November 12

On November 20, 1992, a fire began in the roof void above the Queen’s Private Chapel at Windsor Castle, spreading through timber roofs and historic state rooms. Over a hundred rooms were affected, there were no fatalities, and the restoration that followed—estimated at roughly £36 million—prompted changes in fire safety for heritage sites and intensified public debate about royal finances and access to royal residences.

On the evening of November 20, 1996, a fast‑moving blaze tore through the Garley Building on Nathan Road in Jordan, Kowloon. The fire raced through crowded wholesale showrooms, factory workshops and narrow stairwells, killing 11 people and injuring 67; early media reports gave higher, fluctuating figures during the chaotic rescue. The disaster exposed how altered interiors, stacked combustible goods and inadequate escape routes in older mixed‑use buildings could make a single ignition deadly, and it prompted sharper enforcement and safety reforms in Hong Kong’s commercial districts.

On November 17, 2013, Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, a Boeing 737-500 flying from Moscow to Kazan, stalled and crashed during a go-around at Kazan International Airport. Of the 50 people on board, 44 died and 6 survived. An Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) investigation found that excessive pitch during an attempted go-around, poor crew coordination, and shortcomings in the airline’s training and oversight led to an aerodynamic stall at low altitude from which recovery was impossible.