Disasters in the world leave no one indifferent. Tragic events once again confirm that there is nothing more valuable than human life.
Tenerife plane crash
The monstrous plane crash that occurred in Tenerife will be remembered by many for a long time. On March 27, 1977, two Boeings collided on the takeoff runway. One airliner belonged to the Dutch airline KLM, and the second - Pan American World Airways. The fatal collision claimed the lives of 580 people. What caused this accident? Finding out the details of what happened indicates that the collision was inevitable and that unknown forces intervened in the course of events.
A chain of fatal coincidences led to such a devastating catastrophe. international Airport Los Rodeos was overloaded on this ill-fated day off. Both planes performed maneuvers on a small runway, including difficult turns of 140-170 degrees. On this Sunday, everything went wrong from the very beginning: in the cockpit, due to interference, they could not clearly hear the dispatcher’s commands, the weather deteriorated sharply, and visibility became almost zero.
The crew could not understand the instructions of the air traffic controller, who spoke with a strong accent. Due to problems with radio communications, the Boeing 747-206B did not abort takeoff, which led to a collision with the Boeing 747, which was still on the runway.
The Boeing, owned by a Dutch airline, had damaged wings and rear end fuselage. The huge airliner crashed one hundred and fifty meters from the accident site and rolled along the runway for another three hundred meters. Due to severe damage to the hull of the American aircraft, few passengers were able to escape from the aircraft engulfed in flames. A fire also occurred on a KLM plane. About 250 people died on the first liner, and 335 on the second. Among the passengers was the American actress and Playboy model Evelyn Eugene Turner.
North Sea explosion
The first place in the ranking of the most destructive man-made disasters is occupied by the burned-out oil production platform Piper Alpha, which was built in the 70s of the last century. The disaster occurred on July 6, 1988. The damage is estimated at more than three billion dollars. The accident claimed the lives of 176 people.
This incident went down in history: Piper Alpha is the only burned-out oil production platform on the planet. It belonged to the Occidental Petroleum Company. A powerful explosion occurred due to a gas leak. The human factor was to blame: after the explosion, oil and gas production was suspended, but hydrocarbons continued to flow through the pipelines of the common network to the platform. The fire intensified and did not stop. Ill-considered and indecisive actions led to a major man-made accident. People jumped into the sea in panic. 59 people survived.
Unsinkable "Wilhelm Gustloff"
Vessel Wilhelm Gustloff
When we talk about the worst disasters on the water, we remember the legendary Titanic, which now rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The unsinkable Titanic collided with an iceberg in 1912, but this disaster is not the largest in human history. In terms of the number of victims, the crash of the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff eclipsed the famous British transatlantic steamer.
On April 30, 1945, the Soviet submarine S-13 sank a luxury ship carrying ten thousand people: cadets from a submarine training division, refugees, mostly women and children, and seriously wounded military personnel. The cruise ship was put into operation in 1938. The vessel was designed and built according to last word technology. It seemed that only God himself could send him to the bottom.
“Wilhelm Gustloff” is a real city on the water: dance floors, a gym, restaurants, swimming pools, a chapel, a theater. Passengers enjoyed the comfort of luxurious cabins. Adolf Hitler himself traveled on a cruise ship.
The length of the ship was more than two hundred meters. Despite its gigantic size, the ship did not need refueling for a long time. A real miracle of engineering!
The commander of the Soviet submarine Marinesko developed an attack plan and ordered 3 torpedoes to be fired into the hull of the enemy ship. One of them bore the inscription “For the Motherland.” Today this giant rests at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, and the world is still mourning, because the disaster resulted in the death of innocent people.
Environmental disasters of the world
The worst environmental disaster is the disappearance of the Aral Sea from the face of the Earth. It was the 4th largest lake on the planet. The reservoir was located on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. A local environmental disaster affected the whole world and once again proved that humanity does not protect Natural resources and treats them with disregard.
The degradation of the salt lake began in the 1960s. There was an uncontrolled intake of water from the feeding rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Water was taken for irrigation and other economic needs, which led to a decrease in its level.
The damage was colossal: plants and animals died, the climate in the area changed and became arid, shipping was suspended and 60 thousand people lost their jobs. Environmental disasters in the world never go away without leaving a trace.
Disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
The use of atomic energy to generate electricity has changed our world once and for all. Devastating consequences Nuclear disasters do not go away for decades. The planet shook when more than thirty years ago there was an explosion at one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Radiation spread to nearby settlements. Thousands of people were exposed to radiation during the cleanup of the accident. Today, the 30-kilometer zone near Chernobyl and Pripyat is closed to free access, as this territory has been subjected to intense contamination with radionuclides. Accidents at nuclear power plants and the use of nuclear weapons are the most terrible disasters that change the face of the planet.
We hear about these tragedies from the news and read the horrifying details on the front pages. printed publications. Unfortunately, thousands of people die every year in disasters around the world. We have compiled a list of disasters that left an indelible mark on human history. There are many videos on the Internet about the disasters covered in this material.
Disaster over the Black Sea
On December 25, a Tu-154 plane en route to the Syrian city of Latakia crashed in the waters of the Black Sea. The liner belonged to the Russian Ministry of Defense. There was a Song and Dance Ensemble on board the aircraft Russian army named after A.V. Alexandrov. The list of those killed included the famous Doctor Lisa. The disaster claimed the lives of 92 people. The plane took off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow at two o'clock in the morning and landed at Adler airport to refuel.
