December 2005 Disasters

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

• Dec. 5, Kalemie, Congo: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake, with the epicenter in Lake Tanganyika, destroyed mud houses and killed at least 3 in this war-torn region of Africa.
• Dec. 6, Tehran, Iran: An Iranian military plane, a Lockheed C-130, carrying 94 people. who were mainly Iranian journalists, crashed as it was returning to the Tehran airport for an emergency landing and hit an apartment building, killing at least 115, of which 21 were from the apartment building.
• Dec. 10, Port Harcourt, Nigeria: A Nigerian Sosoliso Airlines plane carrying 110 crashed during landing in bad weather, killing 106. Many were children on their way home from a secondary school in Abuja.
• Dec. 11, Hemel Hempstead, England: Massive explosions at a fuel depot north of London burned 3 tanks and sent flames higher than 3,000 m (10,000 ft). There were 43 injured.
• Dec. 19, Miami, Fla.: A Chalk's Ocean Airways, Grumman G73 seaplane, headed to the Bahamas, crashed into the ocean off Miami, killing all 20 on-board.
• Dec. 30, Atlantic: Tropical Storm Zeta was the 27th named storm in the Atlantic this year, breaking the record of named Atlantic storms since 1851. See 2005 Hurricane Season

See also Major Earthquakes Around the World 2005

See also Estimated Deaths from Earthquakes, 2005

See also Recent Volcanic Activity