List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll

The following list of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland is a list of major disasters which relate to the United Kingdom, Ireland or the Isle of Man, or to the states that preceded them, or that involved their citizens, in a definable incident or accident such as a shipwreck, where the loss of life was forty or more.

100–199 fatalities

Deaths in Italics indicate an estimated figure	Event	Year	Notes
193	MS Herald of Free Enterprise	1987	Ferry capsized off Zeebrugge in under one minute after its RORO bow doors were left open. Unlawful killing verdict.
192	Transport ship Dispatch and Brig-of-War HMS Primrose	1809	Both ships sank after hitting The Manacles.
191		1870	Ship out of New York City and Halifax, Nova Scotia, bound for Liverpool disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean, possibly struck an iceberg
189	Lundhill Colliery explosion	1857	Colliery disaster, Wombwell, Yorkshire.
189	Wood Pit Colliery explosion	1878	Colliery disaster, Haydock, Lancashire. The total fatalities, which included one man and all of his five sons, may have been 204 or more.
189	HMS Orpheus	1863	Sank off Auckland due to outdated nautical charts and shortcuts.
189	Eyemouth Disaster	1881	Local fishing fleet sank during a European windstorm that struck the southeast coast of Scotland.
186	Exeter Theatre Royal fire	1887	Fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter caused by gas lights.
186	PS Pacific	1856	American ship lost at sea out of Liverpool
183	Victoria Hall disaster	1883	Crowd crush at Sunderland after a children's Variety show to get prizes and gifts resulted in compressive asphyxia and trampling.
179	SS Cambria	1870	Shipwrecked at Inishtrahull
178	United Kingdom BSE outbreak	1996–2001	Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease outbreak in the UK. Known colloquially as "mad cow disease", victims contracted it by eating infected beef.
178	First Ferndale Colliery disaster	1867	Mining disaster in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, caused by gas accumulation and miners tampering with safety lamps
178	Ocean Monarch	1848	Shipwreck and fire off Great Orme, Llandudno caused by steerage passengers' smoking materials
178	Clifton Hall Colliery explosion	1885	Explosion of firedamp gas in a colliery at Salford
176	Turkish Airlines Flight 981	1974	Crashed in the Ermenonville Forest, France due to cargo door design flaw. The flight was headed to London Heathrow and most of the passengers were British
176	Llannerch, Cwmnantddu	1890	Colliery gas explosion near Pontypool, Monmouthshire after the mine refused safety lamps by its MD two months earlier
173	Bethnal Green tube station panic	1943	Crowd crush caused by British anti-aircraft battery salvo
172	HMS Serpent	1890	Royal Navy torpedo cruiser launched in 1887 shipwrecked off Camariñas, Galicia
168	Burns Pit Disaster	1909	Mining disaster at Stanley, County Durham
167	Piper Alpha	1988	Oil platform gas leak, explosion and fire 30m above cold seas in the North Sea
164	Seaham Colliery accident	1880	Mining accident at Seaham, County Durham
163	The John Bodkin Adams murders	1946–1956	Though controversially acquitted in court of the murder of a patient in 1957, Doctor John Bodkin Adams is widely suspected to have murdered around 163 of his patients over 10 years
157	Deutschland	1875	Shipwrecked during a blizzard on Kentish Knock sandbank, Thames Estuary. Tugboat rescue delayed until the next day, most died of hypothermia
155	Minnie Pit disaster	1918	Mining disaster at Podmore Hall, Halmer End, Staffordshire
150	Clifford's Tower fire massacre	1190	Massacre of Jews in York by a mob
146	Risca colliery disasters	1860	Coal mining disaster at Black Vein Colliery Risca, Monmouthshire caused by a gas explosion
146	Dan-Air Flight 1008	1980	Air traffic control instructed the plane to fly an unpublished holding pattern, which led the plane into the dangerously high terrain of Mount Esperanza, Tenerife
146	Aberfan disaster	1966	Coal-waste spoil tip collapsed onto a junior school, Glamorganshire
143	Swaithe Main Colliery disaster	1875	Mining disaster at Worsbrough, Yorkshire
141	SS Berlin	1907	Great Eastern Railway steamship out of Harwich wrecked off Hook of Holland
140	HMS Condor	1901	Ship lost with all hands in a gale off Vancouver Island
140	2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	2004	UK victims only; see Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
139	George III	1835	Convict ship wrecked in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Tasmania
139	Combs Pit disaster	1893	Mining disaster at Thornhill, Yorkshire
137	National Shell Filling Factory explosion	1918	Munitions explosion at Chilwell in Nottinghamshire. Eight tons of TNT exploded
136	Wellington Pit disaster	1910	Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland
135	Fifth cholera pandemic	1893	The last outbreak of cholera in Britain took place in 1893
135	Alexander	1815	Ship out of Bombay wrecked near Portland within sight of shore. The ship was caught in a gale and ran aground at night
