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Fatal Accidents or "disasters"

Sites where there have been "disasters" causing significant numbers of human deaths from a single incident or where repeated "tourism related" deaths have totalled a significant number. Only sites involving an "entry" are included (ie not city or town centres etc) and "simple" traffic accidents etc are not counted.

World Heritage Sites connected to 'Fatal Accidents or "disasters"':

  • Hampi In January 2009 the collapse of the Anegundi Bridge during construction caused the death of 8 construction workers
  • Huascaran National Park The Ancash Earthquake May 31 1970. Most of the destroyed towns were outside the inscribed park but "Fifteen members of a Czech expedition were climbing Huascarán at the time, and were among the thousands dead." ; link
  • Meknes Collapse of the Lalla Khenata mosque’s minaret in the old Bab el Bardiyine neighbourhood left 41 people dead (February 2010)
  • Mount Kenya "On July 19, 2003, a South African registered aircraft, carrying 12 passengers and two crew, crashed into Mount Kenya at Point Lenana: nobody survived"
  • Nasca Lines Seven tourists died in a plane crash while viewing the Lines (feb 2010). Five tourists had suffered the same fate in april 2008.; link
  • Qutb Minar A "stampede" of Schoolgirls inside the tower occurred in 1979 when the power inside the tower failed leading to 20 deaths and its subsequent closure to the public.
  • Sagarmatha National Park There have been 210 recorded deaths of climbers on "Everest". The worst single event was when 8 climbers died on May 11 1996 and 15 died during the season.
  • Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch July 2006 6 Swiss soldiers died in an avalanche on the Jungfrau.
  • Timbuktu At least 26 people have been crushed to death in a deadly stampede in the famous Djinguereber mosque in the city of Timbuktu (Feb 2010); link
  • Uluru Over 35 tourists have died climbing the rock - many by heart attack!