Transportation Accidents, Natural Disasters Mar 1999

Here is a chronology of the worst disasters, natural and man-made, in 1999: o Jan 25 - A powerful earthquake rips through Colombia's central coffee-growing region killing at least 1,170 people. It measures 6.3 on the Richter scale. o Feb 6 - More than 300 people missing after an Indonesian ferry sinks near Tambelan islands 800 km (500 miles) north of Jakarta. o Feb 23-24 - Avalanches in the Austrian ski resort of Galtuer kill 38 people. o Feb 24 - All 61 people aboard a Chinese Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154 airliner are killed when the plane crashes in eastern China after a mid-air explosion. o Mar 22 - At least 150 people drown at sea off Sierra Leone when an overloaded motorized canoe capsizes off the town of Tasso. o Mar 25 - Forty people are killed in a fire that traps at least 30 vehicles in the tunnel under Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain. o May 3 - More than 70 tornadoes rake Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Tennessee, killing 54. o May 20 - A tropical cyclone hits southern Pakistan killing at least 127 people and leaving about 1,200 missing. o May 30 - At least 52 people are crushed to death when hundreds of fans at a rock concert rush into an underground railway station to escape a storm in the Belarussian capital Minsk. o Jul 1 - A French cable car taking staff to an international Alpine observatory falls 260 ft. (80 m), killing 20. o Jul 27 - In Switzerland 21 people are killed on a thrill-seeking "canyoning" expedition near the resort of Interlaken. o Aug 2 - Two crowded trains collide head-on at a railway station in eastern India, killing 286 people. o Aug 2-7 - The worst rains in decades slice across the Philippines, the Korean peninsula, Vietnam and China, killing almost 1,000 people. o Aug 17 - An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale strikes Turkey's northwestern city of Izmit, some 90 km (55 miles) east of Istanbul, killing at least 17,110. o Aug 31 - An Argentine Boeing 737 from private airline LAPA crashes on take-off from an airport near Buenos Aires' city center, killing at least 71. o Sept 7 - An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale strikes the Greek capital Athens killing at least 139 people. o Sept 16 - Hurricane Floyd strikes the eastern United States, killing at least 48 people and causing widespread power outages and flooding from Florida to New England. o Sept 21 - A major earthquake strikes Taiwan, killing 2,321 people. The quake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale. o Sept 30 - In Japan, at least 69 people are exposed to radiation at a uranium reprocessing plant in Tokaimura. o Oct 5 - Two trains collide outside London's Paddington station, killing 31 people. o Oct 29 - In India, a "super-cyclone" slams into northeast state of Orissa. At least 9,885 are killed. o Oct 31 - A Cairo-bound EgyptAir Boeing 767 crashes 60 miles (96 km) off Massachusetts killing all 217 aboard. o Nov 11 - A six-story apartment block collapses in Italy in the town of Foggia, killing at least 62. o Nov 12 - An earthquake strikes Turkey's province of Bolu killing at least 749 people. Tremor measured 7.2 on the Richter scale. o Nov 25 - At least 280 people die when the car ferry Dashun founders and breaks up in stormy waters off the port city of Yantai on the Shandong peninsula in the east coast of China. o Dec 8 - A four-story apartment building collapses in Morocco's ancient city of Fes, killing 47 people. o Dec 15-16 - In Venezuela huge mudslides and floods after a week of rain kill at least 30,000 and make thousands homeless.