Aircraft RA-85572 disappeared from radar screens 2 minutes after takeoff. The artists were heading to Syria to perform for the Russian military. The main reason for the Tu-154 crash was a malfunction of the aircraft, which was put into operation thirty years ago. The crew consisted of experienced pilots. The Tu-154 was overhauled three years ago. However, the Ministry of Defense claims that the plane was working properly and the crash could not have occurred due to a breakdown. Leads are being pursued and the investigation continues. Airplane crashes always cause a wide public outcry, since this type of transport is considered the safest. There is already a 3D reconstruction of the crash on the Internet. The video was taken from the words of an eyewitness.
Disaster on the Kursk submarine
The list of disasters long remembered by the residents of our country would be incomplete without mentioning the nuclear submarine missile-carrying cruiser Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea. 08/12/2000, the submarine, which was undergoing exercises at the combat training range, did not contact. Two days later, the command made a statement that the submarine had sunk to the bottom. When examining the scene of the incident, it turned out that the front part of the nuclear submarine was destroyed, and it entered the bottom at an angle of forty degrees, and the rescue capsule was out of order. Even then it became obvious that the chances of salvation were minimal.
The rescue operation began on August 15. A Norwegian ship and deep-sea vehicles took part in it. Despite the joint efforts of Russian, British and Norwegian specialists, it was not possible to save the submarine’s crew. On August 21, divers were able to get inside the ship, which was completely flooded. No one was left alive; the list of dead includes 118 people. During the investigation, it was possible to find out that an explosion of ammunition led to the crash. The boat was on fire and filled with water in less than 10 hours. The ship's log does not record data on emergency situations.
Disaster of the ship "Admiral Nakhimov"
Admiral Nakhimov
On August 31, 1986, “Admiral Nakhimov” was in the port of Novorossiysk. Passengers, tired of the hot weather, returned to their cabins after excursions. The ship became very hot on this hot day, and people rushed to open the portholes. At 10 pm the ship departed for Sochi. The weather on this summer evening was magnificent: a calm sea like a millpond, a light wind was blowing, and visibility was good. At the same time, the bulk carrier “Pyotr Vasev” was traveling to Novorossiysk, transporting thirty thousand tons of grain. The bulk carrier received a command to let the cruise ship pass.
An hour after departure, the Admiral Nakhimov collided with the dry cargo ship Pyotr Vasev. The impact hit the starboard side of the passenger ship. Severe damage to the hull led to the ship being completely submerged under water within eight minutes. Such a rapid dive was influenced by uncovered portholes and watertight bulkheads, which were also left open. The incorrect actions of the crew led to the death of 423 people.
Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
03.20.10 at Gulf of Mexico There was a strong fire on the oil platform. Firefighters tried unsuccessfully to control the fire for more than 30 hours. Two days later, the Deepwater Horizon platform sank to the bottom of the bay. Eleven people were missing, seventeen people were hospitalized with injuries and two people died.
Elimination of consequences continued for 150 days. Experts claimed that about 5 thousand barrels of oil fell into the sea every day. The Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America said that the leak amounted to 100 thousand barrels. This amount of oil products got into the water every day. The area of the oil slick reached 75 thousand square meters. km. Over 5 months, more than five million barrels of black gold spilled into the World Ocean. An explosion on an oil platform tops the list of disasters that caused irreparable damage to the environment.
Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster
The best disasters sometimes begin with signs of fate. Already during the ship's christening ceremony, those present suspected something was wrong: a bottle of champagne had not broken, which is considered a bad omen. This three-hundred-meter ship amazed with its size, equipment and comfort: one and a half thousand cabins, a two-story fitness center, a museum, gallery, cinema, casino, library, concert hall, shops, swimming pools and restaurants. Passengers had plenty of room to roam. 01/13/12 the liner hit an underwater reef. Due to a large hole, the ship began to rapidly sink into the water.
There were more than 4 thousand people on the ship. Almost all passengers and crew members were evacuated to shore, but 32 people could not be saved. The ship's captain said he veered off course and approached the shore to greet his friend , who lived on this island. This was not the first time Costa Concordia had such a dangerous approach to the coastline. Experts are still perplexed why the liner landed on a reef, because the crew knew this route like the back of their hand. The damage from the shipwreck is estimated by experts at $1.5 billion. The causes of the disaster are not fully known, but experts call the notorious human factor and technical malfunction.
Eruption of Krakatoa volcano in 1883
Volcano Krakatoa
Natural disasters always lead to great destruction. The loudest explosion in the history of the planet was caused by the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. It was heard at a distance of about 5 thousand km. Vulcan woke up on May 20 after a two-century sleep. Then an eruptive column 11 thousand meters high, consisting of steam, gases and dust, rose into the air. The critical phase of the eruption occurred on August 26. The column of volcanic emissions was more than 30 thousand meters.
The strongest explosion occurred due to the collision of magma with sea water. The latter got inside due to cracks formed on the slopes of the volcano. 5 thousand inhabitants died. The resulting tsunami claimed the lives of 30 thousand people. The height of the destructive waves was equal to a ten-story building. During the eruption of Krakatoa, gases entered the stratosphere, which prevented the penetration sunlight. Temperatures in these areas dropped by 3 degrees. There are not many disasters in the world that have had such a dramatic impact on the planet's climate.