133		1833	Convict ship from Woolwich to Australia wrecked off Boulogne
133	MV Princess Victoria	1953	Early roll-on/roll-off ferry disaster in the North Channel during a storm.
131	Lincoln typhoid fever epidemic	1904 – 1905
130	Rothsay Castle	1831	Paddle steamer from Liverpool shipwrecked in the Menai Strait under the command of a drunken captain.
129	John Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition	1845–1848	HMS Erebus and HMS Terror caught in pack ice; the crews endured botulism, lead poisoning and cannibalism before starvation.
128	TSMS Lakonia	1963	Caught fire and sank off Madeira. Resulted in 98 passenger deaths, plus 33 crew fatalities.
128	HMS Gladiator	1908	Shipwrecked in a collision with an American steamship during a snowstorm, Isle of Wight.
125	HMS Primrose	1809	Shipwrecked on The Manacles, Cornwall.
125	SS Hilda	1905	London & South Western Railway steamship wrecked in snow squalls off Saint-Malo.
124	BOAC Flight 911	1966	Aircraft broke up in flight near Mount Fuji, Japan. A significant percentage of the fatalities were American and Japanese citizens.
124	SS Daphne	1883	Capsized during her ship naming and launching, River Clyde, Glasgow.
123	Ocean Queen	1856	Clipper ship out of London disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean.
121	Dunbar	1857	Clipper out of Plymouth wrecked at Sydney Cove, Australia.
120	New Risca pit explosion	1880	Coal mining disaster, Risca, Monmouthshire.
120+	Bibighar Massacre	1857	Massacre of European women and children at Cawnpore, India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
119	National Colliery explosion	1905	Coal mine explosion at Wattstown, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire.
118	British European Airways Flight 548	1972	Crashed into a field at Staines. Possible heart attack suffered by the pilot after takeoff.
114	Cymmer Colliery explosion	1856	Coal mine explosion at Cymmer, Porth, Glamorganshire.
112	Parc Slip Colliery gas explosion	1892	Gas explosion due to a damaged Davy lamp, Tondu, Glamorganshire
112	SS Stella	1899	London & South Western Railway steamship wrecked on a granite reef in fog at full speed, sinking in 8 minutes, at the Casquets, Channel Islands.
112	Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash	1952	Three trains collided in patchy fog in morning rush hour. Death toll second only to Quintinshill rail crash.
112	Dan-Air Flight 1903	1970	De Havilland Comet crashed into a mountain in Catalonia, Spain
111	Caledonian Airways Flight 153	1962	Crashed after take-off from Douala, Cameroon
110		1852	Steam engine of a wooden mail paddle steamer caught fire in the Bay of Biscay
109	Faversham gunpowder mill explosion	1916
108	Invicta International Airlines Flight 435	1973	Crashed into a forested, snowy hillside near Hochwald, Switzerland
106	SS Mohegan	1898	Shipwrecked off The Manacles, Cornwall
104	William Pit disaster	1947	Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland
104	HMS Brazen	1800	Shipwrecked off Newhaven, Sussex.
102	Pelican	1793	Sank in the River Mersey.
102	HMS Feversham	1711	Shipwrecked off Scatarie Island, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
102	Wallsend Colliery explosion	1835	Colliery explosion, Wallsend, Northumberland.
101	Naval Steam Colliery explosion	1880	Colliery explosion, Tonypandy, Rhondda Valley. 4 bodies unidentified.
100+		1748	Wrecked on the Seven Stones reef.
100 to 240	Windscale fire	1957	One of the world's worst nuclear accidents. Radioactive material released, causing many local cancer deaths in the long term. Number of deaths disputed.
