10 Infamous Real-Life Train Disasters
#10: El Ayyat Railway Accident (2002)
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An accident shrouded in secrecy and false reports, the El Ayyat rail disaster has a death toll that many still consider to be a vast understatement. While traveling from Cairo to Luxor, a cooking gas cylinder on the overcrowded passenger train exploded. Seven of the rear carriages went up in flames, burning for over two hours before the conductor of the train became aware of the blaze. Because of the intensity and the amount of time the fire was allowed to burn, many bodies were reduced to ash and unable to be identified. Though the reported death toll was 383, a missing passenger list and overcrowded train cars have led others to believe that a number closer to 1,000 deaths is more accurate.
#9: Awash Rail Disaster (1985)
Sadly, it seems like the express train involved in this derailment was already tempting fate before it reached its watery grave. If reports are to be believed, the Ethiopian train was massively overcrowded on January 13th, 1985. Traveling from the eastern city of Dire Dawa (deer duh-WAH) to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa (addis ah-buuh-BAH) via the Ethio-Djibouti Railway, the alleged 1000-strong passenger train ran off its rails while it was passing over the Awash River. While on the curving bridge over the gorge, the rear carriage, followed by 3 other of the train’s carriages, derailed and sent everyone into the water. With the official death toll stated at 428, and over 500 more injuries reported, this was and continues to be the most fatal train crash Africa has ever seen.
#8: Balvano Train Disaster (1944)
Italy’s deadliest railway accident occurred between March 2-3rd, 1944 during World War II. Many big city residents were trading food for goods and services at the time, but could only get farm-fresh produce by illegally hitching rides on freight trains. Beginning in Naples, coal-burning freight train 8017 made multiple stops on its way to Potenza (poh-TEN-sah), but the number of stowaways it was carrying was too much for it to bear. After departing the Balvano-Ricigliano (ree-chee-LYAH-noh) station, the train’s wheels had difficulty entering the Armi tunnel and eventually slowed so that most of the train was stopped inside. The failed attempts to get it going again, combined with the carbon monoxide smoke from a previous one, led to much of the staff and the passengers - over 517 people - to be fatally poisoned.
#7: Ufa Train Disaster (1989)
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This is the rail disaster with the most casualties to have ever happened during peacetime in the Soviet Union/Russia. Despite being named after Bashkir ASSR’s largest city, the railway accident took place in Iglinsky (ee-GLIN-skee) District, which is over 30 miles east of UFA. During the early morning of June 4th, 1989, two Kuybyshev (kooy-buh-SHOFF) Railway passenger trains exploded following a gas pipeline leak. Carrying both adults and children, they were traveling in different directions between Novosibirsk (novo-see-BEERSK) and Adler (ODD-lare) when a gas cloud was set alight by the trains’ wheel sparks, triggering an explosion with an energy output guessed to be as high as 10 kilotons TNT equivalent. Officially, 575 died, while unofficially, it’s 780 - most in hospital. Meanwhile, more than 800 sustained injuries.
#6: Guadalajara Train Disaster (1915)
At the height of the Mexican Revolution, rebel leader Venustiano Carranza (veh-noos-TYANNO cah-RAN-zah) earned a strategic victory at the city of Guadalajara. Families of rebel troops were immediately piled onto a train to be moved to the city, overcrowding to the point that travelers were holding on from the outside and underside of the carriages. On the way to Guadalajara, navigating a series of steep curves, the train’s brakes failed and the carriages began to gather speed, throwing some of the unsecured passengers to their deaths. The journey ended with the train derailing, going off the tracks and into a canyon, with the estimated death toll recorded at over 600.
#5: Vereshchyovka Train Disaster (1944)
The ongoing Second World War often meant a lack of time, manpower and supplies, all of which probably contributed to what was Russia’s most fatal train disaster. A few hours after a heavy freight train pushed a wooden bridge close to its limits on January 24th, 1944, a Vyazma–Bryansk (VYEZZ-muh bree-AWNSK) train crossed the same temporary structure over a newish lake in the then-Soviet Union’s federal subject of Oryol Oblast (awrry-YOLE OH-blisst). With both soldiers and civilians onboard, the passenger train was traveling through what’s now Russia’s Dyatkovsky (DYET-kawv-skee) District when the engineer-built bridge’s supports broke open. Unfortunately, the frozen lake underneath couldn’t hold the load of the approximately 600-700 passengers that fell onto it, and cracked with the weight. An official death toll was never made public.
#4: Bihar Train Derailment (1981)
While traveling to the Indian city of Saharsa (sah-har-SAH), a passenger train carrying over 800 people derailed while crossing a bridge over the Bagmati (bagma-TEE) River. With the strong currents, many of the bodies were never recovered, assumed to be washed away by the river. Curiously, the official cause of the derailment of the passenger train in Bihar has never been settled upon. Guesses include that the train was blown off the tracks by a cyclone, flash flooding destabilized the bridge, or even that the brakes failed as the railroad engineer attempted to avoid hitting a water buffalo. With an estimated 500-800 deaths, the Bihar train disaster is one of the deadliest on record.
#3: Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne Derailment (1917)
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Over 1,000 French soldiers were granted leave from the Italian front during WWI to visit home for Christmas 1917. Not enough trains were available to provide safe transport, so 19 carriages were hitched to a single engine and the train overcrowded with desperate troops. Though the engineer initially refused to undertake the journey due to obvious safety concerns, a French officer reportedly threatened him at gunpoint until he was forced to relent. On a steep descent, the brakes failed due to the heavy load, with the first few carriages derailing and causing a pileup and fire. Because of the flames, many of the over 700 bodies could not be identified - with the accident itself kept classified by the French military for years.
#2: Ciurea Rail Disaster [aka Ciurea Catastrophe] (1917)
Due to the fact that there was never any official investigation, this remains one of the more mysterious rail accidents ever recorded. After entering a downward slope, the passenger train dubbed “the Courier” experienced brake failure, derailing as it hit speeds of 59mph and crashing into another stopped locomotive. One of the carriages of the stopped train was speculated to contain fuel, sparking a fire that engulfed the Courier and the engine it had hit, with most casualties coming as a result of the fire or the initial impact. With few newspapers reporting and no actual investigation launched, the details of the crash remain fuzzy and speculative, with the estimated death toll at 800-1,000 lives lost. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. St-Hilaire Train Disaster (1864) Deaths: 99 Torre del Bierzo Rail Disaster (1944) Deaths: 78-100 Firozabad Rail Disaster (1995) Deaths: 358 Nishapur Train Disaster (2004) Deaths: 295 Chengdu–Kunming Rail Crash (1981) Deaths: 240-360
#1: Sri Lanka Tsunami Train Wreck (2004)
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The deadliest rail disaster in recorded history, the loss of the Queen of the Sea resulted in over 900 official casualties, with an estimated 1,700 lives lost in total. During the 2004 tsunami that rocked Sri Lanka, the Queen of the Sea train departed from Ambalangoda (awm-buh-LAN-go-DUH) and could not be reached by emergency personnel with warnings to stop. As waves crashed inland, the train was stopped on the tracks, surrounded by water. Seeking refuge and assuming the train to be secure, many locals crowded and clung to the carriage, with water levels rising and flooding the interior of the train, preventing doors from being opened. Most of the casualties came as a result of drowning or being thrown from the carriage and crushed by debris.