Spitak earthquake
On December 7, 1988, at about twelve o’clock in the afternoon, an earthquake occurred in Armenia, which wiped out the city of Spitak from the face of the earth in half a minute. About 20 thousand people lived in the settlement. The disaster not only claimed the lives of thousands of people, but also changed the history of the Armenian Republic. Thousands of local residents were left homeless. Many received injuries that led to disability. An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale caused enormous damage to the country's economy. Experts say its power can be compared to an explosion produced by ten atomic bombs. The seismic wave from the earthquake reached Australia.
In December 2004 in Indian Ocean An underwater earthquake occurred, which generated a devastating tsunami. Huge waves hit the shores of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The natural disaster took the lives of about 300 thousand people. On the Internet you can find videos where huge masses of water destroy everything in its path, leaving a person no chance of salvation. Local residents and tourists had only a couple of minutes to escape.
The tsunami developed according to the classic scenario: the water began to recede from the shore into the sea, exposing the seabed, and then the crests of giant waves appeared on the horizon. The speed of the water shaft during a tsunami reaches 800 km/h. A modern airliner flies at the same speed. At the depth of the ocean, the waves reached up to 60 m, and closer to the shore - up to 20 m. The disaster is considered one of the most destructive in the history of our planet.
TRAGEDY OF THE TITANIC. More than a hundred years have passed since the moment when, on the frosty night of April 14-15, 1912, south of the island of Newfoundland, the giant Titanic, the largest and most luxurious ship of the beginning of the century, sank after colliding with a drifting iceberg. 1,500 passengers and crew died. And although there were enough terrible tragedies in the 20th century, interest in the fate of this ship does not wane even today
Killer iceberg...
HOLODOMOR. This terrible word is used to describe the mass death of the population of the Ukrainian SSR from famine in 1932-1933... In the USSR, the scale of the tragedy that occurred and its real causes were simply hidden... But witnesses recall that the streets of cities and villages were littered with the corpses of the dead, swollen from hunger of people...
During these terrible years, at least 4,500,000 people died in Ukraine...
THE LAST AIRSHIP DISASTER. On May 6, 1937, the German aircraft Hidenburg exploded and burned - at that time the world's largest airship, the length of which was about 248 m, the diameter was more than 40 m. It was built in the 30s as a symbol of Hitler's new Germany... A photograph of that time from the archives of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper..
HIROSHIMA - REVENGE FOR PEARL HARBOR? Great Patriotic War ended on May 9, 1945. But the war did not end there. It lasted until September 2, 1945. And there were fights. And there were victories. And there were victims. And there were tragedies. And the most terrible of them is atomic bombing Japanese cities...
The area of the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was about 26 square meters. miles, of which only 7 were completely built up. There were no clearly designated commercial, industrial and residential areas. 75% of the population lived in a densely built area in the city center...
A single bomb with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of TNT, which exploded at an altitude of 600 meters above the city, instantly destroyed 60 percent of the city to the ground. Of the 306,545 residents of Hiroshima, 176,987 people were affected by the explosion. 92,133 people were killed or missing, 9,428 people were seriously injured and 27,997 people were slightly injured. In an effort to reduce their responsibility, the Americans underestimated the number of casualties as much as possible - the number of killed and wounded military personnel was not taken into account when calculating losses. Many died from radiation sickness. There was nothing left of those who were near the epicenter - the explosion literally evaporated people...
AUSCHWITZ - 40 HECTARES OF DEATH. The largest extermination camp, it was called a death factory, a death conveyor, a death machine. In fact, in Polish Silesia, on several thousand hectares, the most monstrous state in the world was built with a population of several million people, of whom less than three thousand survived, with its own value system, economy, government, hierarchy, rulers, executioners, victims and heroes. The inscription above the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp read: “Work makes you free.” Entrance to Hell...
DEATH OF GOEBBELS. During the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the main ideologist of fascism, Joseph Goebbels, took poison, having first poisoned his family - his wife and six children. The corpses, according to his dying order, were burned. Here is a photograph showing the corpse of a criminal. The photo was taken in the Imperial Chancellery building on May 2, 1945 by Major Vasily Krupennikov. On the back of the photo, Vasily wrote: “We covered Goebbels’s sensitive spot with a handkerchief, it was very unpleasant to look at it”...
TSAR BOMB, "IVAN", "KUZKA'S MOTHER". A thermonuclear device developed at CCCP in the mid-50s by a group of physicists led by Academician I.V. Kurchatov
The test of the world's most powerful thermonuclear device took place on October 30, 1961, during the XXII Congress of the CPSU. The bomb exploded within the nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The power of the explosion was about 50 megatons of TNT. No casualties or damage were officially reported...
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY. The tragedy happened on November 22, 1963, Friday...
This 40-second recording, made on a simple video camera by someone from Dallas, has become the most famous recording in the world. Immediately after the shots were fired, the car rushed to the clinic, where 14 surgeons fought for Kennedy’s life...
...but despite all their efforts, he died 35 minutes later...
