London: Bethnal Green tube disaster memorial unveiled

A memorial has been unveiled to the 173 people who died in one of London’s deadliest single disasters of World War Two.   

On March 3, 1943, the BBC reported a 300 bomber raid on Berlin, and Londoners braced themselves for retaliation.   As sirens sounded, people headed for the shelters.   Then 500 yards from Bethnal Green tube station (pictured), a new battery of anti-aircraft rocket launchers opened fire.

There was a rush for the steps leading down to the station, and close to the bottom, a woman stumbled.     Others fell over her, and a deadly crush began.    Altogether 173 people were suffocated or crushed to death, including 62 children, and another 100 people were injured.    In fact, no bombs fell on the East End of London that night.

A survivor who was 8 at the time, said at today's ceremony that it was 'fantastic' to see the memorial finally unveiled 73 years after the event. He spent nine months in hospital after suffering injuries to his spleen, legs, neck and arms.

For more, see London's Disasters from Boudicca to the Banking Crisis. 

A fatal stampede in London - 129 years ago today

On this day……129 years ago, a panicked stampede cost the lives of 17 people at the Hebrew Dramatic Club in London’s Spitalfields.

The club had a tradition of putting on ‘benefit’ performances to raise money for members in difficulties, and about 400 people were attending one on 18 January 1887. A group of young men in the gallery tried to get a better view of the show by hauling themselves up on a gas pipe.

The pipe fractured, and as the audience smelt gas, a cry of ‘Fire!’ went up. As the gas was turned off, and the hall plunged into darkness, terrified people ran for the exits, falling over chairs and each other. The staircase from the gallery in particular became packed with a desperate mass of struggling humanity.

16 of the victims, mainly women and children, were crushed to death, while a 70 year old man died of a heart attack trying to rescue his wife. For more details, see London’s Disasters.

Yet another Hajj tragedy

How strange that just as I was writing yesterday’s blog about the crane collapse that killed more than 100 pilgrims in Mecca, an even worse disaster was unfolding at the Hajj, with a stampede killing at least 717.

It happened at the last major rite, when pilgrims throw stones at pillars representing the devil. This event has caused major casualties before – at least 118 died in 1998, and about 250 in 2004.  After the latest accident, the Saudi Arabian king, Salman, has promised a safety review, but already countries who have lost people, such as Nigeria and Iran, are blaming the Saudis.

Iran has been particularly vocal, just as it was after the even more deadly Mecca stampede of 1990 in which more than 1,400 perished in a pedestrian tunnel. The then Saudi king, Fahd, said that those who died had been ‘martyrs’ and the accident ‘God’s will’, though he added that the pilgrims had disobeyed safety instructions. The Saudi health minister has made a similar claim this time.

The deadliest stampede in history may be the one that happened at a huge air raid shelter in the Chinese city of Chungking as Japanese aircraft attacked on 6 June 1941. The shelter’s ventilation system failed, and during an apparent lull in the bombing, hundreds rushed outside for a breath of air. Then the sirens sounded again, leading to a fatal crush that killed perhaps 4,000 as people still trying to get out collided with others frantic to return.

For more, see A Disastrous History of the World.

Another Hajj tragedy

All able-bodied Muslims who can afford it are supposed to go to Mecca during the week of the Hajj at least once in their lives, but this year the event has again been marred by tragedy, as 107 people were killed when a crane collapsed on top of worshippers gathering outside the Grand Mosque.

The crane was operated by the Saudi Binladin Group (some relation – it is run by Osama’s brother). The group has been hired on a 4 year contract worth $27 billion to expand the Grand Mosque.

The accident happened during high winds and heavy rain, and one of the company’s engineers said it was an ‘act of God’, but the Saudi government’s official mouthpiece said the Binladin Group had not ‘respected the rules of safety’, and the company’s directors have been ordered not to leave the country.

