu subway fire in Daegu (South Korea) Train fire caused by arson killed at least 198 people and injured at least 147
• 2003 – Ladhowal train fire, India
• 2008 – Channel Tunnel fire, between France and England
• 2012 – Nellore train fire kills 32 passengers on the Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, India
• 2013 – Lac-Mégantic rail disaster kills 47 when an unattended 74-car freight train carrying crude oil rolled downhill and derailed. More than 30 buildings in the town's centre, roughly half of the downtown area, were destroyed.
• 2014 – Several tanker cars carrying crude oil caught fire along the James River in Lynchburg, Virginia.[10][11]
• 2015 – L'Enfant Plaza smoke incident, one dead and 84 injured on a Washington, DC Metro train
• 2015 – Valhalla train crash, six killed after train collides with car at grade crossing
• 2017 – MTR fire, the suspect was killed months later after setting fire on an MTR train
• 2019 – Tezgam train fire, 74 killed in Rahim Yar Khan District, Panjab province, Pakistan
• 2020 – 2020 New York City Subway fire kills the train's motorman and injures 16[12][13]

Bus fires

• 1988 – Carrollton, Kentucky, bus collision—27 deaths on May 14, one of the deadliest bus disasters in US history
• 1992 – Chien-Kang Bus Fire (健康幼稚園火燒車事件) – one bus carrying 50 kindergarten students, teachers, and parents caught fire at Taoyuan City (now Taoyuan District) on their way to the Leofoo Amusement Park, killing 23 and injuring 9
• 1997 – Bus fire, Guangdong, China – bus caught fire on expressway, killing 39 passengers.
• 2003 – Chun-Lung Bus Fire (尊龍客運高速公路火燒車事故)—A charter bus caught fire at Taipei County killing 6 and injuring 4
• 2005 – A bus catches fire in Wilmer, Texas while evacuating nursing home residents from incoming Hurricane Rita.[14]
• 2007 – Comilla bus caught fire in Bangladesh, at least fifty-five killed on January 6.
• 2008 – Lower Saxony: A bus caught fire presumably due to a passenger smoking in the toilet on the A2 Autobahn (Expressway) in Germany, 20 killed on November 4[15]
• 2008 – Boromo bus caught fire in Balé Province, Burkina Faso, sixty-seven killed on November 15
• 2008 – Firozabad bus caught fire in Uttar Pradesh, India, killing sixty-three on December 9.
• 2009 – Chengdu bus fire, a mass murder–suicide attack Chengdu, Sichuan, China, results in 27 deaths on June 5
• 2010 – During the Mount Carmel forest fire, a bus that was transporting prison guards was caught up in a wildfire as they made their way to evacuate a nearby prison, resulting in the death of 40 guards as flames overwhelmed the bus[16]
• 2011 – Xinyang bus fire kills at least 41 people in Xinyang, Henan, China, on 22 July.
• 2013 – A bus fire in Xiamen, China, believed to be an act of arson, killed 47 and injured 30.[17]
• 2013 – Volvo bus fire killed 45 Hyderabad-Bengaluru Highway in India.[18]
• 2014 – Colombia bus fire killed 32 children who had just attended a church service in the city of Fundación 18 May 2014.[19]
• 2014 – Six people died and dozens were injured in a bus terminal fire near Seoul, South Korea on 26 May 2014.[20]
• 2016 – Taoyuan City coach fire killing 24 Mainland Chinese tourists with its Taiwanese driver and tour guide.[21]
• 2016 – New York State Adirondack Trailways bus destroyed by brake fire.
• 2018 – 52 passengers died in 2018 Kazakhstan bus fire, all Uzbek migrants travelling to Russia.

