List of transportation fires explained

This is a list of transportation fires where a ship or other transportation has caught on fire.

List of transportation fires

Ship fires

See also: List of maritime disasters.

• 1800British warship — 673 deaths
• 1807The slave ship — some 100 deaths
• 1840Steamship Lexington in Long Island Sound — 139 deaths
• 1850Sailing ship in the Indian Ocean – no deaths
• 1865Sultana on the Mississippi River, near Memphis, Tennessee — 1,547 deaths
• 1893Cargo ship in Santander, Spain — 590 deaths
• 1904Steamship General Slocum in New York City — 1,021 deaths
• 1906 fire in Hong Kong — 130+ deaths (14 October)^[1]
• 1908 in Malta — at least 118 deaths^{[2] [3]}
• 1913 burned at sea, later scuttled — 135 deaths
• 1917Munitions ship Mont-Blanc burned, drifted and detonated in the Halifax Explosion — roughly 2,000 deaths
• 1924City of Singapore at Port Adelaide — 3 deaths, 13 injured
• 1934 off Asbury Park, New Jersey — 137 deaths, ship gutted and beached
• 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor, sinking and several other ships; extensive fires generated aboard and around ships
• 1942 in New York City, ship capsized and sank at pier
• 1944Bombay Explosion (1944) — Fort Stikine docked in Bombay, India underwent a fire which caused two explosions and set fire to the area killing around 800 people
• 1944Port Chicago disaster — E. A. Bryan docked in Port Chicago, California underwent massive explosions and fire while munitions were loaded. 320 people were killed and 390 were injured.
• 1947Texas City disaster — two ships' cargoes of ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded, killing 581, more than 5,000 injured.
• 1947 in Hong Kong — 200 deaths^[4]
• 1949 in Toronto, Ontario Canada — 118 to 139 deaths
• 1958 – Artemis - after collision at Hoek van Holland, port of Rotterdam
• 1963 near Madeira burned — 128 deaths
• 1965 near Nassau, Bahamas — 90 deaths
• 1965Orient Trader in Toronto, Ontario, Canada — no deaths or injuries. Was towed from pier into harbour and totally destroyed by fire.^[5]
• 1967 in the Gulf of Tonkin — 134 deaths.
• 1972 — Collided at Río de la Plata with Tien Chee, a tanker carrying 20 000 tons of crude oil. – 83 deaths
• 1972 in Hong Kong, ship sank in harbour^[6]
• 1980, capsized and burned for three days
• 1985 off the Malabar coast of India — 34 deaths.^[7]
• 1987Doña Paz in the Philippines — an estimated 4,000 deaths
• 1989 Princess of Scandinavia, fire broke out on board during a crossing to Harwich
• 1990 off Norway — 159 deaths
• 1991Moby Prince disaster in Livorno, Italy. 140 killed.
• 1994 near Somalia
• 2001 in Allanburg, Ontario, Canada — Bridge lowered on the ship, this tore off the wheelhouse and funnel and caused a fire that burned out the aft cabins and engine room. No deaths.
• 2006 in the Caribbean — one death
• 2007Cutty Sark, 19th-century clipper in dry dock as a museum ship in Greenwich, London, extensively damaged while undergoing restoration on May 21
• 2011, Norwegian cruise ship, September 15, two deaths^{[8] [9]}
• 2014 in Strait of Otranto, Greece — 12 deaths confirmed (including two rescue crew members who died indirectly), 18 others believed dead.
• 2019MV Conception, dive boat in California's Channel Islands – 34 deaths.
• 2020 about 65km (40miles) east of Sri Lanka in the Sangaman Kanda Point - 1 death
• 2021MV X-Press Pearl anchored off Colombo Port in Sri Lanka
• 2022 Superyacht Princess in Torquay, sank in harbour^[10]
• 2023 – Port Newark disaster, cargo ship catches fire in Newark, New Jersey — 2 firefighters killed.
• 2023 – MV Fremantle Highway caught fire off the coast of the Dutch island of Ameland around 11.45 pm (CET) on 25 July 2023 while en route from Bremerhaven, Germany, due to arrive in Egypt's Port Said on 2 August 2023.

