March 6, 1987 – Mere minutes after her departure, the car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise sank just off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The bow doors had not been shut, flooding the car deck, capsizing the ship, and leaving more than 400 crew and passengers struggling to stay afloat in the icy seas. Nearly 200 people perished, and the tragedy led to new safety regulations in the British ferry industry.
Before Costa Concordia: Peacetime Sea Tragedies Through History
In the wake of the recent Costa Concordia disaster off Italy's west coast, NewsFeed takes a look back at some of the world's worst peacetime ship disasters since Titanic.