Road fires

• 1982 – Salang tunnel fire kills between 150 and 1,000 people in Afghanistan's only road tunnel
• 1982 – Caldecott Tunnel fire kills six and severely damages major road tunnel in Oakland, California
• 1999 – 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire—39 deaths, caused by the cargo of a transport truck catching fire while in the tunnel

Tanker truck fires and explosions

• 1978 – Los Alfaques disaster kills 217 on a campsite near Tarragona, in Spain on July 11
• 2000 – Ibadan tanker truck explosion multiple car pile-up explodes 100–200 killed.
• 2009 – 2009 Kenyan oil spill ignition resulted in the deaths of at least 111 people and infliction of gruesome injuries to countless hundreds more on 31 January, following a road accident in Molo, Kenya.
• 2010 – Catastrophe of Sange in the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused at least 230 deaths and 196 injured.
• 2012 – Okobie road tanker explosion in Nigeria killed at least 95 people and injured 50 others.
• 2016 – Caphiridzange explosion in Mozambique resulted in 80 deaths.
• 2017 – Bahawalpur explosion in Pakistan killed 219 people.

Other fires

• 1916 – Black Tom explosion (fires led to the explosion)
• 1937 – Hindenburg disaster near Lakehurst, New Jersey
• 1955 – Le Mans 24 hour race disaster, Le Mans, France, over 80 killed on June 11
• 1967 – Apollo 1 burned during ground tests at Cape Canaveral January 27, 3 astronauts died
• 1973 – Kingman Explosion Propane tanker BLEVE incident kills 13, injures 107[22]
• 1980 – Saudia Flight 163 A plane catches fire and is destroyed after landing, killing all on board

See also

• List of fires

References

1. "SS Hankow gutted by fire after a typhoon. SS Hankow, a Hong Kong paddle steamer, pictured in harbour shortly after a fire gutted her interior, claiming 100 lives. Related photographs suggest the boat may have been one of many vessels affected by a devastating typhoon that struck Hong Kong on 18 September. Hong Kong, China, circa 14 October 1906., Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of, Eastern Asia, Asia". SuperStock. 1906-10-14. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
2. "Gulf of Corcovado". Tyne Built Ships. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019.
3. "The Tragic end of the 'Maltese Titanic'". The Malta Independent. 7 October 2012. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020.
4. "Weathering the Storm" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-03-31.
5. http://stevebriggs.netfirms.com/osmrm/images/osmrm/wlm3600pixel.jpg
6. Fung, May; So, Sanna (1997-01-26). "Black days in HK's history". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
7. "NOSTALGIC account on Big Indian ocean liners called at Penang". July 2, 2012.
8. "Fatal Fire on Cruise Ship MS NORDLYS | MaritimeMatters | Cruise ship news and ocean liner history". MaritimeMatters. 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
9. "Dramatic Video: Raging fire kills 2 on Norwegian cruise ship". YouTube. 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
10. Sandler, Eric (30 April 2014). "Train catches fire in Lynchburg, Va., derailment". Fox News. Associated Press. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
11. Riordan Seville, Lisa (30 April 2014). "Oil Train Derails and Catches Fire in Lynchburg, Virginia". NBC News. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
12. Tracy, Thomas. "Hero MTA train operator dies trying to evacuate commuters from Harlem subway fire, at least nine others hospitalized". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
13. "'Hero' Train Conductor Dead, 16 Hurt in NYC Subway Fire; Blaze Probed as Suspicious: Officials". NBC New York. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
14. "NTSB Determines Cause of Bus Fire in Texas that Killed 23 during Hurricane Rita Evacuation" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. 21 February 2007. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
15. Simonsen, Stefan (4 November 2008). "A2 bei Hannover: 20 Menschen sterben bei Bus-Brand". Stern (in German). Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
16. Lappin, Yaakov (12 February 2010). "40 prison guards dead after bus engulfed in fire". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
17. "China bus fire kills 47". The Guardian. Associated Press. 8 June 2013. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
18. Sreenivasulu, D. (30 October 2013). "45 killed as bus goes up in flames on Hyderabad-Bangalore highway". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
19. "Colombia school bus catches fire, dozens of children killed". Herald Globe. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
20. "Fire in South Korea bus terminal leaves six dead". Seoul News.Net. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
21. "Breaking: 26 dead in tour bus blaze". The China Post. Associated Press. 19 July 2016. Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
22. "The Disaster Story". Kingman Arizona Historic District. All About Kingman LLC. Retrieved 6 January 2014.