List of accidents involving sports teams
This is a list of accidents where all or part of a major sports team had been killed or seriously injured.
(Click on date for associated article)
Date
Team
Sport
Airline
Aircraft
Location
Fatalities
Description
Ref
Total
Team
31 March 1931
Notre Dame
American football
Transcontinental & Western Air
Fokker F.10
Bazaar , Kansas , United States
8
1
Famed football coach Knute Rockne killed.
31 March 1933
Winnipeg Toilers
Basketball
Private
Ford Tri-Motor
Neodesha , Kansas
7
?
Crashed into a field attempting a forced landing on a flight from Tulsa .
[1]
13 January 1946
Army swimming team
Swimming
USAAF
Curtiss Commando
Pacific Ocean near Majuro , Marshall Islands
12
?
Crashed on a flight to Johnston Island ; 17 occupants swam to shore, other 12 missing.
[2]
6 August 1947
Army-Navy softball team
Softball
United States Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalina
within Alaska , United States
20
?
Disappeared flying from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor (Unalaska ).
[3]
11 January 1948
BBC Santiago
Baseball
Dominicana de Aviacion
Douglas C-47
Yamasa , Dominican Republic
32
?
Team was returning from matches in Barahona and encountered severe weather, crashing into a mountain trying to divert to Ciudad Trujillo .
[4]
8 November 1948
Czechoslovak national ice hockey team
Ice hockey
Escadrille Mercure Taxis Aeriens
Beechcraft C18S
English Channel
8
6
Six players of Czechoslovak national ice hockey team including Ladislav Troják were killed on their way to Great Britain.
[5]
4 May 1949
Torino F.C.
Association football
Avio Linee Italiane
Fiat G212CP
Superga , Turin , Italy
31
23
Eighteen players of the Grande Torino and five club officials were killed when the plane crashed on its landing approach to the Turin airport.
5 January 1950
VVS Moscow
Ice hockey
Soviet Air Force
Lisunov Li-2
Sverdlovsk , Soviet Union
19
13
Almost the entire team was killed in a crash during a fifth attempt to land at Koltsovo Airport at Sverdlovsk (modern day Yekaterinburg) in extremely adverse weather conditions involving a heavy snowstorm with strong winds.
2 April 1952
IFK Norrköping
Association football
Fred Olsen Flyveselskap
Douglas C-47
Mimizan , France
0
0
Belly landed on a beach after engine failure on a flight from Madrid to Bordeaux .
[6]
24 November 1956
TJ Baník Chomutov
Ice hockey
Czechoslovak Airlines
Ilyushin Il-12 B
Eglisau , Switzerland
23
5
Three players, two top club officials and a reporter were among others on board the scheduled flight from Zurich to Prague , which crashed in fields after an engine failure. All on board perished.
[7] [8]
9 December 1956
Saskatchewan Roughriders Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Canadian football
Trans-Canada Air Lines
Canadair North Star
Chilliwack, British Columbia , Canada
62
5
Five players were killed returning home from that year's all-star game held in Vancouver , BC . The plane crashed into Mount Slesse near Chilliwack after encountering severe icing and turbulence over the mountains.
6 February 1958
Manchester United
Association football
British European Airways
Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador
Munich , West Germany
23
11
Eight players and three club staff members killed when their plane failed to take off on its third attempt. Of the remaining team, two players received career-ending injuries.
[9]
14 August 1958
Egypt national fencing team
Fencing
KLM
Lockheed L-1049H-01-06-162 Super Constellation
Atlantic Ocean off Ireland
99
6
Six players killed.
16 July 1960
Danish Olympic football triallists
Association football
Zone-Redningskorpset
De Havilland Dragon Rapide
Copenhagen , Denmark
8
8
Eight players killed.
29 October 1960
California Polytechnic State University
American football
Arctic Pacific
Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando
Toledo , Ohio , United States
22
17
Sixteen players killed.
15 February 1961
US figure skating team
Figure skating
Sabena
Boeing 707
Brussels , Belgium
73
25
Entire team killed while en route to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague , Czechoslovakia.
3 April 1961
C.D. Green Cross
Association football
LAN Chile
Douglas C-47 A-35-DL
Llico , Chile
24
8
Eight members of the team killed.
[10]
6 February 1965
Santiago's Antonio Varas football team
Association football
LAN Chile
Douglas DC-6 B-404
Andes Mountains , Chile
87
22
Twenty-two players and staff of team killed.
