7 Worst Peace Time Maritime Accidents
The Associated Press has compiled a list of some of the deadliest maritime accidents in the recent past. The list includes several disasters that took place off American waters.
- The world’s worst peace time shipping accident occurred when a ferry, Dona Paz, collided with a tanker in the Philippines on December 28, 1987. 4,340 people drowned in that accident. The collision caused the tanker’s cargo to catch fire. The flames quickly spread to the ferry, which sank within minutes. Two of the 13 crew members of the tanker survived, while all 58 crew members on the ferry died.
On July 25, 1956, two passenger liners, the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria, collided off the Massachusetts coast. The Andrea Doria sank with 1,706 passengers and crew on the board. 46 people were killed.- On May 29, 1914, a Canadian Pacific steamship, the Empress of Ireland, collided with a Norwegian ship. The steamship sank within minutes. 1,012 people were killed.
- On April 12, 1912, the world’s best known maritime accident took place. The Titanic was then the largest passenger ship in the world. The liner struck an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic. 1,496 people were killed. Crew members and seamen aboard the doomed liner displayed heroism that’s become legend.
- On June 15, 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River in New York. More than 1,000 people were killed.
- On April 27, 1865, a steam drum exploded on a steamboat, Sultana on the Mississippi River. At least 1,700 people were killed.
- On February 3, 2006, a fire aboard a ship headed to the Egyptian port of Safaga killed more than 1,000 people.
- On September 28, 1994, the ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic of sea in stormy conditions. 852 people were killed.
The maritime lawyers at Arnold & Itkin LLP represent workers injured in accidents involving cargo vessels, cruise ships, oil rigs, offshore drilling platforms, towboats, and commercial fishing vessels.
