On this day: the sinking of the SS Admiral Nakhimov

On the 31st of August, 1986 Soviet passenger liner the SS Admiral Nakhimov collided with another ship and sank in the Black Sea. 423 of the 1234 people on board, most of them Ukrainian, were killed.

The Nakhimov began its life as a German hospital ship in World War Two, and was later remodelled by the Soviets.

The ship sank so fast that there was no time to release the lifeboats, which resulted in such severe casualties.

The communist officials did not allow the disaster to be reported for forty-eight hours.

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On this day: The Astley Deep Pit Disaster in 1874

On the 14^th of April, 1874, a roof collapse at the Astley Deep Pit in Dukinfield in Cheshire, England, set off a chain of events that led to the deaths of fifty-four men and boys.

The resulting fire burnt for days afterwards.

 Illustration of the Astley deep pit from the Illustrated London News. 25th June, 1874.

On this day: The King’s Cross fire in 1987

On the 18th of November, 1987 at approximately 19:30 a fire broke out at London’s King’s Cross St. Pancras tube station. Thirty-one people died and another one hundred were injured.

Many Londoners defied the Underground’s smoking ban, with many lighting up before leaving the station. It was eventually concluded the fire was sparked by one of the many matches thrown down the wooden escalators leading out of the station.

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On this day: the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train disaster

At 2:53am on the 22^nd of September, 1993, the worst crash in Amtrak history happened on a bridge in Alabama.

Eight minutes earlier heavy barges had collided with the bridge, causing a deformation of the train tracks.

The train was running late, as it had been held in New Orleans for some repair work. Had it not been, it would have passed over the bridge twenty minutes before the damage occurred.

47 people were killed in the wreck, with another 103 injured.