Disasters

  • 1915: Quintinshill rail disaster kills more than 200 people

    On 22 May 1915, a troop train carrying men of the 1/7th Battalion Royal Scots crashed near Quintinshill Junction, near Gretna. A second collision and fire followed. The disaster killed 230 people and became Britain’s worst railway accident. The men on the troop train were part of Britain’s war effort. They were being moved by…

  • 1915: HMS Princess Irene explodes off Sheerness

    HMS Princess Irene exploded off Sheerness on 27 May 1915 while being loaded with mines. The ship was destroyed and sank. The disaster killed 352 people. Princess Irene had been a Canadian Pacific passenger liner before the Admiralty took her into service during the First World War. She was being used as an auxiliary minelayer.…

  • 1988: Piper Alpha explodes in the North Sea

    On 6 July 1988, the Piper Alpha oil and gas platform exploded in the North Sea. The disaster killed 167 men and became the deadliest offshore oil and gas accident. Piper Alpha stood in the UK sector of the North Sea, north-east of Aberdeen. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum and had become a major…