28 January 1966
Italy national swimming team
Swimming
Lufthansa
Convair CV-440
Bremen , West Germany
46
8
Eight members of team were killed.
26 September 1969
The Strongest
Association football
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano
Douglas DC-6
Viloco , Bolivia
74
20
Seventeen players and three team staff members were killed.
15 February 1970
Puerto Rico women's national volleyball team
Volleyball
Dominicana de Aviación
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Caribbean Sea near Las Américas Int'l Airport
102
12
The head coach and eleven players were killed.
[11]
1 April 1970
Youth ice hockey team from Novosibirsk
Ice Hockey
Aeroflot
Antonov An-24B
20 km southeast of Toguchin
45
?
Caused by a collision with a weather balloon . The team was on its way to participate in the Golden Puck tournament. There were no survivors.
[12]
2 October 1970
Wichita State University
American football
Golden Eagle Aviation
Martin 4-0-4
Clear Creek County , Colorado , United States
31
15
14 players and coach Ben Wilson killed. One of two planes en route to game vs. Utah State University . Other plane with reserve players and assistant coaches landed safely at Logan, Utah .
14 November 1970
Marshall University
American football
Southern Airways
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Wayne County , West Virginia , United States
75
46
Most of the team killed as plane hit tree line and exploded upon impact as it made final approach to Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, West Virginia . Plane was flying team back to campus after game at East Carolina University . Among those killed were 37 players and 9 coaching staff members.
13 October 1972
Old Christians Club
Rugby union
Uruguayan Air Force
Fairchild FH-227
Argentina
29
12
Eleven players were killed. Survivors resorted to cannibalism until their rescue on December 23.
13 February 1975
Västra Frölunda IF
Ice hockey
Baron Air
Cessna 402
Gävle , Sweden
0
0[note]
Seven players injured when Baron Air SE-GGN crashed.
[13] [14]
29 November 1975
Embassy Racing With Graham Hill
Auto racing
N/A
Piper PA-23
North London , England
6
6
Six team members killed while returning from a test session at Circuit Paul Ricard in France. The dead included recently-retired double Formula One champion Graham Hill (who piloted the plane) and driver Tony Brise .
6 October 1976
Cuban National Fencing Team
Fencing
Cubana de Aviación
Douglas DC-8
Seawell Airport , Bridgetown , Barbados
73
24
24 members of the 1975 national Cuban fencing team were all killed as a result of a bomb on board.
13 December 1977
University of Evansville
Men's basketball
Air Indiana
DC-3
Evansville , Indiana , United States
29
19
Entire team (save one player) and coaching staff, along with members of the press, boosters, and plane crew, are all killed in crash shortly after take-off from Evansville en route to a game against Middle Tennessee State University . The sole team member who did not board the plane died in a car crash two weeks later.
11 August 1979
FC Pakhtakor Tashkent
Association football
Aeroflot
Tupolev Tu-134
Dniprodzerzhynsk , Soviet Union
178
17
Entire team killed in mid-air collision
10 January 1980
Louisiana State University
American football
Private
Cessna 441 Conquest II
Atlantic Ocean off Virginia
2
1
Coach Bo Rein and pilot killed when plane flew well off course and crashed after running out of fuel
14 March 1980
US amateur boxing team
Boxing
LOT Polish Airlines
Ilyushin Il-62
Warsaw , Poland
87
14
Killed a 14-man American boxing team
25 November 1985
Iowa State Cyclones women's cross country team
Cross country running
Private
Aero Commander twin-engine
Des Moines, Iowa , United States
7
6
All killed on the return trip from the 1985 Championships . 15 other members of the men's team and coaching staff were aboard 2 other planes which successfully made the trip the same night.
[15]
8 December 1987
Alianza Lima
Association football
Peruvian Navy
Fokker F27
Lima , Peru
43
23
Entire team killed
7 June 1989
Colourful 11
Association football
Surinam Airways
Douglas DC-8
Paramaribo , Suriname
176
15
15 players died, 3 survived with career-ending injuries
1 April 1993
Alan Kulwicki Racing
Auto racing
Private plane
Swearingen Merlin III
near Blountville, Tennessee , United States
4
1
NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki , two executives of the Hooters restaurant chain, and the pilot were killed while on approach to the nearby Tri-Cities Regional Airport .