At the Hajj in 1990, more than 1,400 pilgrims were killed in a fatal crush in a tunnel. Four years later, at least 270 died in another stampede. A fire in 1997 killed 343, and further stampedes in 2004 and 2006 killed another 580.

Hillsborough - at last the truth?

Nearly 26 years after it claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool football supporters, the police officer in charge on the day has finally admitted the Hillsborough disaster was his fault. David Duckenfield made his admission to new inquests into the deaths.

In fact, Mr Duckenfield made a whole series of admissions, among them: that he had lied about the events of the day, that he was ignorant of the layout of the ground, that he was not equipped to be in command of the operation, and that his response when the fatal crush happened was ‘hopeless’.

But counsel for 22 of the families accused him of making a ‘politician’s apology’, and tried to probe him on why it had taken more than a quarter of a century, noting that as late as March last year, he was still denying responsibility.

Mr Duckenfield and another senior officer were charged with manslaughter in a private prosecution in 2000. The other officer was acquitted, while the jury could not agree on Mr Duckenfield. The judge refused a retrial on the grounds that it would be impossible for it to be fair.

Chile: the world's deadliest fire in a single building - 150th anniversary

On this day............150 years ago, the Chilean capital, Santiago, was the scene of perhaps the world's deadliest fire in a single building.  It happened in the church of La Campania on December 8, 1863 and up to 2,000 people perished.

The building was packed for a religious festival, and was 'hung from roof to floor with floating gauze and rich drapery'. There were also 'innumerable' paraffin lamps. A few, at the foot of a giant statue of the Virgin Mary, set fire to some fabric.

The flames spread through the building in no time and people rushed for the exits.  Women and girls fainted and were trampled to death, and soon the exits were so crammed with bodies that no one could get out.

Melting lead from the roof and burning oil from the lamps fell on the desperate congregation, and finally a huge bell came crashing down. At the time, the city had no organised fire brigade, but the disaster provided the necessary spur.  For the full story, see A Disastrous History of the World.

Fatal crushes and religious festivals

At least 115 people are now known to have died in a stampede at a Hindu religious festival in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Panic broke out on a bridge near the Ratangarh temple, perhaps because of a rumour that it was about to collapse.

Most of the dead were women and children, some crushed, other who jumped into the river below. Hundreds of thousands had gathered for the festival of Navratra. The narrow bridge, which is about 550 yards long, had only recently been rebuilt following another stampede in 2006 that killed more than 50 people.

Stampedes often happen at Indian religious festivals. In 2008, more than 220 people were killed at the Chamunda Devi Hindu temple, while in 2011 more than 100 died in the southern state of Kerala.

The Muslim Hajj to Mecca has also seen a number of fatal crushes. In 1990, more than 1,400 died in a fearsomely hot tunnel after a few people had fallen. Four years later, at least 270 pilgrims died in another stampede, while in 2001, 244 people were killed at the traditional ceremony where stones are thrown at the devil, and 345 more perished at the same event in 2006.

(See also my blogs of November 23, 2010 and August 31, 2011.)

Disastrous start to New Year

A Happy New Year to all readers.    Sadly, 2013 got off to a very unhappy start in the Ivory Coast’s biggest city, Abidjan, where 64 people were killed at a fireworks party at the national football stadium.   Another 49 were injured.

According to reports, a deadly crush developed at about one o’ clock in the morning when one group of partygoers tried to leave the event just as crowds of others were arriving.   At least 28 of those killed are said to have been under 15.

The authorities have said that 5,000 extra security personnel had been drafted in, as many people went along to the event to celebrate what they saw as the country’s return to peace following months of violence after a disputed election in 2010.

The government has announced an inquiry, while the opposition has called on the Interior Minister to resign.   About 20 people were killed in a stampede at an international football match at the same stadium in 2009.   (See my blog of March 30, 2009.)

