On this day in history: 856 – An earthquake in Abbasid Caliphate (modern-day Tunisia) kills approximately 45,000 people. 1799 – The Battle of Wiesloch is fought at Wiesloch, Germany, during the War of the Second Coalition. Five hundred Austrian soldiers and 1,500 French soldiers are killed or wounded. 1800 – The Battle of Hohenlinden is fought near Munich, Germany, during the War of the Second Coalition. Approximately 2,500 French soldiers and 4,600 Austrian and Bavarian soldiers are killed or wounded; 8,950 Austrian and Bavarian soldiers are captured. 1848 – An earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, kills 1,030 people. 1854 – More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Australia, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licenses. 1909 – Packet steamer SS Ellan Vannin founders in bad weather in the Mersey approach channel in England and sinks with the loss of all 15 passengers and 21 crew. 1941 – Soviet passenger ship Iosif Stalin hits three mines in the Baltic Sea and sinks, killing an estimated 2,000 men. 1948 – A Chinese passenger ship carrying refugees fleeing Communist troops sinks near Shanghai; over 3,000 are believed to be killed. 1964 – In Detroit, Michigan, 28-year-old James Burgan fatally shoots his wife, Joyce Marie Burgan, 23; his stepson, Roger Hill, 7; his stepdaughter, Kathy Hill, 5; his children Linda Burgan, 18 months, and Robert Burgan, 6 months; and his wife’s friend, Billie Jean Nolan, 22. 1964 – Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest of the UC Regents decision to forbid protests on UC property. 1966 – The Bình Hòa massacre takes place in Bình Hòa, Vietnam, and between 422- 430 villagers are killed by soldiers. 1971 – Pakistan launches a pre-emptive strike against India and a full scale war begins, claiming hundreds of lives. 1972 – Spantax Flight 275 crashes San Cristóbal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, killing 155 people. 1979 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert. 1988 – In New Hanover, South Africa, 11 black funeral mourners are gunned down in an attack orchestrated by white police captain B.V. Mitchell. 1990 – A collision of two Northwest Airlines flights at Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Michigan, kills seven passengers and one crew member. 1992 – Ten police officers and four civilians die when a bomb planted by drug traffickers explodes in Medellín, Colombia. 1992 – The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tons of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching Spain, and spills much of its cargo. 1995 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 crashes at Douala, Cameroon, killing 71 people. 1998 – A fire in the Bahay Kalinga orphanage and children’s home in Manila, Philippines, kills 28 people. Most of the victims are children. 1999 – About 40 people fleeing the besieged Chechen capital Grozny are allegedly killed by Russian policemen. 1999 – Six firefighters are killed in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts. 2004 – An unknown individual shells the Ninawa Governorate building in Mosul, Iraq. The shells fall on a residential community near the building, wounding at least 10 people. 2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, and close a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods. 2009 – A male suicide bomber disguised as a woman detonates in a hotel meeting hall in Mogadishu, Somalia. The hotel is hosting a graduation ceremony for local medical students when the blast goes off, killing 25 people. Sixty others are injured. 2012 – At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:50:31 +0000
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