100	"Battle" of May Island	1918	Two Royal Navy submarines sunk after collisions during naval exercise
100	Moray Firth fishing disaster	1848	Open hulled fishing fleet storm disaster
100	HMS Confiance	1822	36-gun, 393 ton brig sloop was wrecked between Mizen Head and Three Castles Head, at the south-westernmost point of Ireland
100	Avalanche	1877	Ship out of London for Wellington, New Zealand, collided with American Forest Queen off Isle of Portland, English Channel, both sinking, with a further 20+ casualties from the Forest Queen

Fewer than 100 fatalities

Deaths in Italics indicate an estimated figure	Event	Year	Notes
99	Meikle Ferry disaster	1809	Over-laden ferryboat sank in Dornoch Firth, Scotland
99	HMS Thetis submarine disaster	1939	Flooded through torpedo tube during pre-war sea trials, Liverpool Bay, salvaged but sunk by depth charges with all hands in 1943
99	KLM flight 607-E	1958	A flight from Shannon, Ireland to Gander, Canada crashed under unknown circumstances off the coast of Galway.
98	Edmond	1850	A chartered passenger sailing vessel sunk at Edmond Point in Kilkee, County Clare with 216 on board
98	Britannia Airways Flight 105	1966	Britannia Airways Bristol Britannia G-ANBB from Luton Airport, aircrash at Ljubljana
97	Hillsborough Stadium Disaster	1989	97 men, woman and 37 teenagers killed, police failures were the main cause of the tragedy in the United Kingdom’s worst sporting disaster
95	Haswell Colliery explosion	1844	County Durham
95	"Fatal Vespers"	1623	Floor collapse at house in Blackfriars, London, being used as a chapel
94	Carlingford Lough disaster	1916	and a coalship SS Retriever collided and sank, Carlingford Lough, County Down
93	St Scholastica Day riot, Oxford	1355	A "town and gown" dispute over beer escalates over three days
92	Felling mine disaster, County Durham	1812	Firedamp explosion, ushers in safety lamps by George Stephenson and Humphry Davy
91	Carrick-on-Suir disaster	1799	Barge capsize under bridge, in Ireland
91	Cadeby Main pit disaster	1912	Two underground coal mine explosions at Cadeby, South Yorkshire
90	Lewisham rail crash	1957	Railway signals missed in the rush hour fog
88	Armagh rail disaster	1889	10 runaway railway passenger cars on a Sunday School day trip
88	1967 Air Ferry DC-4 accident,	1967	Douglas C-54 G-APYK, from Kent International Airport, Mont Canigou, France
87	Morfa Mine, Port Talbot	1890	Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion
86	SS Egypt	1922	Shipwreck, off Ushant, Brittany
85	Rohilla	1914	Ran aground off Whitby, with a survivor of the sinking of the two years earlier rescued again
84	British Eagle	1964	International Airlines aircrash Bristol Britannia G-AOVO from Heathrow Airport, Innsbruck, Austria,
84	Paisley canal disaster	1810	Canal pleasure boat capsize, Paisley, Scotland
83	East Side pit, Senghenydd	1901	Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion, precursor to the 1913 disaster
83	1961 President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crash	1961	The flight was taking off from Shannon Airport in Ireland, when it crashed into the river Shannon
81	Mardy Colliery, Rhondda Valley	1885	Glamorganshire, mining disaster
81	Easington Colliery	1951	County Durham, coal mine explosion,
81	Holmfirth Flood	1852	Bilberry Reservoir collapsed, Holme Valley, West Yorkshire
80+	PS Queen Victoria	1853	Wrecked below a lighthouse in a night-time snowstorm, off Howth Head, Dublin
80	Llandow air disaster	1950	Fairflight Avro Tudor G-AKBY, Sigginstone, Glamorganshire, with returning Welsh Rugby Union supporters on board '
80	Creswell Colliery	1950	Mining accident caused by smoke inhalation, Creswell, Derbyshire
79	Great Yarmouth Suspension bridge	1846	Collapse above a river, killing children watching a clown
79	British Admiral out of Liverpool wrecked off Tasmania	1874
79	HMS Glatton	1918	Wrecked by accidental explosion, Dover harbour
79	Markham Colliery disaster	1938	Underground explosion Derbyshire
78	Burwell, Cambridgeshire Barn fire	1727	Occurred during a puppet show with the doors nailed shut
77	Ocean Home	1856	American ship sinks after collision with Cherubim off Lizard Point, Cornwall
77	Diglake Colliery Disaster	1895	Inrush of water into Diglake Colliery, North Staffordshire
76	Third plague pandemic	1896–1926	Series of outbreaks across Britain and Ireland as part of a pandemic, with Glasgow and Suffolk being particularly badly affected
76	Maypole Colliery disaster	1908	Underground explosion at Abram, Lancashire
75	Tay Bridge disaster	1879	Cast iron bridge collapse with a train crossing during an evening storm, Dundee
75	HMS Affray	1951	Mysterious submarine disaster in English Channel
75	STV Royston Grange	1972	A Houlder Line cargo liner, destroyed by fire after a collision with Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata
74		1893	Lost at sea, possibly due to iceberg strike off Nova Scotia, out of Liverpool, with no Wireless Telegraph to make a distress call
73	Udston mining disaster	1887	Hamilton, Scotland, firedamp explosion
73	Silvertown explosion	1917	Explosion in a TNT factory in West Ham
72	Stockport Air Disaster	1967	British Midland Airways Argonaut G-ALHG, an unrecognised flaw in the fuel system made the plane returning from Majorca uncontrollable.
