Listed here are MAJOR disasters that occurred in 2006. The list includes NATURAL and NONMILITARY mechanical disasters that claimed more than 15 lives and/or resulted in significant damage to PROPERTY.
February 11, Aweil, Sudan. A military plane suffers a tire blowout while landing, causing the pilot to lose control and crash into a building; all 20 aboard are killed.
March 31, Brazil. A small double-propeller Team airline plane crashes in the mountains after leaving Macaé; all 19 aboard perish.
April 10, Near Marsabit, Kenya. A plane carrying a delegation of prominent politicians on a mission to restore peace in northern Kenya crashes on a hillside; 14 people are killed, including 5 high-ranking members of the National Assembly.
May 3, Near Sochi, Russia. An Armavia Airbus 320 en route from Yerevan, Armenia, crashes into the Black Sea; all 113 aboard are believed to have died.
June 3, Eastern China. A military transport plane crashes in Anhui province, killing all 40 on board.
July 9, Irkutsk, Siberia. After landing at the airport, an S7 Airlines Airbus A310 airplane arriving from Moscow crashes into a concrete wall and a row of buildings, breaking apart and catching fire; at least 122 of those aboard are killed.
July 10, Multan, Pak. A Pakistan International Airlines plane bound for Lahore crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 45 aboard; the dead include two judges, two army brigadiers, and a university vice-chancellor.
July 26, Afghanistan. A helicopter transporting reconstruction personnel to a site in Khost crashes in the mountains about 35 km (22 mi) from its destination; all 16 aboard are killed.
August 3, Near Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. An Antonov 28 twin-propeller plane operated by Trasept Congo crashes in heavy rain; all 17 aboard lose their lives.
August 22, Donetsk, Ukraine. A Pulkovo Airlines TU-154 flying from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg crashes north of Donetsk in bad weather; all 170 aboard are killed.
August 27, Lexington, Ky. A small Comair jet takes off from the wrong runway, one too short for the aircraft, and crashes into a field; 49 of the 50 people aboard are killed.
September 1, Meshed, Iran. An Iran Air TU-154 flying from Bandar-e ʿAbbas, Iran, slides off the runway as it is landing and catches fire; 29 of the 148 passengers die.
September 23, Nepal. A helicopter carrying leading Nepalese and World Wildlife Fund environmentalists crashes in the Kanchenjunga mountains; all 24 aboard are killed.
September 29, Mato Grosso state, Braz. A Boeing 737 airplane run by the low-cost Brazilian Gol Airlines nicks a smaller plane and crashes into the jungle; all 155 aboard perish.
October 29, Abuja, Nigeria. A Boeing 737 crashes immediately after takeoff in bad weather, killing 96 of the 105 aboard; one of the dead is the sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria.
November 27, Tehran, Iran. A military plane crashes immediately after takeoff from Mehrabad Airport; all 39 aboard, 30 of them members of the Revolutionary Guards, die.
February 7, China. The Ministry of Public Security reports that more than 6,000 fires were started by fireworks over the lunar new year celebrations (January 28–February 4) and that 63 people lost their lives in the fires.
April 10, Meerut, India. At an electronics fair a short circuit causes a fire that consumes three tents, leaving at least 45 people dead.
April 10, Shanxi province, China. An explosion in the underground parking garage of a hospital in Yuanping kills at least 33 people; authorities find evidence of explosives at the site.
May 12, Nigeria. At a beach near the fishing village of Ilado, vandals trying to steal fuel from a gasoline pipeline set off an enormous explosion that incinerates some 200 people.
May 23, Benin. A tanker truck carrying gasoline in the village of Porga overturns and explodes, killing more than 35 people, most of whom had come to siphon gasoline from the truck.
June 7, Lake Tanganyika. A ferry carrying freight that includes barrels of oil and gasoline from Uvira to Kalemie in the Democratic Republic of the Congo catches fire; some 100 people are presumed dead.
July 6, Shanxi province, China. An explosion at the home of a resident of the village of Dongzhai results in the death of at least 49 people; unlicensed explosives are a likely cause.
July 28, Jiangsu province, China. An explosion at the Fuyuan Chemical Plant kills at least 22 people, with 28 missing, and causes the evacuation of some 7,000 people.
July 30, Manama, Bahrain. A fire in a building kills 16 Indian workers.
August 28, Iraq. In Al-Diwaniyah residents begin siphoning gasoline from a government pipeline left unguarded because of a battle in the town; one of the residents lights a cigarette, igniting an explosion that incinerates at least 67 people.
November 20, Guatemala City, Guat. A fire ignited by a cigarette at illegal fireworks stands on the edge of a large open-air market kills 15 people, some burned and some asphyxiated.
December 9, Moscow. A nighttime fire breaks out at a drug-treatment facility; though some 160 people escape, 45 women die, mostly from smoke inhalation, when they are unable to escape because of locked doors and window grilles.
December 16, Jhok Utra, Pak. In a wedding tent, heat from high-intensity lights ignites a fire, which triggers a stampede that results in the destruction of a newly built brick wall; 27 women and children, including the bride, are killed by the fire, the stampede, or the falling wall.
December 25, Philippines. A fire begins in fireworks near the entrance and sweeps through the one-story Unitop department store in Ormoc; at least 24 people are burned to death.
December 26, Lagos, Nigeria. An oil pipeline breached by thieves explodes as people gather to siphon the leaking oil; the resultant fire incinerates at least 260 people.