September 18
2011
2011 Sikkim earthquake
A shallow, moderate‑to‑strong earthquake of about magnitude 6.9 struck the Sikkim Himalaya on September 18, 2011, tearing slopes loose, severing roads and cutting into the lives of mountain communities. The shaking itself was brief; the landslides and isolation that followed shaped the human cost and the lessons learned. Read more
2001
2001 anthrax attacks — initial media mailing
In the weeks after the September 11 attacks, at least one envelope postmarked September 18, 2001, in Trenton, New Jersey, and addressed to American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida, carried a powder later confirmed to contain Bacillus anthracis spores. A handful of tabloid employees were exposed; photo editor Robert K. Stevens developed inhalational anthrax with symptom onset around September 30, was hospitalized in early October, and died after CDC confirmed the diagnosis on October 5, 2001. The mailing launched a national investigation into what became known as Amerithrax, prompted widespread decontamination and policy change, and left lingering scientific and criminal questions. Read more
1961
Death of Dag Hammarskjöld — the 1961 Ndola air crash
On September 18, 1961, United Nations Secretary‑General Dag Hammarskjöld died when his plane crashed on approach to Ndola Airport in then Northern Rhodesia. Traveling into the heart of the Congo Crisis to broker a cease‑fire and secure the release of hostages, he and 15 others were killed. The wreckage, conflicting eyewitness accounts of a second aircraft, and decades of partial records have left the cause of the crash disputed and the event a lasting mystery in international affairs. Read more
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1944
Sinking of the Jun'yō Maru
On September 18, 1944, the Japanese transport Jun'yō Maru was torpedoed off the west coast of Sumatra while carrying thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Javanese forced labourers. The overcrowded, unmarked "hell ship" foundered quickly; historians estimate roughly 5,000–5,620 people died, making it one of the deadliest single-ship losses of life in World War II.
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1943
Sinking of MS Sinfra
On September 18, 1943, the Italian passenger–cargo ship MS Sinfra, pressed into Axis service to move prisoners after Italy’s armistice, was attacked by Allied aircraft in the Saronic Gulf near Piraeus. Many of the ship’s human cargo — principally interned Italian servicemen held below decks — could not escape when fire and explosions swept the vessel. Contemporary reports and later research place the death toll from the sinking anywhere from several hundred to the low thousands; exact figures remain contested. The loss became part of the wider, painful history of Italian military internees after the September 1943 armistice.
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1926
Great Miami Hurricane (1926)
On the night of September 18, 1926, a powerful hurricane crossed the Miami and Miami Beach area, bringing a storm surge and hurricane‑force winds that flattened newly built neighborhoods, killed hundreds, and shattered the Florida land boom. The storm’s immediate chaos — broken seawalls, fires, and isolation from downed lines — gave way to a longer reckoning: massive insurance losses, halted development, and slow changes in building practice and storm awareness.
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1906
1906 Hong Kong Typhoon
In mid–September 1906 a powerful tropical cyclone struck the Pearl River Delta. On September 18–19 the storm battered Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the surrounding waters, tearing apart wooden waterfront settlements and wrecking fleets of fishing junks and sampans. Contemporary reports described heavy loss of life and widespread damage, but precise casualty and economic figures remain uncertain because many losses occurred among small, dispersed fishing communities and unregistered craft.
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