Fickle Staff
If we look back to our history, human lives are always susceptible to accidents. In this most expensive top 10 list, we have compiled most expensive accidents history, in terms of US dollars. This involves many accidents such as car crashes, bridge collapse or drowning of the Titanic ship.
The calculation of accident loss includes damaged property and incurred expenses related to accidents like industry losses and cleanup.
#10. Titanic
Value: $150 Million
The sinking of the Titanic is probably is the most famous accident in the world. But it barely makes our list of top 10 most expensive. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic the most luxurious ocean liner ever built. Over 1,500 people lost their lives when the ship ran into an iceberg and sunk in frigid waters. The ship cost $7 million to build ($150 million in today’s dollars).
#9. Bridge Vs Tanker Truck
Value: $358 Million
On 26th August 2004, one car collided with one tanker truck which contained 32,000 liters fuel on Wiehltal Bridge, Germany. The tanker then crashed through the side of guardrail and as result, it fell off 90 feet of the A4 Autobahn and resulted in a humongous explosion and fierce fire which completely destroyed load bearing abilities of the bridge.
Temporary repairs are done cost around 40 million dollars and 318 Million dollars were spent to replace the bridge.
#8. MetroLink Crash
Value: $500 Million
On 12th September 2008, the world witnessed a train crash in California which was termed as one of the worst crashes of all time.
25 people lost there life when Metrolink commuter daily train crashed into Union Pacific daily freight train, head-on, in (LA) Los Angeles.
It was thought that Metrolink train may not have obeyed the red signal because conductor was text messaging.
#7. B-2 Bomber Crash
Value: $1.4 Billion
Here we are discussing the 1st billion dollars valued accident of the list(and it’s just #7 in the list).
B-2, a stealth bomber got crashed just after it took off from the air base of Guam on 23rd February 2008. Investigators put the blame on distorted data of flight control machines (Computers). The reason was moisture in the computer system. Aircraft started making some sudden nose-up movements which made B-2 stall and then crash.
#6. Exxon Valdez
Value: $2.5 Billion
10.8 million gallons of oil spilled on 24th March 1989, when ship’s master captain, Joseph Hazelwood, lost controls and ship crashed with a Reef.
Exxon Valdez spill of oil was not very large one with respect to few biggest fuel spills of the world, but this accident was costly because of Prince William’s remote location (accessible only by helicopter and boat). The cleanup tasks cost Exxon approximately $2.5 billion.
#5. Piper Alpha Oil Rig
Value: $3.4 Billion
This oil disaster is known as the world’s worst oil disaster. Once, it was world’s biggest oil producer and 317000 barrels oil was produced per day.
On 6th July, 1988, a routine maintenance was performed by the technicians staff where all the safety valves were removed and verified . There were approximately 100 valves which prevents any dangerous liquid gas formation. A blunder happened from technicians and they forgot to replace one of the valve.
A technician started the setup for the gas pumps same night at 10 PM and world witnessed most expensive accident of oil rig history. The 300 foot of platform was set in flames within 2 hours which finally collapsed, killing 168 workers and resulted $3.4 Billion of damages.
#4. Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion
Value: $5.5 Billion
The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space worthy shuttle in NASA’s orbital fleet. It was destroyed during re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003 after a hole was punctured in one of the wings during launch 16 days earlier. The original cost of the shuttle was $2 Billion in 1978. That comes out to $6.3 Billion in today’s dollars. $500 million was spent on the investigation, making it the costliest aircraft accident investigation in history. The search and recovery of debris cost $300 million.
Accident Video
In the end, the total cost of the accident (not including replacement of the shuttle) came out to $13 Billion according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
#3. Prestige Oil Spill
Value: $12 Billion
On 13th November 2002, in Spain, Prestige tanker which was carrying 77,000 ton of fuel got burst in a storm. One of the tanks burst out of total twelve tanks.
The captain feared that ship might sink then he called Spanish rescue team for help, expected them to put the ship at the harbor. However, local authority pressurized captain to move the ship out of the Coast’s reach.
The captain then tried to get the help of Portuguese and French authorities, but he did not receive any favorable response, instead, he was asked to keep the ship away from their coats. The Later storm took the toll and split the tanker into half and spoiled 20 million gallons of oil.
According to Pontevedra Economist’s report, the cleanup cost was $12 billion.
#2. Columbia Space Shuttle
Value: $13 Billion
The Columbia Space Shuttle was first space shuttle in NASA’s orbital squad. It got destroyed over Texas during re-entry on 1st February 2003. It was due to a punctured hole in one wing 16 days earlier to the launch. The cost of that shuttle was 2 billion US dollars in 1978. It is equivalent to 6.3 Billion dollars in today’s US dollars.
Another 500 million dollars were spent on an investigation which made it costliest investigation on aircraft crash history. The recovery and search cost was 300 million dollars.
At last, the total loss in this accident (without including shuttle replacement) was calculated as 13 Billion dollars.
#1. Chernobyl
Value: $200 Billion
On 26th April 1986, the world witnessed the costliest accident of the history. Chernobyl disaster is said to be the biggest accident in peacetime. Nearly half of the Ukraine’s area was contaminated. 1.7 million Human lives were affected and approximately 200000 people were evacuated due to this disaster. There were many after effect of the disaster and death count reached to 125000, including people died due to cancer a few years later.
The total loss including resettlement, cleanup and compensation was given to victims was estimated roughly to $200 Billion. The cost of a new shelter for Chernobyl plant was alone 2 billion. It was officially associated with a violation of safety regulation by the operators who ignored the safety requirements.
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