*My book Disaster! has just been published in paperback in the USA - http://www.amazon.com/Disaster-History-Earthquakes-Plagues-Catastrophes/dp/1620871815/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356715794&sr=1-2&keywords=disaster+withington

Baghdad bridge disaster anniversary

In the week when it was revealed that back in 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair secretly promised President Bush that Britain would join in the bombing and invasion of Iraq in defiance of the United Nations, a sombre reminder of the chaos the deadly duo left behind.

On this day, six years ago, a million Shi’ite pilgrims had thronged to a holy site in Baghdad.  The atmosphere was tense after a number of attacks by Sunni extremists.   When rumours of a suicide bomber began to spread through the crowd, people fled to the Al-Aaimmah Bridge to try to escape.

Soon there was a dreadful crush, with pilgrims being suffocated and trampled to death.   Railings gave way, and many people fell into the River Tigris below, while others jumped to escape the crush.   One Sunni  drowned from exhaustion after rescuing a number of people from the waters, but altogether up to 1,000 people died.

A Sunni group with links to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for one of the earlier attacks that had helped cause the panic, but the government claimed the stampede had simply been a dreadful accident.

The letter that reveals Blair’s secret promise to Bush:-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/29/tony-blair-iraq-un-resolution

The madness of crowds

At least 378 people have been killed, and more than 750 injured in a stampede at the end of a festival in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. A bridge across the Bassac river got overcrowded, and people panicked and began pushing from both ends.

More than two million people had been attending the festival, and the crush followed two of the highlights – a concert and a boat race. People were pushed to the ground and trampled. Some jumped in the river, while others climbed up and grabbed electric cables and got electrocuted. Many of the victims are believed to have been teenagers.

Fatal crushes have happened in many places, such as the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where a late goal by Spartak Moscow in a UEFA Cup match with HFC Haarlem in 1982 caused some fans who had decided to leave to try and turn back. On an icy staircase, chaos ensued, and up to 340 people were killed.

At the Hajj in Mecca in 1990, a crush developed in a tunnel , and more than 1,400 pilgrims were killed, while perhaps the worst of all happened in an air raid shelter in Chungking in 1941. During a Japanese raid, the ventilation system broke down, so while there seemed to be a lull, many people slipped outside for a breath of fresh air. At that moment, the alarm sounded again, and up to 4,000 people were killed in the panic.

Fatal crushes and stampedes

At least five people have been crushed to death after the sound of gunfire caused a stampede at a concert in Monterrey, northern Mexico. The city has recently been the scene of violent clashes between rival drugs gangs.

One of the worst ever fatal crushes came at Chungking in China during World War Two. The authorities had built one of the biggest air raid shelters in the world, capable of holding about 30,000.

On June 6, 1941, the Japanese bombed the city for about three hours, and during the raid the shelter’s ventilation system broke down. So while there was an apparent lull in the attack, hundreds of shelterers decided to nip outside for a breath of fresh air.

But almost immediately, the alarm sounded, so people outside tried to force their way down, causing a deadly chaotic crush in which up to 4,000 people perished. For more fatal crushes, see A Disastrous History of the World. (See also my blogs of Jan 18 and March 30, 2009)

Ibrox 1971

On this day….39 years ago, two goals in the last couple of minutes of the traditional New Year Glasgow football derby between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Park precipitated a disaster. Crowds drifting away early suddenly turned and tried to go back into the ground.

The result was a terrible crush on Staircase 13 in the north-east corner of the stadium. As fans began falling, one eyewitness said it was as though people were “disappearing down a big hole.” People in the crush talked about being literally swept off their feet and carried along until there was a big bang and one of the banisters gave way.

Soon the steps were covered with the bodies of the dead and injured and with shoes and items of clothing torn off in the melee. Altogether 66 people were killed in what was then the worst disaster at a British football ground. Today there is a memorial at the ground and you can read the full story of the disaster in A Disastrous History of Britain.

Probably the worst football disaster of all time came at the Olympic qualifying tie of May 24, 1964 between Peru and Argentina in Lima. More than 300 people were killed when a riot broke out after Peru had a “goal” disallowed. See also my 2009 blogs of January 13 and March 30.