45 minutes after the assassination attempt, the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was detained. But he, too, was mysteriously killed - 2 days later he was put to death by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Well, US Vice President Lyndon Johnson became the new president of the country. By the way, he was traveling in another car of the same motorcade...
The VIETNAM WAR began in August 1964 with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which coast guard ships of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam fired on American destroyers providing fire support to government forces of South Vietnam in their fight against guerrillas...
In the second half of the 20th century, humanity learned two terrible phrases - “world terrorism” and “man-made disaster”... Since the 60s of the last century, cosmodromes and factories, trains and planes, houses and nuclear reactors have been blowing up one after another in this world ...
BAIKONUR, OCTOBER 24, 1960. "Nedelin's catastrophe." The explosion of the R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile during testing at the cosmodrome...
The explosion and resulting fire killed more than 90 people, including the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Missile Forces... According to unofficial data, there were 165...
BLOODY TUESDAY IN MUNICH. On September 5, 1972, at the XX Olympics, the most monstrous tragedy in the history of sports competitions occurred. At 3:30 in the morning, 8 heavily armed terrorists belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization militant group Black September burst into one of the houses of the Olympic Village. They managed to take 11 members of the Israeli sports delegation hostage. The security of the Olympic Village simply did not notice the terrorists...
Demands were put forward - the immediate release of 234 terrorists from Israeli prisons and 16 from prisons Western Europe...Negotiations were conducted until late in the evening...
The bodies of all eleven dead athletes were sent to Israel. During the unsuccessful operation, two German citizens also died: a policeman and the pilot of one of the helicopters. In the homeland of the victims, in addition to relatives, the funeral ceremony was attended by the head of government Golda Meir, all ministers, members of the Knesset, members of the sports delegation who left the Olympics, thousands of Israeli citizens...
CHERNOBYL DISASTER. On April 26, 1986, 187 control and protection system rods entered the core to shut down the reactor. Chain reaction should have been interrupted. However, after 3 seconds, alarm signals were registered for exceeding the reactor power and increasing pressure. And after another 4 seconds - a dull explosion that shook the entire building. The emergency protection rods stopped before they were even halfway...
Sparkling clumps began to fly out from the roof of the fourth power unit, as if from the mouth of a volcano. They rose high up. It looked like fireworks. The clumps scattered into multi-colored sparks and fell in different places...
A black fireball soared up, forming a cloud that stretched horizontally into a black cloud and went to the side, spreading death, disease and misfortune in the form of small, small drops..
And at this time people were still working inside. There is no roof, part of the wall is destroyed... The lights went out, the phone went off. Floors are collapsing. The floor is shaking. The premises are filled with either steam, fog, or dust. Short circuit sparks flash. Radiation monitoring devices are off the charts. Hot radioactive water is flowing everywhere...
... such children were born...
These photographs were taken for one of the secret reports to the Central Committee of the USSR Politburo...
Z THE 1988 EARTHQUAKE THAT DESTROYED THE CITY OF SPITAK. Also in Armenia, the cities of Leninakan, Stepanavan, Kirovakan were destroyed. 58 villages in the north-west of the republic were reduced to ruins, almost 400 villages were partially destroyed.
From fraternal union republics 450 mine rescuers arrived in Armenia. 6.5 thousand military personnel, 25 teams of military doctors, and 400 units of army equipment are participating in rescue operations in the disaster zone.
Tens of thousands of people died, 514 thousand people were left homeless. The loss of national wealth amounted to 8.8 billion rubles.
Over the past 80 years, this is the most powerful earthquake in the Caucasus...
On March 1, 1995, FAMOUS TV JOURNALIST VLAD LISTYEV was KILLED at the entrance of his house.
Murder general director ORT and just a popular person was a shock for millions of people. He was so loved and popular that even the then head of state Boris Yeltsin, abandoning everything, rushed to Ostankino to apologize to the television crew. The investigation began almost immediately, sketches of the alleged killers were made and published, but the hot pursuit did not produce results.
Over the past 11 years, the wording of the Prosecutor General's Office messages has remained almost unchanged. Only the volume of investigation materials has changed: this year there are already more than 200 volumes.
CAPTURE OF BUDENNOVSK. On June 14, 1995, detachments of Chechen militants under the command of Shamil Basayev entered Budyonnovsk and took about 1,500 hostages. The terrorists, having made the cessation of hostilities and the start of negotiations in Chechnya a condition for the release of the hostages, gained a foothold in the city hospital.
In total, as a result of this terrorist action in Budennovsk, 105 civilians were killed, including 18 women, 17 men over 55 years old, a boy and a girl under 16 years old. 11 police officers and at least 14 military personnel were also killed.
THE MURDER OF YITZHAK RABIN. Every Israeli knows the name of the killer of the Israeli prime minister. Yigal Yigal Amir is a member of the underground ultra-ultra-right nationalist organization "Eyal" (Lions of Judah).
The murder took place on November 4, 1995 in Tel Aviv, the evening after thousands of people demonstrated in support of the peace process. Yitzhak Rabin, wounded in the back by two bullets, was taken to the nearby Ihillov hospital in the back seat of a government limousine.
By 11 p.m., Rabin's personal secretary reported that the prime minister had been fatally shot.
The aging leader of the Workers' Party, Yitzhak Rabin, whose policies were subject to severe criticism, was instantly canonized. It is now customary in Israel to name squares, streets and educational institutions after him...