72	Grenfell Tower fire	2017	Residential tower block in North Kensington, London
71	Glen Cinema Disaster	1929	Paisley, Scotland
70+	1900 English beer poisoning	1900	6,000 people poisoned by consuming arsenic-tainted beer, with Manchester being the worst affected area
70	Great Gale of 1871	1871	Bridlington 100 shipwrecks, incl. Royal National Lifeboat Harbinger, plus other losses at sea, estimated total of 70 marine fatalities
70	RAF Fauld	1944	Munitions explosion during World War II, Staffordshire Largest explosion on British soil.
69	HMS M1	1925	Submarine wreck in collision with Swedish surface vessel off Plymouth
69	Trimdon Grange colliery disaster	1882	Underground explosion in County Durham
67	September 11, 2001 attacks	2001	'
66	BEA Comet G-ARCO bombing	1967	Off Rhodes '
66	Ibrox disaster	1971	Compressive asphyxia spectator crush on stairway at Ibrox Park football stadium, Glasgow
65	Theatre Royal, Dunlop Street, Glasgow	1849	Panic ensuing from a false fire alarm
65	Cherokee class brig-sloop HMS Jasper	1817	Wrecked in hurricane-force winds on either Rame Head, Cornwall or Bear's Head, Mount Batten, Devon
64	Middle Duffryn Mine	1852	Colliery explosion near Aberdare, Glamorganshire
64	Masbrough boat disaster	1841	John and William overturns on launch near Rotherham
64	HMS Truculent	1950	Submarine collision on the surface, Thames Estuary, survivors died of hypothermia on mid-winter mudbanks
63	British Airways Flight 576	1976	Mid-air collision with Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 550 above Zagreb, caused by ATC error
63	Peckfield Colliery Disaster	1896	Micklefield, Yorkshire
63	Victoria coal pit, Nitshill near Glasgow	1851	Explosion
63	Great Western Mine	1893	Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales
63	BEA Flight 706 aircrash	1971	A Vickers Vanguard G-APEC flight 706, Aarsele, Belgium
63	Mauricewood Colliery disaster	1889	Underground fire, Penicuik, Scotland
63	Dinas Rhondda	1879	Colliery gas explosion at Llantrisant, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire
62	PS Comet II	1825	Sank in collision off Gourock, Scotland
61	SS Thames	1841	Steamship shipwrecked in a night-time storm, Isles of Scilly
61	Freckleton Air Disaster	1944	A USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed into a village school in a storm, Freckleton, Lancashire,
61	Aer Lingus flight 712	1968	The flight from Cork to London crashed mysteriously off the coast of Wexford likely due to a bird strike
60+	Harwich ferry disaster	1807	A 'grossly overladen' coastal vessel capsizes while transporting soldiers and their families
60	Dalhousie	1853	"Blackwall frigate" sank off Beachy Head
60	HMS M2 British M class submarine	1932	Floods through her Parnall Peto seaplane hangar doors, Lyme Bay
58	Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery	1936	Underground explosion caused by an electrical fault
58	Garland of Topsham	1649	A vessel carrying Charles I's possessions wrecked on Godrevy Island, Cornwall
57	Tylorstown	1896	Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales
57	Sneyd Colliery Disaster	1942	Burslem, Staffordshire
57	HMS K5	1921	A submarine sank in deep water, 120 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly during sea trials
56	Bradford City stadium fire	1985	Bradford City A.F.C.'s Valley Parade stadium caught fire after a discarded cigarette set fire to rubbish underneath the wooden stands
56	7 July 2005 London bombings	2005	By suicide bombers on public transport
55	Manchester air disaster	1985	Flight 28M, a Boeing 737-236 engine fire before takeoff on a holiday flight to Corfu
53	Second Ferndale Colliery disaster	1869	Explosion in Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire
53	Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead	1854	Firestorm and explosion
52	Lletty Shenkin Colliery, Cwmbach	1849	Underground explosion, Aberdare, South Wales
52	Yellow fever outbreak,	1861	West Indies
52	Loch Ard	1878	A clipper out of Gravesend, Kent, wrecked off Loch Ard Gorge, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia in thick fog
