Disasters of the Century

The worst motor sport accident occurred during the 1955 Le Mans race in France. Having voiced his unease at the narrowness of the straight in front of the pits, Pierre Levegh's Mercedes struck the rear of an Austin Healy driven by Lance Macklin on the pit straight. The car rammed the bank, exploded and its engine flew into the packed grandstand, killing 80.

On August 27 1907, the workers on the suspension bridge across the St. Lawrence notice that Beam Chord A-L has been slowly bending, eventually giving way and plunging 50 meters. Many are killed on impact, but those who are trapped in the twisted steel are slowly drowned by the rising tide. Of the casualties, 35 are Mohawks from the nearby Caughnawaga Reserve, leaving no family untouched by death.

One night in Boston in 1942, over a 1000 people poured into a nightclub licensed for 460. When a fire was discovered, panic broke out in the overcrowded rooms. 433 people died from asphyxiation, suffocation, burns, and heart failure. Among them was the Singing Cowboy, who was the entertainment for the evening.

On April 8, 1954, a Harvard RCAF trainer and a Trans-Canada North Star collided over the city of Moose Jaw, killing 36 passengers and 1 woman on the ground. The largest fragment of the airliner narrowly missed an elementary school. Bodies and debris littered the city's fair grounds and golf course.

On the night of March 2, 1944, a trainload of 521 people enroute to Naples, Italy, died in one of the eeriest train disasters of all time. Brought to a halt by icy rails in a narrow 2 mile long tunnel, it is assumed that carbon monoxide gas produced by the labouring engine overcame the passengers as they sat in their seats.

On February 11, 1978 Pacific Western Airlines 737-200 crashed at Cranbrook Airport. The aircraft crashed after thrust reversers did not fully stow following a rejected landing that was executed in order to avoid a snowplough that was on the runway. The crash killed 4 of the 5 crew members and 38 of the 44 passengers.

When the submarine Thetis made a trial dive in shallow water, it did not know that a malfunctioning torpedo tube would cause it to ram into the seabed below. A miscalculation of the sub's air supply prevented panic among the crewmembers, and an escape pod was sent to the surface to get help. Rescuers worked with the stern sticking out of the water until the sub flipped over and sank entirely.

On November 18, 1929 a submarine earthquake off the Grand Banks triggered a huge tsunami. Unaware of the danger coming from the sea, the residents of Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula were struck by an enormous wave hours after the earthquake. Scores of homes, businesses, wharves, and fishing boats were smashed or swept away.

The Minaki Special, an outdated passenger train comprised of wooden cars, was kept in service when it should have been pulled from the tracks years before. Returning from an Ontario vacation resort, the Minaki had the misfortune of travelling on the same tracks as the all-steel Transcontinental on September 1, 1947.