HOUSE EXPLOSIONS IN MOSCOW AND VOLGODONSK IN 1999. A series of terrorist attacks in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999 claimed the lives of more than 300 people. The explosions occurred in a situation where fighting was taking place in Dagestan between federal troops and invading armed separatist detachments from Chechnya, led by Shamil Basayev...
Explosion on Guryanov Street. On September 8, 1999, at 11:58 p.m., an explosion occurred in the basement of a 9-story residential building 19 on Guryanova Street (Pechatniki district) in the southeast of Moscow. The building was partially destroyed, one section of the residential building collapsed. Rescuers worked on the ruins of a residential building for several days...
According to official data, the explosion killed 109 people and injured 160 people. As explosives experts established, an explosive device with a capacity of 300-400 kg of TNT went off in the basement of the house. The blast wave deformed the structures of neighboring house 19. A few days later, houses 17 and 19 were destroyed by explosives experts, the residents were relocated to other houses...
There have been speculations in the media that this terrorist attack. A day of mourning for those killed in the explosion was set for September 13. On the same day, a sketch of a man who allegedly rented a basement in a residential building was shown on television...
Explosion on Kashirskoye Highway. On September 13, at 5 a.m., a new explosion occurred on Kashirskoye Highway in an 8-story residential building number 6/3. As a result of the explosion, the house was completely destroyed, almost all the residents in the residential building - 124 people - were killed, 9 people were injured and rescuers pulled them out of the rubble, and 119 families were affected. Due to the fact that the house was made of brick, almost all the residents who were in it during the explosion died...
On the same day, September 13, in the Maryino area, supplies of explosives were found in sugar bags, sufficient to destroy several more residential buildings. A state of emergency was not declared, but unprecedented security measures were taken in Moscow and other cities, and all attics and basements were checked. Residents of residential buildings spontaneously organized round-the-clock watches for several months...
On September 16, a few days after the explosions in Moscow, at 5.40 am, the city of Volgodonsk, Rostov Region, was rocked by a terrible explosion. A GAZ-53 van filled with explosives exploded near the police department building and next to a 9-story residential building on Gagarin Street, 35. A crater with a diameter of 15 m and a depth of 3 m formed in the courtyard of the house. 437 people lived in 144 apartments of the panel building - 18 people died.
TRAGEDY IN THE TRANSITION ON PUSHKIN SQUARE. Another powerful explosion occurred in Moscow. The explosive device was planted by two young Caucasians...
They allegedly approached commercial booth number 40 and asked to sell them goods for US dollars. The seller refused, then the young people asked the seller to look after the bag while they went to exchange dollars for rubles. Literally a few minutes after they left, a homemade explosive device lying in the bag with a capacity of 400 grams to 1.5 kg of TNT went off...
According to witnesses who were in the passage at that moment, first there was a strong bang and a bright flash, then a blast wave rolled through the tunnel and heavy smoke poured out. People began to run out. Those who were closer to the epicenter had numerous burns and wounds, and blood was pouring out. The explosion was so strong that it literally tore the clothes off the victims...
As a result of the explosion, 7 people died, 93 appealed for medical care. Of these, 59 people were taken to city hospitals, 34 refused hospitalization. Among the victims were three children...
THE DEATH OF "KURSK". On August 12, 2000, a tragedy broke out in the Barants Sea, riveting hundreds of millions of people to their television screens
For several days, Russian and British naval forces tried to rescue 118 crew members of the nuclear submarine from underwater captivity.
However, all efforts were in vain...
Disasters often occur due to an absurd coincidence of events and lead to irreparable consequences. Lately Environmental disasters occur most frequently, leaving huge scars on the body of our planet. We have prepared a selection of the largest disasters that cost humanity record amounts. So, here are the 10 largest and most expensive man-made disasters, most of of which occurred during the last century
In first place is the most global man-made environmental disaster - the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This disaster cost the world $200 billion, despite the fact that the liquidation work is not even half completed. April 26, 1986 on Chernobyl nuclear power plant The worst nuclear accident in history occurred in the former USSR. More than 135,000 people living within a 30-kilometer (19-mile) radius of the destroyed reactor - and 35,000 head of livestock - were evacuated; An exclusion zone of unprecedented size was created around the station, located near the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. In this forbidden territory, nature had to cope with itself. high level radiation caused by the disaster. As a result, the exclusion zone essentially turned into a giant laboratory where an experiment was carried out - what happens to plants and animals in conditions of catastrophic nuclear contamination of the area? Immediately after the disaster, when everyone was worried about the dire consequences of radioactive fallout on human health, few thought about what would happen to wildlife inside the zone - and even more so about monitoring what is happening.
The Chernobyl disaster will long remain the largest and most costly environmental disaster. In second place is the explosion of the American space shuttle Columbia, which cost $13 billion, which is 20 times less in cost and millions of times less in terms of environmental impact. 
Shuttle Columbia was the first operational reusable orbiter. It was manufactured in 1979 and transferred to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle Columbia was named after the sailing ship in which Captain Robert Gray explored the inland waters of British Columbia in May 1792. The space shuttle Columbia died in a disaster on February 1, 2003, upon entering the Earth's atmosphere before landing. This was Columbia's 28th space voyage. Information from hard drive Columbia was able to recover, the causes of the crash were identified, which made it possible to avoid such disasters in the future. 