Train and rail fires

• 1866Welwyn Tunnel rail crash in Hertfordshire, England causes a major fire in the tunnel, killing 2 on June 9^[11]
• 1903Paris Métro train fire kills 84
• 1910Hawes Junction rail crash in Cumbria, England kills 12 chiefly through fire on December 24^[12]
• 1913Ais Gill rail crash in Cumbria, England kills 14 chiefly through fire on September 1^[13]
• 1915Quintinshill rail crash in Scotland kills 227 chiefly through fire on May 22^[14]
• 1915St Bedes Junction rail crash near Jarrow, England, kills 19 chiefly through fire on December 17^[15]
• 1928Charfield railway disaster in Gloucestershire, England kills 16 chiefly through fire on October 13^[16]
• 1939 Three freight cars loaded with explosives caught fire at Peñaranda de Bracamonte station, on the railway from Ávila to Salamanca. Cars exploded and the explosion extend to a store in which had 319 tonnes of aircraft bombs that exploded too. Almost 100 killed and 1500 injured, on July 9.
• 1944An accident with a mail train travelling from Madrid to la Coruña and Vigo in a tunnel in Torre del Bierzo, near León, Spain. 100 killed on January 3.
• 1951Sakuragicho commuter train fire, Yokohama, Japan, 106 killed on April 24
• 1964New York City Subway fire at Grand Central Station, which started on an automated shuttle train and destroyed several subway cars, some platforms, and station support beams on April 21.
• 1965A mail train from Madrid to Barcelona caught fire in Grisén, near Zaragoza, Spain. 34 killed and 33 injured on February 10.
• 1972Hokuriku railroad tunnel fire in Tsuruga, Japan, 31 killed and 637 injured
• 1974New York City Subway fire at the BMT's Metropolitan Avenue Station of the Myrtle Avenue Line in Middle Village, Queens NY 11379, resulting in the complete destruction of the station's entire wooden island platform, destroying R27's 8202–03, 8237, R30 # 8512 in the process, with partial fire damage to R32 # 3659 as well on July 16.
• 1974Magude train disaster on March 27 in Magude, Portuguese Mozambique, 70 killed and 200 injured
• 1978Taunton train fire on British Rail kills 12 on July 6
• 1984Summit tunnel fire in West Yorkshire, England
• 1987King's Cross Underground Station fire, London, England, 31 killed, 100 injured on November 18
• 19951995 Baku Metro fire kills over 200
• 1996Channel Tunnel fire between France and the United Kingdom on November 18
• 1998Yaoundé train explosion fuel train explosion, kills 120 people
• 2000Kaprun disaster, Austrian funicular train fire, kills 155 people
• 2001Fairview DART Depot fire, 2 trains scrapped
• 2002Al Ayatt train disaster, Egypt
• 2002The Godhra train burning at Godhra, Gujarat, India took place which left 59 people dead leading to the 2002 Gujarat violence
• 2003Daegu subway fire in Daegu (South Korea) Train fire caused by arson killed at least 198 people and injured at least 147
• 2003Ladhowal train fire, India
• 2008Channel Tunnel fire, between France and the United Kingdom.
• 2012Nellore train fire kills 32 passengers on the Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, India
• 2013Lac-Mégantic rail disaster kills 47 when an unattended 74-car freight train carrying crude oil rolled downhill and derailed. More than 30 buildings in the town's centre, roughly half of the downtown area, were destroyed.
• 2014Several tanker cars carrying crude oil caught fire along the James River in Lynchburg, Virginia.^{[17] [18]}
• 2015 L'Enfant Plaza smoke incident, one dead and 84 injured on a Washington, DC Metro train
• 2015 Valhalla train crash, six killed after train collides with car at grade crossing
• 2017 MTR fire, the suspect was killed months later after setting fire on an MTR train
• 2019 Tezgam train fire, 74 killed in Rahim Yar Khan District, Panjab province, Pakistan
• 2020 2020 New York City Subway fire kills the train's motorman and injures 16^{[19] [20]}