27 April 1993
Zambia national football team
Association football
Zambian Air Force
De Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo
Atlantic Ocean off Gabon
30
22
All killed. Their captain and star player Kalusha Bwalya was slated to travel separately from his European club and so was the only player left of the entire squad
27 January 2001
Oklahoma State University
Men's basketball
Charter flight
Beechcraft Super King Air
Strasburg , Colorado , United States
10
8
Two players killed, as well as some team staff and media
[16]
24 October 2004
Hendrick Motorsports
Auto racing
Charter flight
Beechcraft Super King Air
Martinsville , Virginia , United States
10
3
Flight featured race team president John Hendrick, chief engine builder Randy Dorton , and former driver Ricky Hendrick among the victims. All aboard were killed.
30 March 2008
Apex Motorsports
Auto racing
Charter flight
Cessna Citation 501
Farnborough, London , England
5
3
All killed including team manager (Richard Lloyd ), driver (David Leslie ) and a data engineer.
7 September 2011
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Ice hockey
Yak-Service
Yakovlev Yak-42
Yaroslavl , Russia
44
37
All killed, one player survived impact but died in hospital
[17]
17 November 2011
Oklahoma State University
Women's basketball
Charter flight
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Perryville , Arkansas , United States
4
2
Head coach , assistant coach, and others
[18]
28 November 2016
Chapecoense
Association football
LaMia Bolivia, CA Charter Flight
Avro RJ85 (BAe 146)
La Unión, Antioquia , Colombia
71
42
Crashed at Medellín , Colombia en route to attend the 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals against Atletico Nacional . Among those killed were: 19 players, 14 club staff members, 9 club board members and 4 Fox Sports Brazil journalists. Three players survived the crash, with one player received career-ending injury.
[19]
24 January 2021
Palmas
Association football
Charter flight
Beechcraft Baron
Porto Nacional, Tocantins , Brazil
6
5
Crashed at Luzimangues, a district of Porto Nacional, Tocantins , Brazil. Four players and the president of Brazilian club Palmas were killed. They were traveling to Goiania in a light aircraft for an away game against Vila Nova in the Copa Verde , an annual competition played between 24 teams from the north and central-west regions of Brazil .
[20]
1. ^ Frölunda chartered three planes to carry the entire team's roster, one of which carried seven team members and crashed.
Accidents involving other modes of transport
(Click on date for associated article where present)
Date
Team
Sport
Transportation
Location
Fatalities
Description
Ref
31 October 1903
Purdue University
American football
Train
Indiana , United States
17
14 members of team killed
22 January 1927
Baylor University
Basketball
Bus
Texas , United States
10
10 members of team killed
3 October 1936
L'Aquila Calcio
Association football
Train
Lazio , Italy
15
Coach dead and all players forced to quit professional football due to injuries in a train crash in Contigliano , on the Terni–Sulmona railway . Team was relegated never managed to recover the second-tier Serie B league. 15 or more were killed.
[21]
11 March 1949
St. Edwards High School
Basketball
1949 Ford
Elgin, Illinois , United States
0
7 people (4 high school students and 3 workers from defunct radio station WILA-FM licensed in Woodstock ) were injured after their 1949 Ford Station Wagon collided with a Buick while returning back from an Elgin Vs. Carpentersville high school basketball game.
[22]
5 July 1951
Þór Akureyri
Association football & Athletics
Bus
Óshlíð, Iceland
2
2 members of club killed, one was part of the football team the other was part of the Athletic team
[23]
3 January 1973
Vestal High School
Swimming
Bus
New York , United States
3
3 members of the boys' swimming team killed, and 15 others were injured when their bus skidded on ice and overturned on the Southern Tier Expressway .
[24]
24 November 1974
Sherbrooke Castors
Ice hockey
Bus
Quebec , Canada
1
1 member of team killed, 29 injured
21 January 1984
Whitefish High School
Wrestling
Bus
Montana , United States
9
9 members of the boys' wrestling team killed, and 18 others injured when their bus skidded on ice and collided with a gas tanker truck that was jackknifed in the middle of the road off of US Highway 2 .
[25]
30 December 1986
Swift Current Broncos
Ice hockey
Bus
Saskatchewan , Canada
4
4 members of team killed
[23]
10 May 1987
Querétaro F.C.