In third place is again an environmental disaster. On November 13, 2002, the Prestige oil tanker exploded, spilling 77,000 tons of fuel into the ocean, causing the largest oil spill in European history. Losses during the work to eliminate the oil spill amounted to $12 billion. 
Fourth place - the death of the Challenger shuttle. Nothing foreshadowed a tragedy during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, but 73 seconds after launch it exploded. This accident cost American taxpayers $5.5 billion. 
In fifth place is the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform - which occurred on July 6, 1988, which is recognized as the worst disaster in the history of the oil industry. The accident cost $3.4 billion. 
Piper Alpha is the only oil production platform in the world that burned down. As a result of a gas leak and subsequent explosion, as well as as a result of ill-conceived and indecisive actions of personnel, 167 people out of 226 on the platform at that moment were killed, only 59 survived. Immediately after the explosion, oil and gas production on the platform was stopped, however, due to the fact that the platform’s pipelines were connected to a common network through which hydrocarbons flowed from other platforms, and on those, the production and supply of oil and gas to the pipeline for a long time They did not dare to stop (they were waiting for permission from the top management of the company), a huge amount of hydrocarbons continued to flow through the pipelines, which fueled the fire. 
Ecology is again in sixth place. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989. This is the largest oil spill in human history. More than 11 million gallons of oil got into the water. $2.5 billion was spent to eliminate the consequences of this environmental disaster. 
Seventh place - the explosion of the B-2 stealth bomber. The disaster occurred on February 23, 2008, and cost US taxpayers one and a half million dollars. Fortunately, no one was injured, only financial costs ensued. 
Eighth place - Metrolink passenger train crash. The train collision that occurred on September 12, 2008 in California was attributed more to negligence. Two trains collide, 25 killed, MetroLink loses $500 million 
In ninth place, a collision between a fuel tanker and a passenger car occurred on August 26, 2004 on the Wiehltal bridge in Germany. This disaster, which occurred on August 26, 2004, can be classified as a road accident. They happen often, but this one surpassed them all in scale. A car driving across the bridge at full speed crashed into a full fuel tanker traveling towards it, causing an explosion that practically destroyed the bridge. By the way, $358 million was spent on restoration work on the bridge. 
The sinking of the Titanic closes the top ten most expensive disasters. The tragedy occurred on April 15, 1912 and claimed 1,523 lives. The cost of building the ship amounted to $7 million (in terms of today's exchange rate - $150 million).
Sometimes it is quite difficult to assess the scale of a particular global catastrophe, because the consequences of some of them can appear many years after the incident itself.
In this article we will present the 10 worst disasters in the world that were not caused by deliberate actions. Among them are incidents that occurred on water, in the air, and on land.
Fukushima accident
The disaster, which occurred on March 11, 2011, simultaneously combines the features of man-made and natural disasters. A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of nine and the subsequent tsunami caused a failure of the power supply system of the Daiichi nuclear plant, as a result of which the cooling process of reactors with nuclear fuel was stopped.
In addition to the monstrous destruction that was caused by the earthquake and tsunami, this incident led to serious radioactive contamination of the territory and water area. In addition, the Japanese authorities had to evacuate more than two hundred thousand people due to the high likelihood of severe illness due to exposure to severe radiation. The combination of all these consequences gives the right to the Fukushima accident to be called one of the worst disasters in the world in the twenty-first century.
The total damage from the accident is estimated at $100 billion. This amount includes the costs of eliminating the consequences and paying compensation. But we must not forget that work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster is still ongoing, which accordingly increases this amount.
In 2013, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was officially closed, and only work to eliminate the consequences of the accident is being carried out on its territory. Experts believe that it will take at least forty years to clean up the building and the contaminated area.
The consequences of the Fukushima accident are a reassessment of safety measures in the nuclear energy industry, a drop in the price of natural uranium, and, accordingly, a decrease in the prices of shares of uranium mining companies.
Collision at Los Rodeos Airport
Perhaps the world's worst aircraft accident occurred in the Canary Islands (Tenerife) in 1977. At Los Rodeos airport, two Boeing 747 airliners, which belonged to KLM and Pan American, collided on the runway. As a result, 583 out of 644 people died, including both passengers and airline crews.
One of the main reasons for this situation was the terrorist attack at Las Palmas airport, which was carried out by terrorists from the MPAIAC organization (Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario). The terrorist attack itself did not cause any casualties, but the airport administration closed the airport and stopped accepting planes, fearing further incidents.
Because of this, Los Rodeos became congested as it was diverted by planes that were bound for Las Palmas, in particular two Boeing 747 flights PA1736 and KL4805. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the fact that the plane owned by Pan
American had enough fuel to land at another airport, but the pilots obeyed the air traffic controller's orders.
The cause of the collision itself was fog, which severely limited visibility, as well as difficulties in negotiations between controllers and pilots, which were caused by the thick accents of the controllers, and the fact that the pilots were constantly interrupting each other.
Collision between Dona Paz and tanker Vector
On December 20, 1987, the Philippine-registered passenger ferry Doña Paz collided with the oil tanker Vector, resulting in the world's worst peacetime disaster on the water.