52	HMS Wasp	1884	Wrecked on Tory Island, County Donegal
52	Marine Colliery	1927	Gwm near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, coal mine disaster
51	Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum fire, London	1903	In an early psychiatric hospital holding up to 3,500 patients
51	Marchioness disaster, River Thames	1989	A pleasure boat rammed by a dredger under a bridge
51	St Hilda Colliery, South Shields, coal pit explosion	1839
50+	Winter of 1962–63	1962–63	One of the coldest winters on record in the United Kingdom. The river Thames froze solid
50	Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 aircrash	1969	Crashed into a house, Boeing 727 YA-FAR, Gatwick
50	Summerland fire disaster	1973	Douglas, Isle of Man, a fire in a leisure centre
50	Whiddy Island disaster	1979	Explosion of oil tanker Betelguese in Bantry Bay, Ireland
49?	SS Nile	1854	All the crew and passengers died when she hit The Stones reef off Godrevy Head, Cornwall; leading to building of the lighthouse
49	Booth's clothing factory fire, Huddersfield	1941	Fire at a major clothing factory in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire
49	HMS Punjabi collision with the battleship	1942	Sinking 469 miles north-west of Shetland.
49	Hither Green rail crash	1967	In London, a broken rail caused derailment of an express train
48	Stardust fire	1981	A nightclub fire in Artane, Dublin, 841 people had attended a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were injured as a result of the fire
48	A British Eagle International Airlines Vickers Viscount	1968	En route from London to Innsbruck, Austria, breaks up in mid-air over Bavaria
47	Burns' Day Storm	1990	Violent storm that started on Burns' day and affected north-western Europe, hurricane-force winds in some areas
47	Emma	1828	Capsizes after launching, Mersey and Irwell Navigation, Manchester
47	Gethin Pit disaster	1862	First of two underground colliery explosions at Abercanaid, near Merthyr Tydfil. South Wales
47	R101 airship crash	1930	Beauvais, France
47	SS Samtampa	1947	Wrecked off Sker Point in the Bristol Channel
47	Auchengeich coal mining disaster	1959	Auchinloch, Lanarkshire, Scotland
47	Kegworth Air Disaster	1989	British Midland Flight 92, Leicestershire, the pilot shut down the wrong engine
47	1973 Nantes mid-air collision	1973	' Two aircraft heading to Heathrow Airport collided due to ATC error.
46	Wreck of Confederate States of America blockade runner PS Lelia	1865	and lifeboat crew in Liverpool Bay
45	Bentley Coal mine disaster	1931	Bentley, South Yorkshire
45	Six Bells Colliery Disaster	1960	Aberbeeg, Monmouthshire
45	Aquila Airways Short Solent flying boat crash	1957	Isle of Wight
45	Sumburgh disaster	1986	A Brent oilfield CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at sea
45	PS Nimrod	1860	An Irish steamer sank off St David's Head
45	Cleggan Bay Disaster	1927	A strong gale killed 45 fishermen off the coast of County Galway
44	R38 (ZR-2) airship crash	1921	River Humber, near Hull
44	MV Derbyshire	1980	Bibby Line bulk carrier sank during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan
43	Croydon typhoid outbreak of 1937	1937	Outbreak originating from a polluted chalk water well; 341 cases
43	Bourne End rail crash	1945	Derailment taking crossover at speed near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire; driver had worked for 26 consecutive days
43	Moorgate tube crash	1975	London Underground train runs at speed into dead-end tunnel in the morning rush hour
41	Little Baldon air crash	1965	Handley Page Hastings aircraft crashed at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, during parachute training flight from RAF Abingdon, caused by metal fatigue
40	Garden Pit Disaster	1844	40 men and boys are crushed or drowned when water from the River Cleddau broke through the roof of their coalmine at Landshipping, Pembrokeshire, Wales
40	Regent's Park skating disaster	1867	Ice covering the boating lake collapsed and 200 people plunged in
40	Low Moor Explosion	1916	Explosion at a picric acid plant producing explosives for the war effort in the First World War