The Most Expensive Accidents in the History of the World

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Exotic Cars

Top 10 Most Expensive Accidents in HistoryNovember 3, 2008

Throughout history , humans have always been prone to accident s.

Some, such as the exoti c car crashes seen on thispage, can be very expensive. But that 'st ri vial

compared to the truly expensive accidents. An

accident is defined as "an undesir able or unfort unate

happening t hat occurs unintent ionally and usually

results in harm, i njury , damage, or loss". Our aim is

to list the top 10 most expensive accidents in t he

history of the world as measured in dollars.

This includes propert y damage and expenses incurred relat ed to t he accident such as cleanup and

indust ry l osses. Many of these accidents involve casualt ies which obviously cannot be measured in

dollar terms. Each lif e lost is priceless and is not factored into t he equation. Deliberate acti ons

such as war or t errori sm and natur al disaster s do not qualif y as accidents and theref ore are not

included in this list.

#10. Titanic $150 Million

The sinking of t he Titanic is possibly the most famous accident in the world. But it barely makes

our list of top 10 most expensive . On April 15, 1912, the Tit anic sank on it s maiden voyage and

wasconsidered t o be t he most luxurious ocean l iner ever built. Over 1,500 people l ost their lives

when the ship ran into an iceberg and sunk in fri gid waters. The ship cost $7 mil lion to build ($

150 milli on in today'sdollars).


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#9. Tanker Truck vs Bridge $358 Million

On August 26, 2004, a car coll ided wit h a t anker tr uck contai ning 32,000 li t ers of f uel on the

Wiehltal Bridge in Germany. The tanker crashed through the guardrail and fell 90 feet off the A4

Autobahn resulti ng in a huge explosion and f ire which destr oyed t he load-bearing abili ty of the

bridge. Temporary repairs cost $40 mill ion and the cost to replace t he bridge is esti mated at $318

Million.

#8. MetroLink Crash $500 Million

On September 12, 2008, in what wasone of the worst train crashes in California history, 25

people were kill ed when a Metr olink commuter tr ain crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight

tr ain in LosAngeles. It is thought that the Metrolink train may have run through a red signal while

the conductor was busy t ext messaging. Wrongful death lawsuit s are expected to cause $500

milli on in lossesf or Metrolink.


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#7. B-2 Bomber Crash $1.4 Bill ion

Here we have our fi rst billi on dollar accident (and we're only #7 on the list ). This B-2 stealth

bomber crashed shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam on February 23, 2008.

Investi gators blamed distort ed data in the fl ight contr ol computers caused by moisture in the

system. This result ed in t he aircr aft making a sudden nose-up move whi ch made the B-2 stal l and

crash. This was 1 of only 21 ever buil t and was the most expensive aviat ion accident in history .

Both pilotswere able to eject to safety.

The crash wascaptured on video. It shows one B-2 Bomber successful ly t aking off foll owed by the

B-2 Bomber which crashes. The crash st arts at 2 :00


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Plug-in content

#6. Exxon Valdez $2.5 Billion

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was not a large one i n r elation t o t he world's biggest oil spills, but it

wasa costly one due to the remote location of Prince William Sound (accessible only by

helicopter and boat ). On March 24, 1989, 10.8 mil li on gallons of oi l was spill ed when the ship's

master , Joseph Hazelwood, l eft the control s and the ship cr ashed int o a Reef. The cleanup cost

Exxon $2.5 billi on.

#5. Piper Alpha Oil Rig $3.4 Billi on

The world's worst off -shore oil disaster. At one ti me, it was the world's single largest oil producer,

spewing out 317,000 barrels of oil per day. On July 6, 1988, as part of r outine maintenance,

technicians removed and checked safet y valves which wer e essenti al in pr eventing dangerous

build-up of liquid gas. There were 100 identical safety valves which were checked. Unfortunately,

the techniciansmade a mistake and forgot to replace one of t hem. At 10 PM that same night, a


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technician pressed a start button for t he liquid gaspumpsand t he world's most expensive oil rig

accident was set in motion.

Within 2 hours, the 300 foot platform was engulfed in flames. It eventually collapsed, killing 167

workers and resulti ng in $3. 4 Bill ion i n damages.

#4. Challenger Explosion $5.5 Billi on

The Space Shutt le Chall enger was destr oyed 73 secondsaft er t akeoff due on January 28, 1986 due

to a f aulty O-ri ng. It f ailed to seal one of t he joint s, allowing pressurized gas to reach the outside.

This in t urn caused t he external tank t o dump it s payload of l iquid hydrogen causing a massive

explosion. The cost of replacing t he Space Shutt le was $2 bil li on in 1986 ($4.5 bi ll ion in t oday's

dollars). The cost of investigation, problem correction, and replacement of lost equipment cost $

450 milli on f rom 1986-1987 ($1 Billion in today'sdollars).


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#3. Prestige Oil Spill $12 Billion

On November 13, 2002, the Prest ige oil t anker was carrying 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil when

one of it s twelve t anks burst during a storm off Galicia, Spain. Fearing that the ship would sink,

the captain call ed for hel p fr om Spanish r escue workers, expecti ng them t o take t he ship int o

harbour. However, pressure from local authorit ies f orced t he captain to steer t he ship away from

the coast. The captain tr ied t o get help from t he French and Portuguese authoriti es, but t hey t oo

ordered t he ship away f rom t heir shores. The storm eventually t ook it s toll on the ship r esulti ng in

the tanker splitt ing in half and r eleasing 20 million gallonsoil int o t he sea.

According to a report by t he Pontevedra Economist Board, t he tot al cleanup cost $12 bill ion.

#2. Space Shuttle Columbia $13 Billion

The Space Shutt le Columbia was the fi rst space worthy shutt le in NASA'sor bit al fl eet. It was

destroyed during re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003 after a hole waspunctured in one of

the wingsduri ng launch16 days earli er. The original cost of t he shutt le was $2 Billi on in 1978.That comesout to $6.3 Bill ion in t oday'sdollars. $ 500 milli on was spent on the investi gati on,

making it the costl iest aircraft accident investi gat ion in history. The search and recovery of debris

cost $300 million.

In the end, the total cost of t he accident ( not i ncluding replacement of the shutt le) came out t o $

13 Billion according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.


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#1. Chernobyl $200 Billion

On April 26, 1986, t he world wi tnessed t he costli est accident in hi st ory. The Chernobyl di sast er

hasbeen call ed t he biggest socio-economic cat astr ophe in peacetime history. 50%of t he area of

Ukraine is in some way contaminated. Over 200,000 people had to be evacuated and resett led

while 1.7 mill ion people were directly affected by the disaster. The death toll attr ibuted to

Chernobyl, including people who died f rom cancer years later, is estimated at 125,000. The tot al

costs including cleanup, resett lement, and compensation to victims has been estimated t o be

roughly $200 Bil li on. The cost of a new steel shelter f or t he Chernobyl nuclear plant wil l cost $2

billi on alone. The accident wasoff icially att ributed t o power pl ant operators who violated plantprocedures and were ignorant of the safety r equirements needed.


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