June 4

On June 28, 1904, the Danish passenger liner SS Norge struck a submerged reef off the coast of Scotland and sank within 20 minutes, killing over 635 people—many of them hopeful emigrants bound for America. The disaster remains Denmark’s worst civilian maritime tragedy and a stark episode in the era of European migration.

On June 20, 1956, a Lockheed Constellation operating as Línea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 departed Idlewild Airport (now JFK) for Caracas. During the early en route phase near New York airspace the flight encountered a fatal in‑flight emergency and crashed; the airliner was destroyed and all aboard were killed. Investigators from the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and airline representatives undertook a formal inquiry, though some details about the exact crash location and a definitive public account remain ambiguous in secondary sources.

On June 6, 1981, a passenger train in Bihar, India derailed and plunged into the rain-swollen Bagmati River near Badlaghat. Overcrowded and running atop a flood-weakened embankment amid monsoon downpours, the train’s carriages tumbled into the river, leading to one of the deadliest rail disasters in history—with 500 to 800 or more fatalities. Rescue and recovery efforts were hampered by the force of the river and poor records, leaving the true human toll uncertain.