Bus fires

• 1929Fire in a bus in Villafranca de Córdoba, Spain. 14 killed, on September 10.
• 1966AEC Routemaster RM1768 catches fire at Marble Arch, London on July 30; all the passengers, along with the driver and conductor, escape without injury. The cause was an overheated flywheel^[21]
• 1988Carrollton, Kentucky, bus collision—27 deaths on May 14, one of the deadliest bus disasters in US history
• 19921992 Taoyuan County tour bus fire (健康幼稚園火燒車事件) – one bus carrying 50 kindergarten students, teachers, and parents caught fire at Taoyuan City (now Taoyuan District) on their way to the Leofoo Amusement Park, killing 23 and injuring 9
• 1996 A bus caught fire after crash into a car near Bailén, Spain, killing 29, on February 28.
• 1997Bus fire, Guangdong, China – bus caught fire on expressway, killing 39 passengers.
• 2003 (尊龍客運高速公路火燒車事故)—A charter bus caught fire at Taipei County killing 6 and injuring 4
• 2005On September 23, a bus caught fire in Wilmer, Texas while evacuating nursing home residents from incoming Hurricane Rita.^[22]
• 2007Comilla bus caught fire in Bangladesh, at least fifty-five killed on January 6.
• 2008Lower Saxony: A bus caught fire due to a technical malfunction on the A2 Autobahn (Expressway) near Garbsen in Germany, 20 killed on November 4^[23]
• 2008Boromo bus caught fire in Balé Province, Burkina Faso, sixty-seven killed on November 15
• 2008Firozabad bus caught fire in Uttar Pradesh, India, killing sixty-three on December 9.
• 2009Chengdu bus fire, a mass murder–suicide attack Chengdu, Sichuan, China, results in 27 deaths on June 5
• 2010During the Mount Carmel forest fire, a bus that was transporting prison guards was caught up in a wildfire as they made their way to evacuate a nearby prison, resulting in the death of 40 guards as flames overwhelmed the bus^[24]
• 2011Xinyang bus fire kills at least 41 people in Xinyang, Henan, China, on 22 July.
• 2013A bus fire in Xiamen, China, believed to be an act of arson, killed 47 and injured 30.^[25]
• 2013Volvo bus fire killed 45 Hyderabad-Bengaluru Highway in India.^[26]
• 2014Colombia bus fire killed 32 children who had just attended a church service in the city of Fundación 18 May 2014.^[27]
• 2014Six people died and dozens were injured in a bus terminal fire near Seoul, South Korea on 26 May 2014.^[28]
• 2016Taoyuan City coach fire killing 24 Mainland Chinese tourists with its Taiwanese driver and tour guide.^[29]
• 2016 New York State Adirondack Trailways bus destroyed by brake fire.
• 2018 52 passengers died in 2018 Kazakhstan bus fire, all Uzbek migrants travelling to Russia.
• 2024 25 passengers died in 2024 Lam Luk Ka bus crash, school bus fire in Pathum Thani, Thailand.

Road fires

• 1982Salang tunnel fire kills between 150 and 3,000 people in Afghanistan's only road tunnel
• 1982Caldecott Tunnel fire kills six and severely damages major road tunnel in Oakland, California
• 1991 Multiple collision of 25 vehicles due to fog in A-8 Highway from Bilbao to Behobia near Amorebieta, Spain. Several vehicles caught fire, killing 18, on December, 6.
• 19991999 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire—39 deaths, caused by the cargo of a transport truck catching fire while in the tunnel

Tanker truck fires and explosions

• 1973Kingman Explosion, propane tanker BLEVE incident kills 13, injures 107.^[30]
• 1978Los Alfaques disaster kills 217 on a campsite near Tarragona, in Spain on July 11.
• 19901990 Bangkok gas explosion caused 88 deaths.
• 2000Ibadan tanker truck explosion multiple car pile-up explodes 100–200 killed.
• 20092009 Kenyan oil spill ignition resulted in the deaths of at least 111 people and infliction of gruesome injuries to countless hundreds more on 31 January, following a road accident in Molo, Kenya.
• 2010Catastrophe of Sange in the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused at least 230 deaths and 196 injured.
• 2012Okobie road tanker explosion in Nigeria killed at least 95 people and injured 50 others.
• 2012Chala LPG tanker disaster in Kerala, India, 21 fatalities.
• 2016Caphiridzange explosion in Mozambique resulted in 80 deaths.
• 2017Bahawalpur explosion in Pakistan killed 219 people.
• 20182018 Borgo Panigale explosion, a road tanker BLEVE that killed 2 and injured 145 in Bologna, Italy.
• 2021Cap-Haïtien fuel tanker explosion in Haiti killed at least 75 people.

Other fires

• 1916Black Tom explosion (fires led to the explosion)
• 1937Hindenburg disaster near Lakehurst, New Jersey
• 1955Le Mans 24 hour race disaster, Le Mans, France, over 80 killed on June 11
• 1967Apollo 1 burned during ground tests at Cape Canaveral January 27, 3 astronauts died
• 1980Saudia Flight 163 A plane catches fire and is destroyed after landing, killing all on board

See also

• List of fires

Bibliography

• Marshall, Prince. Wheels of London; The story of London's street transport. The Sunday Times Magazine, 1972. .
• Rolt, L.T.C. Red for Danger. Pan. 1966 ed. .