At the time of the collision, the ferry was following its standard Manila-Catbalogan route, which it travels twice a week. On December 20, 1987, at about 06:30, the Dona Paz sailed from Tacloban bound for Manila. At approximately 10:30 p.m., the ferry was passing through the Tablas Strait near Marinduque, and survivors reported clear but rough seas.
The collision occurred after the passengers had fallen asleep; the ferry collided with the Vector tanker, which was transporting gasoline and oil products. Immediately after the collision, a strong fire broke out due to the fact that oil products spilled into the sea. Swipe and the fire almost instantly caused panic among passengers; in addition, according to survivors, there were not the required number of life jackets on the ferry.
Only 26 people survived, of which 24 were passengers from Donya Paz and two people from the Vector tanker.
Mass poisoning in Iraq 1971
At the end of 1971, a shipment of grain treated with methylmercury was imported into Iraq from Mexico. Of course, the grain was not intended to be processed into food, and was to be used only for planting. Unfortunately, the local population did not know Spanish, and accordingly all the warning signs that read “Do not eat.”
It should also be noted that the grain was delivered to Iraq late, since the planting season had already passed. All this led to the fact that in some villages grain treated with methylmercury began to be eaten.
After eating this grain, symptoms such as numbness of the limbs, loss of vision, and loss of coordination were observed. As a result of criminal negligence, about one hundred thousand people received mercury poisoning, of whom about six thousand died.
This incident led the World Health Organization to monitor grain circulation more closely and take the labeling of potentially hazardous products more seriously.
Mass destruction of sparrows in China
Despite the fact that we do not include disasters caused by the deliberate actions of people on our list, this case is an exception, since it is caused by banal stupidity and insufficient knowledge of ecology. Nevertheless, this incident fully deserves the title of one of the most terrible disasters in the world.
As part of the “Great Leap Forward” economic policy, a large-scale fight against agricultural pests was carried out, among which the Chinese authorities identified the four most terrible ones - mosquitoes, rats, flies and sparrows.
Employees of the Chinese Research Institute of Zoology calculated that because of sparrows, the amount of grain that could feed about thirty-five million people was lost during the year. Based on this, a plan was developed to exterminate these birds, which was approved by Mao Zedong on March 18, 1958.
All the peasants began to actively hunt birds. Most effective method was to prevent them from falling to the ground. To do this, adults and children shouted, hit basins, waved poles, rags, etc. This made it possible to frighten the sparrows and prevent them from landing on the ground for fifteen minutes. As a result, the birds simply dropped dead.
After a year of hunting sparrows, the harvest really increased. However, later caterpillars, locusts, and other pests that ate the shoots began to actively breed. This led to the fact that after another year, harvests fell sharply, and famine occurred, which led to the death of 10 to 30 million people.
Piper Alpha oil rig disaster
The Piper Alpha platform was built in 1975, and oil production started on it in 1976. Over time, it was converted for gas production. However, on July 6, 1988, a gas leak occurred, which led to an explosion.
Due to indecisive and ill-considered actions of the personnel, 167 people out of 226 on the platform died.
Of course, after this event, oil and gas production on this platform was completely stopped. Insured losses totaled approximately US$3.4 billion. This is one of the most famous disasters in the world associated with the oil industry.
Death of the Aral Sea
This incident is the biggest environmental disaster in the territory of the former Soviet Union. The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake, after the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior in North America, and Lake Victoria in Africa. Now in its place is the Aralkum desert.
The reason for the disappearance of the Aral Sea is the creation of new irrigation canals for agricultural enterprises in Turkmenistan, which took water from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers. Because of this, the lake retreated greatly from the shore, which led to the exposure of the bottom of the covered sea salt, pesticides and chemicals.
Due to natural evaporation of the Aral Sea during the period from 1960 to 2007, the sea lost about a thousand cubic kilometers of water. In 1989, the reservoir split into two parts, and in 2003, the volume of water was about 10% of its original volume.
The result of this incident was serious changes in climate and landscape. In addition, of the 178 species of vertebrate animals that lived in the Aral Sea, only 38 remain;
Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion
The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that occurred on April 20, 2010 is considered one of the largest man-made disasters in terms of its negative impact on the environmental situation. 11 people died directly from the explosion and 17 were injured. Two more people died during the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster.
Due to the fact that the explosion damaged pipes at a depth of 1,500 meters, approximately five million barrels of oil spilled into the sea over 152 days, creating a slick with an area of 75,000 kilometers; in addition, 1,770 kilometers of coastline were polluted.
The oil spill endangered 400 animal species and also led to a fishing ban.
Eruption of Mont Pele volcano
On May 8, 1902, one of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in human history occurred. This incident led to the emergence of a new classification of volcanic eruptions, and changed the attitude of many scientists to volcanology.
