List of disasters in Antarctica by death toll

The following is a list of known disasters in Antarctica which have resulted in fatalities. It includes disasters which happened on land, as well as in the waters surrounding the continent.

Year	Type	Fatalities	Incident	Location	Comments
1819	Shipwreck	644	San Telmo (Spanish ship)[1]	Drake Passage, Southern Ocean
1979	Aircraft	257	Air New Zealand Flight 901[2]	Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica
2019	Aircraft	38	2019 Chilean Air Force C-130 crash	Drake Passage, Antarctica	Aircraft lost en route from Chile to Teniente R. Marsh Airport, King George Island
2010	Shipwreck	22	South Korean trawler Insung [3]	Ross Sea, near the McMurdo Station	5 confirmed dead, 17 missing and presumed dead[4]
1976	Aircraft	11	Livingston Island plane crash[5]	Livingston Island, Antarctica
1985	Aircraft	10	Nelson Island plane crash[6]	Nelson Island, Antarctica
1960	Fire (building)	8	Mirny Station fire[7][8][9]	Mirny Station, Antarctica
1823	Shipwreck	7	Jenny[10]	Drake Passage, Southern Ocean	Most likely a legend
1958	Aircraft	7	Cape Hallett Bay plane crash[11]	Cape Hallett Bay, Antarctica	6 survivors
1966	Aircraft	6	Ross Ice Shelf plane crash[12]	Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica
1986	Aircraft	6	Philippi Glacier plane crash[13]	Philippi Glacier, Antarctica
1961	Aircraft	5	Wilkes Station plane crash[14]	Wilkes Station, Antarctica
1956	Aircraft	4	McMurdo Station plane crash[15]	McMurdo Station, Antarctica	4 survivors
1994	Aircraft	4	Rothera Research Station plane crash[16]	near the Rothera Research Station, Antarctica
2010	Aircraft	4	Terre Adélie helicopter crash[17]	near the Dumont d'Urville Station, Terre Adélie, Antarctica
1946	Aircraft	3	Antarctica PBM Mariner crash[18]	Thurston Island, Antarctica
1958	Aircraft	3	Marguerite Bay plane crash[19]	Marguerite Bay, Antarctica	4 survivors
1965	Tractor	3	Tractor falls into crevasse [20]	Milorgknausane nunataks, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica
1979	Aircraft	3	Molodezhnaya Ice Station plane crash[21]	near Molodezhnaya Ice Station, Antarctica	11 survivors
1989	Aircraft	3	Mirny Station plane crash[22]	Mirny Station, Antarctica
1999	Aircraft	3	Terre Adélie helicopter crash[23]	near the Dumont d'Urville Station, Terre Adélie, Antarctica
2013	Aircraft	3	Mount Elizabeth plane crash[24]	Mount Elizabeth, Antarctica
2012	Shipwreck	3	Jeong Woo 2 (South Korean fishing vessel)[25]	Ross Sea, near the McMurdo Station	3 missing were presumed dead, 7 burn injuries, 2 serious
1929	Aircraft	2	Whaler scouting flight crash[26][27]	west of Scott Island, Antarctica
1948	Fire (building)	2	Hope Bay fire[28]	Base D, Hope Bay, Graham Land, Antarctica	1 survivor
1959	Aircraft	2	Marble Point plane crash[29]	Marble Point, Antarctica	3 survivors
1969	Aircraft	2	Mount McLennan helicopter crash[30]	Taylor Valley, Antarctica	6 survivors
1987	Aircraft	2	D-59 plane crash[31][32]	1390 km northwest of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica	11 survivors
2008	Aircraft	2	Neumayer Station III helicopter crash[33]	near Neumayer Station III, Antarctica	3 survivors
2012	Fire (building)	2	Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station fire[34]	Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Base, Antarctica	1 minor burn injury
2018	Work accident	2	2018 McMurdo mishap[35]	McMurdo Station, Antarctica	Two contractors asphyxiated maintaining fire suppression system
2003	Attack by a Leopard Seal	1	Snorkeling scientist dragged underwater by a Leopard Seal and drowned.[36][37][note 1]	Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island, Antarctica
2008	Fire (building)	1	Progress Station fire[38]	Progress Station, Antarctica	2 serious burn injuries
2016	Snowmobile	1	McMurdo Shear Zone Accident[39]	McMurdo Shear Zone, Antarctica
2016	Aircraft	1	Pilot crevasse fatality unloading sling[40]	Davis Station, Antarctica
2022	Rogue wave	1	Viking Polaris cruise ship[41]	Drake Passage, Southern Ocean	4 injuries

See also

• List of disasters in Australia by death toll
• List of disasters in Canada by death toll
• List of disasters in Croatia by death toll
• List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll
• List of disasters in New Zealand by death toll
• List of disasters in Poland by death toll
• List of disasters in the United States by death toll

Notes

1. See also: Leopard seal- Relationship with humans

References

1. "San Telmo". Wreck Site. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
2. "The Story of Flight 901". The Erebus Story. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
3. "South Korean ship sinks off Antarctica, at least 5 dead". Reuters. December 13, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
4. "Five dead, 17 missing after Korean fishing vessel, No.1 In Sung, sinks in Southern Ocean". The Old Salt Blog. December 13, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
5. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
6. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
7. Griffiths, Tom (2007). Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica. Harvard University Press. p. 149.
8. "Fire at Soviet Base In Antarctic Kills 8; Eight Scientists Die in Fire At Soviet Base in the Antarctic". The New York Times. 20 August 1960.
9. "Загадки истории – Пожар в Антарктиде" (in Russian).
10. Rogers, SA (14 June 2010). "Real Ghost Ships: 10 Mysterious Abandoned Sea Vessels". Web Urbanist. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
11. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
12. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
13. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
14. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 170385". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
15. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 154757". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
16. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
17. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 78943". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
18. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 179701". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
19. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 172659". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
20. "Bailey, Wild and Wilson". British Antarctic Monument Trust. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
21. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin Il-14FKM CCCP-04193 Molodezhnaya". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
22. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
23. Butler, Declan. "Fatal helicopter crash at French Antarctic research base". Nature.com. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
24. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
25. "Fire aboard ship off Antarctica kills three fishermen". The Guardian. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
26. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 34225". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
27. Copyright, Russell Owen (31 December 1929). "Whaling fliers lost in Antarctic Sea". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
28. "Antarctica Fire History". CoolAntarctica.com. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
29. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
30. "Thomas E. Berg". southpolestation.com. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
31. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
32. "Two killed in airplane crash in East Antarctica". southpolestation.com. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
33. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 15183". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
34. Brocchetto, Marilia (26 February 2012). "Fire at Antarctica station kills 2 Brazilian sailors". CNN. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
35. "Board of Investigation Final Report: Double Contractor Employee Fatality Mishap | NSF - National Science Foundation" (PDF). www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
36. Leopard seal attacks and kills British scientist snorkelling off Antarctic coast, The Independent, 24 July 2003.
37. Seal kills scientist in Antarctic, CNN, 23 July 2003.
38. Valery, Lukin. "One dead in fire at Progress Station". Adventure Antarctica. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
39. Kaplan, Sarah. "Climate scientist Gordon Hamilton, 50, dies in accident in Antarctica". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
40. "Court finds Commonwealth responsible for Antarctic helicopter pilot's death". ABC News. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
41. "'Rogue wave' strikes Antarctic cruise ship, leaves 1 dead and 4 injured". ABC News. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.

External links

• MapReport.com's Antarctica, Disasters Timeline
• CoolAntarctica.com's Antarctica Fire History