Notes and References

1. Web site: SS Hankow gutted by fire after a typhoon. Hankow, a Hong Kong paddle steamer, pictured in harbour shortly after a fire gutted her interior, claiming 100 lives. Related photographs suggest the boat may have been one of many vessels affected by a devastating typhoon that struck Hong Kong on 18 September. Hong Kong, China, circa 14 October 1906., Hong Kong, China, People's Republic of, Eastern Asia, Asia . SuperStock . 1906-10-14 . 2013-09-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121115190803/http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/1899-28535 . 15 November 2012 . dead .
2. Web site: Gulf of Corcovado . Tyne Built Ships . https://web.archive.org/web/20190708121648/http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/G-Ships/gulfofcorcovado1888.html . 8 July 2019.
3. News: The Tragic end of the 'Maltese Titanic' . . 7 October 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200118021148/https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2012-10-07/news/the-tragic-end-of-the-maltese-titanic-317022/ . 18 January 2020.
4. Web site: Weathering the Storm . 2017-03-31.
5. Web site: Photo of Vessel Orient Trade . 2024-07-27 . stevebriggs.netfirms.com.
6. News: Black days in HK's history . The Standard . 1997-01-26 . Hong Kong . May . Fung . Sanna . So . 2011-11-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140326092309/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=26146&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=19970126&sear_year=1997 . 2014-03-26.
7. News: NOSTALGIC account on Big Indian ocean liners called at Penang . July 2, 2012.
8. Web site: Fatal Fire on Cruise Ship MS NORDLYS | MaritimeMatters | Cruise ship news and ocean liner history . MaritimeMatters . 2011-09-15 . 2013-09-16.
9. Web site: Dramatic Video: Raging fire kills 2 on Norwegian cruise ship . YouTube . 2011-09-15 . 2013-09-16.
10. Web site: Superyacht sinks in Torquay harbour after large fire . BBC News . 28 May 2022 . 29 May 2022.
11. Rolt, p. 51.
12. Rolt, pp. 200-204.
13. Rolt, pp. 233-238.
14. Rolt, pp. 207-213.
15. Rolt, pp. 213-214.
16. Rolt, pp. 243-248.
17. News: Train catches fire in Lynchburg, Va., derailment. Sandler. Eric. 30 April 2014. Fox News. 14 September 2019. Associated Press.
18. News: Oil Train Derails and Catches Fire in Lynchburg, Virginia. Riordan Seville. Lisa. 30 April 2014. NBC News. 14 September 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170416144450/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/oil-train-derails-catches-fire-lynchburg-virginia-n93916. 16 April 2017.
19. Web site: Hero MTA train operator dies trying to evacuate commuters from Harlem subway fire, at least nine others hospitalized. Tracy. Thomas. nydailynews.com. 27 March 2020 . 2020-03-27.
20. Web site: 'Hero' Train Conductor Dead, 16 Hurt in NYC Subway Fire; Blaze Probed as Suspicious: Officials. NBC New York. 27 March 2020 . en-US. 2020-03-27.
21. Marshall, pp. 110-111.
22. NTSB Determines Cause of Bus Fire in Texas that Killed 23 during Hurricane Rita Evacuation. 21 February 2007. National Transportation Safety Board. 4 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20170518154632/https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB%20Determines%20Cause%20of%20Bus%20Fire%20in%20Texas%20that%20Killed%2023%20during%20Hurricane%20Rita%20Evacuation.aspx. 18 May 2017. live.
23. Web site: Morchner . Tobias . 2 November 2018 . Zehn Jahre nach Busbrand: Unglück beschäftigt Busfirma noch heute . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221218210053/https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/zehn-jahre-nach-busbrand-unglueck-beschaeftigt-busfirma-noch-heute-T5MJY2B4UPR6HYCV2D7YUMBAPA.html . 18 December 2022 . 18 December 2022 . . German.
24. News: 40 prison guards dead after bus engulfed in fire. Lappin. Yaakov. 12 February 2010. The Jerusalem Post. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20140315042505/http://www.jpost.com/National-News/40-prison-guards-dead-after-bus-engulfed-in-fire. 15 March 2014. 16 September 2013.
25. News: China bus fire kills 47. 8 June 2013. The Guardian. 8 June 2013. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190329103228/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/08/china-bus-fire-kills-47. 29 March 2019. Associated Press.
26. News: 45 killed as bus goes up in flames on Hyderabad-Bangalore highway. Sreenivasulu. D.. 30 October 2013. The Hindu. 4 September 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171021101248/http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/45-killed-as-bus-goes-up-in-flames-on-hyderabadbangalore-highway/article5287797.ece. 21 October 2017.
27. News: Colombia school bus catches fire, dozens of children killed. 20 May 2014. Herald Globe. https://web.archive.org/web/20140520221153/http://www.heraldglobe.com/index.php/sid/222128741/scat/2411cd3571b4f088/ht/Colombia-school-bus-catches-fire-dozens-of-children-killed. 20 May 2014. dead.
28. News: Fire in South Korea bus terminal leaves six dead. 26 May 2014. Seoul News.Net.
29. News: Breaking: 26 dead in tour bus blaze. 19 July 2016. The China Post. 23 November 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160720180003/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taoyuan/2016/07/19/472723/Breaking-26.htm. 20 July 2016. Associated Press.
30. Web site: The Disaster Story . 6 January 2014 . Kingman Arizona Historic District . All About Kingman LLC.