The volcano awakened back in April 1902, and within a month, hot vapors and gases, as well as lava, accumulated inside. A month later, a huge grayish cloud burst out at the foot of the volcano. The peculiarity of this eruption is that the lava did not come out from the top, but from side craters that were located on the slopes. As a result of a powerful explosion, one of the main ports of the island of Martinique, the city of Saint-Pierre, was completely destroyed. The disaster claimed the lives of thirty thousand people.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis
This disaster unfolded as follows:
- Cyclone Nargis formed on April 27, 2008, in the Bay of Bengal, and initially moved towards the coast of India, in a northwest direction;
- On April 28, it stops moving, but the wind speed in the spiral vortices began to increase significantly. Because of this, the cyclone began to be classified as a hurricane;
- On April 29, the wind speed reached 160 kilometers per hour, and the cyclone resumed movement, but in a northeast direction;
- On May 1, the wind direction changed to the east, and at the same time the wind was constantly increasing;
- On May 2, the wind speed reached 215 kilometers per hour, and at noon it reached the coast of Myanmar's Ayeyarwaddy Province.
According to the UN, 1.5 million people were injured as a result of the violence, of whom 90 thousand died and 56 thousand were missing. In addition, the major city of Yangon was seriously damaged, and many settlements were completely destroyed. Part of the country was left without telephone communications, internet and electricity. The streets were littered with debris, debris from buildings and trees.
To eliminate the consequences of this disaster, the united forces of many countries of the world and international organizations such as the UN, EU, and UNESCO were needed.
From television screens, from radios, from newspapers, from endless news releases, we learn about tragedies, accidents and all sorts of things. Let's look at the worst disasters in the world.
The worst plane crash
The rating of “The worst plane crashes” is headed by Tenerife. The fatal collision of 2 Boeing-747 aircraft belonging to different companies (Boeing-747-206B - the brainchild of KLM airline, operated the next flight KL4805 and Boeing-747 - property of Pan American, operated flight 1736), happened on 03/27/1977 on the island of the Canary group , Tenerife, on the runway of Los Rodeo airport. Many people died - 583 people on these two planes. What exactly caused such a devastating accident? The paradox is that the superposition of unfavorable circumstances on top of each other played a cruel joke.
On that ill-fated Sunday spring day, Los Rodeos airport was very congested. Both aircraft performed maneuvers on the narrow runway, including complex turns of 135-180 degrees. Interference in radio communications with the controller and between the pilots, poor weather conditions and visibility, misinterpretation of commands by the air traffic controller, the strong Spanish accent of the controller - all this inevitably led to trouble. The Boeing KLM commander did not understand the dispatcher's command to abort takeoff, while the commander of the second Boeing reported that their huge plane was still moving along the runway. Fourteen seconds later, the inevitable collision occurred, the fuselage of the Pan American Boeing was very damaged, gaps formed in some places, and some passengers escaped through them. The Boeing KLM, without a tail and with damaged wings, fell onto the runway 150 meters from the point of collision and drove along the runway for another 300 meters. Both affected aircraft burst into flames.
All 248 people on the Boeing KLM plane were killed. The second plane killed 326 passengers and nine crew members. In this very terrible plane crash The American star of Playboy magazine, actress and model Eve Meyer, also died.
The worst man-made disaster
The most terrible disaster in the entire history of oil production - an explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform, built in 1976. This happened on 07/06/1988. According to experts, this terrible accident cost 3.4 billion US dollars and claimed the lives of 167 people. Piper Alpha is the only burned-out oil production platform on Earth, owned by the American oil company Occidental Petroleum. There was a huge gas leak and, as a result, a colossal explosion. This happened as a result of ill-considered actions of the maintenance personnel - pipelines from the platform fed the general oil pipeline network, the supply of petroleum products was not stopped immediately after the disaster, awaiting the command of higher authorities. Therefore, the fire continued due to the burning of gas and oil in the pipes; the fire even engulfed residential complexes. And those who were able to survive the first explosion found themselves surrounded by flames. Those who jumped into the water were saved.
The worst disaster on the water
If you remember the biggest disasters on the water, you immediately remember the pictures from the film “Titanic”, which is based on real events 1912. But the sinking of the Titanic is not the most big disaster. Greatest maritime disaster- sinking of the German motor ship Wilhelm Gustlow by a Soviet military submarine on January 30, 1945. There were almost 9 thousand people on board the ship: 3,700 of them were people who had completed elite training as military submariners, 3-4 thousand representatives of the military elite who were evacuated from Danzig. The tourist excursion ship was built in 1938. It was, as it seemed, an unsinkable 9-deck ocean liner, designed using the latest technologies of that time.
Dance floors, 2 theaters, swimming pools, church, Gym, restaurants, cafes with a winter garden and climate control, comfortable cabins and personal apartments of Hitler himself. 208 meters long, it could travel halfway around the world without refueling. It couldn't sink a priori. But fate decreed otherwise. Under the command of A.I. Marinesko, the crew of the Soviet submarine S-13 conducted a military operation to destroy the enemy ship. Three fired torpedoes penetrated the Wilhelm Gustlow. It immediately sank in the Baltic Sea. Until now, no one, the whole world, can forget the most terrible disaster.
The biggest environmental disaster
The death of the Aral Sea, which before the drying out began, scientists called the fourth lake by world standards, is considered the most terrible disaster from an environmental point of view. Although the sea is located on the territory former USSR, the disaster affected the whole world. Water was taken from it in uncontrolled quantities to water fields and gardens to ensure the fulfillment of the political ambitions and unreasonable plans of Soviet leaders.
Over time, the shoreline moved so deep into the lake that many species of fish and animals died, more than 60,000 people lost their jobs, shipping stopped, the climate changed and droughts became more frequent.
