We can call some catastrophes accidents in which only a terrible combination of circumstances is to blame. It is worse when grief is due to someone's wrong decision, unprofessionalism, negligence and disregard for their duties.
Our selection includes 10 shocking disasters that were caused by ridiculous human mistakes.
Crash of a passenger airbus at an air show (France)
The decision to hire a passenger airliner for an air show itself is like the plot of a low-quality horror movie. But the organizers of the event thought the idea was brilliant.
A heavy, hulking Airbus A320, completely not designed for air turns, crashed into the forest near the runway at Mulhouse-Habsheim airport (France) on June 26, 1988. During the air show in Habsheim, as planned by the organizers, he had to make a risky maneuver with passengers on board.
Here we can talk about three unforgivable mistakes at once: first, about involving passengers in a stunt; second, an attempt to test security functions by conducting "reconnaissance in force"; and third, the lack of preparation. Three people were killed in the burning debris, many people were injured.
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Vayont Valley accident (Italy)
A dam break is a disaster that can lead to the death of a large number of people. A classic example of a fatal wrong decision was a huge landslide from an unstable mountainous area into a new reservoir at the Vajont Dam (Erto Casso, Italy).
The landslide in 1963 resulted in a rise in the water level to critical levels. More than 1,900 people became victims of a disaster comparable to a tsunami.
The fatal mistake of the builders was that when developing the project of the dam, the peculiarities of the mountainous terrain, for which avalanches are not so rare, were not taken into account at all. The situation was aggravated by the fact that both the company servicing the dam and the government of the country were deaf to the warnings of meteorologists and weather forecasters.
"Queen of the North" went down (Canada)
On March 22, 2006, off the coast of Vancouver, a huge passenger ferry crashed into a rock. Having received a hole, the ship began to sink rapidly. Rescuers managed to catch 99 people from the icy water, two people were pronounced dead.
The ship's navigator, Karl Lilgert, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence and was sentenced to four years in prison. As the investigation established, on the eve of the accident, the man experienced a painful break with his beloved, which prevented him from doing his job in good faith.
Chernobyl (Ukrainian SSR)
The catastrophic explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is the largest disaster in the history of mankind. The atom, which at once ceased to be peaceful, not only claimed thousands of lives, but also crippled thousands of lives. Now, three decades after the accident, the world has never fully recovered from the dire consequences.
What caused this disaster and why did it happen? The answer is criminal negligence, non-observance of safety standards, insufficient professionalism of managers and engineers. Another factor that simply shocks any sane person is attempts to silence the disaster and its scale. The evacuation began only a few days after the explosion.
Japan Airlines plane crash (Japan)
The crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 was the deadliest accident in aviation history, with just one plane. It was a giant Boing 747 that lost control and fell into the mountains in the Fuji region.
The US Air Force, which was conducting exercises nearby, arrived at the crash site within 20 minutes, but were ordered to leave Japanese airspace. After a 14-hour delay, Japanese troops finally reached the crash site. They found only four survivors. Most people died from failure to provide timely assistance. These victims could have been avoided …
Rana Plaza shopping center collapse (Bangladesh)
On April 24, 2013, an eight-story shopping center collapsed in Savar, Bangladesh. The rescue work continued for over two weeks. About 2,500 victims were rescued from the rubble. More than 1,100 people are considered dead. Some unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves.
The cause of the disaster was gross violations during construction. The worst part is that the disaster could have been avoided: signs of structural instability in the building began to show long before the disaster. But the employees who paid attention to them were ordered to remain silent.
Destruction of Sampoong Department Store (South Korea)
On June 29, 1995, one of the largest shopping malls in Seoul, Sampoong department store, killed 502 people.
The huge building was originally designed as a residential building. But owner Lee Joon changed his plans. This resulted in the building's supporting structures being knocked out to make room for the lifts, as well as the addition of a heavy pool floor.
When the builders expressed their disapproval, citing the risks, they were fired and replaced with a more loyal team. Then they used cheap concrete and inadequate amounts of steel support rods to save money. Corruption also played a fatal role: with the help of bribes, the management managed to avoid checks.
The building was visited by 40,000 people a day. When the gas leak occurred, Lee Joon did not close the store. As instability sensors began to work, commodity values were taken to a safe place. The executives left the building, but no one bothered to evacuate the buyers.
Explosion in Halifax (Canada)
The French ship SS Mont Blanc, loaded with an explosive cargo consisting of TNT, picric acid and benzene, left the port of Halifax on December 6, 1917 and crashed into the Norwegian ship SS Imo. The subsequent explosion is the worst in the pre-nuclear history of mankind. Its result is more than 2000 deaths.
Why did the collision happen? The French ship had the right to pass, but the Norwegian ship hastily and carelessly rushed to bypass it.
Ferry crash Bulletin of the Free
Entrepreneurship "(Belgium)
As a result of this disaster, 193 people died. Its cause is so insignificant that it's hard to believe.
The ship died and claimed nearly two hundred lives due to the fact that the doors of the bow compartment were not properly battened down in a rush. The fact that the water taken for ballast was not released back into the sea also played a gloomy role. The stern turned out to be overloaded, despite the fact that there was even half the load on board than the ferry could handle. This is a fatal set of circumstances, but each of them is caused by human error.
Leaving the English Channel on March 6, 1987, the ferry first banked and then began to plunge rapidly.
Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse (USA)
Engineering standards in the United States are quite strict. But one of the worst accidents in the country's history occurred precisely because of their violation.
On July 17, 1981, people gathered for a dance night at the Hyatt Regency Hotel (Kansas City, USA).
The hanging galleries looked festive and pompous, but they could not withstand the load and collapsed along with the people on them. 114 people were killed.
Later, the investigation established that the structures were built without observing any standards.
Author: Natasha Ryseva