On this day - 15 April

RMS Titanic was only four days into her maiden voyage on a trip from Southampton to New York when disaster struck. She sailed into an iceberg as she was unable to be turned quickly enough after the lookouts spotted it. The iceberg struck the side of the craft, rupturing six of the sixteen compartments that made up the vessel.

The safety procedures on board were standard of the time and meant that there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers, as lifeboats were expected to ferry passengers to a safe vessel. When this occurred there were no nearby ships able to take passengers and this, combined with many of the lifeboats leaving unfilled, led to a huge loss of life. More than one thousand passengers and crew were left on board as the craft went down. Many drowned or died due to cold water shock as they entered the water. All survivors were rescued by other ships within around 90 minutes however over one thousand five hundred people died as a result of this disaster. New maritime rules were swiftly put in place increasing the number of liferafts required.

An FA cup semi-final played at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield was the site of a fatal crowd crush on April 15th 1989. Liverpool were playing Nottingham Forest. There were two standing only areas for Liverpool supporters to stand and watch the match from. Shortly before kick off, a large amount of fans were allowed entry through an exit gate in an attempt to ease some of the crowding. Overcrowding in the pen resulted in over 750 injuries and nearly 100 fatalities.