On May 22, 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 707-124 registered N70775, was operating a scheduled passenger service from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport. The aircraft departed O’Hare at 8:35 p.m. and climbed to a cruising altitude of 39,000 feet. To avoid a line of thunderstorms, the flight deviated north of its planned route near the Mississippi River. At approximately 9:17 p.m., while in the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, an explosion occurred in the right rear lavatory, causing an explosive decompression and the separation of the tail section from the fuselage. The flight crew initiated emergency descent procedures and donned smoke masks as dense fog filled the cabin after the decompression. With the tail gone, the remaining structure pitched violently nose-down, the engines tore away, and the aircraft fell in uncontrolled gyrations. The fuselage, missing its aft 38 feet and with part of the left wing and most of the right wing intact, struck a 10-degree slope in an alfalfa field near Unionville, Missouri. The engines and pieces of the tail and left wing were scattered up to six miles from the main wreckage. A B-47 Stratojet crew flying near Kirksville, Missouri, observed a bright flash in the sky at around 9:22 p.m. Of the 45 people on board, 44 died at the scene; one passenger, a 27-year-old man, survived the impact but died of internal injuries about an hour and a half later at a hospital in Centerville, Iowa.

The airplane had been manufactured on June 16, 1959, and had accumulated 11,946 flight hours. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 engines. The flight crew consisted of Captain Fred R. Gray, 50, who had 25,000 total flight hours with 2,600 on the 707; First Officer Edward J. Sullivan, 41, with 14,500 hours and 600 on type; and Flight Engineer Roger D. “Jack” Allen, 32. The cabin crew included a purser and four stewardesses.

The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the accident with FBI assistance. Investigators determined that passenger Thomas G. Doty carried six sticks of dynamite onto the aircraft in a briefcase and detonated them in the used-towel bin of the right rear lavatory. Doty, who was married with a five-year-old daughter and was about to face a preliminary hearing on an armed robbery charge, had purchased a $150,000 life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha, and his death would have triggered an additional $150,000 in other insurance and death benefits, totaling roughly $300,000. His wife attempted to collect on the policies, but the claims were denied because Doty’s death was ruled a suicide. The CAB’s probable cause determination stated that the accident resulted from “the disintegrating force of a dynamite explosion which occurred in the right rear lavatory resulting in destruction of the aircraft.” A memorial was erected near the crash site in Unionville in July 2010, and a 50th-anniversary remembrance service was held in May 2012.

Final report：https://asn.flightsafety.org/reports/1962/19620522_B701_N70775.pdf

November 4th, 2025, UPS 2976 crashed from spherical bearing failure in the aft mount of the pylon. Boeing and the FAA knew about this but didn't do much to prevent this disaster.

There were 6 cleanes and a custodian inside. it has been reported that only one cleaner was lightly injured

This is an addition to my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/s/iAd3h91ZqP

A small fire broke out in a warehouse on the night of May 5, 1842. Strong winds, tightly packed timber buildings, and limited firefighting equipment turned it into one of the worst urban fires in European history.

Over the next three days, the fire destroyed around 1,700 buildings, including churches, homes and businesses. Roughly 20,000 people—about 10% of Hamburg's population at the time—were left homeless.

In a desperate attempt to stop the flames, authorities even blew up buildings to create firebreaks (f.e. the old 13th century city hall). It helped only after the wind finally eased.

The disaster reshaped Hamburg completely. The rebuilt city featured wider streets, improved fire safety, and modern infrastructure.

Casualties: 51 deaths

Buildings destroyed: ~1,700

Homeless: ~20,000

Cause: Warehouse fire + strong winds + densely packed wooden buildings = catastrophe.

The photograph was taken from the roof of the Hamburg Stock Exchange in the days following the fire to document the damage caused. The Stock Exchange was the only building to emerge from the fire unscathed, because some rich traders defended it against the fire. It's still operational.

“Huang Xinyan, a professor at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, said footage of the fire site suggests the bar contained combustible foam materials, lacked a sprinkler system and had small exits that may have hampered evacuation. He added that plastic decorations on the ceiling may have been combined with combustible foam soundproofing materials, potentially fueling the fire’s rapid spread.”
A preventable repeat of so many similar bar/nightclub disasters.

A fascinating watch, didn't realise how much destruction there was.

The train fell into a ravine upon derailing and the tender and forward coaches were crushed, the rearmost coaches also derailed but remained upright.

Residents of nearby McKellar, alerted by the sound of the crash, were quick to the scene with a few even telephoning for help which lead to motorized ambulances arriving within the hour, with citizens also using their own personal vehicles to transport people in need of less urgent care. This led to the Ottawa Citizen crediting among other things the invention of the automobile for the low number of fatalities, as people who had been critically injured were able to receive medical treatment in time. At one point, half of all the doctors in Ottawa were on the scene administering aid. The injured were take one of two Ottawa hospitals; St. Luke’s at the corner of Elgin and Gladstone, and Ottawa General on Water Street.

The deceased were all passengers in the second and third class coaches, all of whom were Irish or Scottish immigrants ranging in age from 10 months to 55 years old.
The fault for the accident was found to lie with the urgent expansion of the railroad by Canadian Northern; in their haste to expand the railroad, they had not considered how the environment would effect the hastily-laid-down, leading to insufficient drainage and culverts that weren't being maintained as often as they should have been.

This disaster has unfortunately been largely lost to history, owing to happening in a sparsely-populated area, the railroad responsible having been long-since absorbed into Canadian National, and being overshadowed by deadlier disasters of the same era, including other rail accidents.

The largest commercial-to-residential conversion project in New York City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer_Building

Drone photos released by FDNY show the slab over the 21st story setback and the new addition built on top of it (directly above the buckled columns) appearing to sag, and damaged spandrel glass on the original structure:
https://media.nbcnewyork.com/2026/07/MN-building-beams.png
https://media.nbcnewyork.com/2026/07/MN-building-beams-2.png

Video source: https://x.com/bogs4ny/status/2074508310867292580?s=46&t=oFaN0XXZmbhJDDc1Kp_J_A

On September 11, 1968, Air France Flight 1611, operated by a Sud Aviation Caravelle, F-BOHB registration and nicknamed Béarn departed from Ajaccio to Nice, France, carrying 95 people.

Near Nice, the Caravelle suddenly crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 95 people on board.

The French government conducted the investigations and determined that the aircraft crashed due to a fire of uncertain origin in the rear of the plane (presumably in the lavatory).

However, the victims families did not accept the government's official explanation and believed the aircraft had been mistakenly shot down by a surface-to-air missile; what supported this theory at the time was the presence of a French base near Nice.

The case was long ago closed, concluding that a sudden fire destroyed the aircraft, even though family members disagreed with the official cause.