Association football
Bus
San Luis Potosí , Mexico
3
3 members of team killed
[26]
20 January 1989
Samsunspor
Association football
Bus
Samsun , Turkey
5
3 players and coach Nuri Asan killed. 2 players have career ending injuries.
[27]
24 January 1992
University of Notre Dame
Swimming
Bus
Indiana , United States
2
2 members of the women's swim team killed
[28]
21 May 1992
California Angels
Baseball
Bus
New Jersey , United States
0
Angels manager Buck Rodgers , three coaches, four players, and four others were injured when their bus ran off the New Jersey Turnpike near Woodbury, New Jersey .
[29]
5 November 1997
HC CourmAosta
Ice hockey
Car
Aosta Valley , Italy
1
1 player killed, 2 injured
[30]
29 January 2005
Windsor Wildcats U-21 Female Hockey
Ice hockey
Bus
New York , United States
4
Team coach, 2 passengers, and truck driver killed, 19 others injured when the team bus veered off the road and hit an illegally parked semi-trailer truck.
[31] [32] [33]
2 March 2007
Bluffton University
Baseball
Bus
Georgia , United States
7
5 members of team killed, 2 bus drivers
12 January 2008
Bathurst High School
Basketball
Van
New Brunswick , Canada
8
7 members of team killed, 1 teacher
15 January 2009
Brasil de Pelotas
Association football
Bus
Canguçu , Brazil
3
2 players and one member of staff killed
[34]
18 July 2009
FC Dynamo Khmelnytskyi
Association football
Bus
Letychiv , Ukraine
1
1 player killed (Ihor Sholin ), 2 other severely injured (including one career-ending injury) and multiple lighter injuries when their bus was hit by a truck.
[35]
16 March 2013
Seton Hill University
Lacrosse
Bus
Pennsylvania , United States
2
1 coach and 1 bus driver killed
[36]
18 February 2014
Mes Kerman
Association football
Bus
Kerman-Tehran Road , Yazd province , Iran
15[37]
15 member of team killed, several injured
[38] [39]
28 February 2014
Carleton Ultimate Team
Ultimate
Car
Minnesota , United States
3
3 members of team killed, 2 seriously injured
[40]
26 September 2014
North Central Texas College
Softball
Bus
Oklahoma , United States
4
4 members of team killed
6 April 2018
Humboldt Broncos
Ice hockey
Bus
Saskatchewan , Canada
16
10 players, 2 coaches, statistician, radio announcer, athletic trainer, and bus driver killed; 13 injured
[41]
15 January 2020
College of the Holy Cross
Rowing
Van
Vero Beach , Florida , United States
1
1 member of the women’s rowing team killed, 7 others injured including 1 coach when the van made a left turn into the path of a truck.
[42]
15 March 2022
Southwest Mustangs
Golf
Van
Andrews County , Texas , United States
9
6 members of the men's and women's golf teams killed (who were heading back from New Mexico), along with the head coach and two others, when a pickup truck crossed the centerline of the road and struck the team van in Western Texas.
[43]
21 August 2022
Indiana State University
American football
Car
Indiana SR 46 , Riley , Indiana
2
The driver of the vehicle, an Indiana State University student was killed; 2 ISU football players were killed, 2 additional ISU football players were injured but survived the crash.
[44] [45]
29 January 2023
Vila Maria Helena FC
Association football
Bus
Além Paraíba , Brazil
4
The U16, U18 and U20 teams were returning to Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro after a youth tournament in Ubaporanga . The bus fell off a bridge, 3 players and 1 adult died, 24 injured were taken to hospitals in Além Paraíba and the nearby city of Leopoldina, Minas Gerais .
[46]
12 August 2023
Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC
Association football
Car
Chư Pưh, Pleiku , Gia Lai , Vietnam
3
Kiatisuk Senamuang 's personal car. Carrying 3 members of club by a private driver of the club, he collided with a truck from behind and then crashed into a truck in front, causing assistant coach Dương Minh Ninh, Doctor Đào Trọng Trí and Portuguese player Paollo Madeira died.
[47]
24 December 2023
Bam Khatoon F.C.
Association football
Car
Kerman-Bam Road , Kerman province , Iran
1
Three players of Bam Khatoon and the Iran national team were involved in this accident. Melika Mohammadi was killed and Behnaz Taherkhani and Zahra Khajavi were injured.
[48]
See also
References
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