List of disasters in Greece by death toll

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Map of Greece and its regions

This list of Greek disasters by death toll includes major disasters (excluding acts of war) that occurred on Greek soil or involved Greek citizens, in a definable incident. In this list, Greece refers to the Hellenic Republic from 1821 to present.

over 200 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
300,000	1941-1942	Great famine	Famine	Nationwide
39,258	2020-2023	COVID-19 pandemic in Greece	Pandemic	Nationwide
3,550	1881	1881 Chios earthquake	Earthquake	Chios, North Aegean
1,300+	1987	1987 Greek heatwave  [ el ]	Heatwave	Nationwide
618	1856	1856 Heraklion earthquake	Earthquake	Crete and Rhodes, South Aegean
550	1867	1867 Lesbos earthquake	Earthquake	Lesbos, North Aegean	[1]
445-800	1953	1953 Ionian earthquake	Earthquake	Ionian Islands
~400	1947	SS Heimara	Shipwreck	Aegean Sea
326-600	1886	1886 Peloponnese earthquake	Earthquake	Peloponnese
~300	1923	Sinking of the Alexander VII  [ el ]	Shipwreck	Off of Psyttaleia, Attica
225	1894	1894 Atalanti earthquakes	Earthquakes	Central Greece
200-224	1867	1867 Lixouri earthquake	Earthquake	Lixouri, Ionian Islands	[2]
236	1966	SS Heraklion	Shipwreck	Aegean Sea

100 to 199 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
181+	1933	1933 Kos earthquake	Earthquake	Kos, South Aegean
161-149	1932	1932 Ierissos earthquake	Earthquake	Macedonia
149	2009-2010	2009 swine flu pandemic	Pandemic	Nationwide	[3]
143	1999	1999 Athens earthquake	Earthquake	Attica
121	2005	Helios Airways Flight 522	Plane crash	Grammatiko, Attica
117	1870	1870 Arachova earthquake	Earthquake	Arachova, Central Greece	[4]
104	2018	2018 Attica wildfires	Forest fires	Attica

10 to 99 deaths

Fatalities	Year	Article	Type	Location	Comments
90	1969	Olympic Airways Flight 954	Plane crash	near Keratea, Attica
88	1974	TWA Flight 841 (1974)	Plane crash	Ionian Sea
85	2007	2007 Greek forest fires	Forest fires	Peloponnese, Attica and Euboea
81	2000	MS Express Samina	Shipwreck	Offshore of Paros, South Aegean
75	1895	1895 Paramythia earthquake	Earthquake	Paramythia, Epirus	[5]
70	1997	Aerosvit Flight 241	Plane crash	Thessaloniki, Macedonia
63	1991	Mount Othrys disaster	Plane crash	Mount Othrys, Central Greece	[6]
57	2023	Tempi train crash	Train collision	Tempi, Thessaly
53	1956	1956 Amorgos earthquake	Earthquake	Santorini and Amorgos, South Aegean
50	1976	Olympic Airways Flight 830	Plane crash	Servia, Macedonia
49	1978	1978 Thessaloniki earthquake	Earthquake	Macedonia
44	1947	1947 Douglas DC-4 crash	Plane crash	Hymettus, Attica	[7]
42	1975	1975 Chania German Air Force crash	Plane crash	Chania, Crete, South Aegean	[8]
40	1941	1941 Larissa earthquake  [ el ]	Earthquake	Larissa, Thessaly
39	1900	Egyptian ship Charkieh	Shipwreck	Karystos Bay, Central Greece
37	1972	Olympic Airways Flight 506	Plane crash	Voula, Attica
36	1889	1889 Lesbos earthquake	Earthquake	Lesbos, North Aegean	[9]
34	1968	Corinth rail disaster	Train collision	Derveni, Corinthia, Peloponnese
34	1989	Olympic Aviation Flight 545	Plane crash	Samos, North Aegean
~33 (Greek)	1963	TSMS Lakonia	Ship fire and sinking	north of Madeira
30	1958	1958 Ioannina bus crash	Bus crash	Ioannina, Epirus	[10]
28	2023	2023 Greece wildfires	Forest fires	Widespread
28	2014	MS Norman Atlantic	Ship fire	Strait of Otranto
28	1983	Chrissi Avgi	Shipwreck	Near Cape Caphereus, Central Greece
26	1995	1995 Aigio earthquake	Earthquake	Western Greece
25+	1954	1954 Sofades earthquake	Earthquake	Thessaly and Central Greece
25	1979	1979 Thessaloniki bus crash	Bus crash	Near Thessaloniki	[11]
24	2017	2017 West Attica floods	Floods	Attica
24	1948	1948 Czech Airlines crash	Plane crash	Mount Taigetos, Peloponnese	[12]
23	1970	1970 Cithaeron HAF C-47 crash	Plane crash	Cithaeron, Central Greece	[13]
22	1949	1949 National Greek Airlines crash	Plane crash	Athens, Attica	[14]
21	1981	Karaiskakis Stadium disaster	Crowd crush	Piraeus, Attica
21	2003	Tempi road accident disaster	Road accident	Tempi, Thessaly
21	2017	Cyclone Numa	Tropical Cyclone	Attica
21	1972	Orfana rail disaster	Train collision	Fyllo, Karditsa, Thessaly
20-24	1986	1986 Kalamata earthquake	Earthquake	Peloponnese
20-22	1981	1981 Gulf of Corinth earthquakes	Earthquake	Peloponnese and Athens
20+	1861	1861 Eliki earthquake	Earthquake	Gulf of Corinth
20	1968	1968 Aegean Sea earthquake	Earthquake	North Aegean
20	1996	F/G Dystos  [ el ]	Shipwreck	Offshore of Kymi, Central Greece
19-67	1957	1957 Fethiye earthquakes	Earthquake	Rhodes, South Aegean
19	1959	Olympic Airways Flight 214  [ el ]	Plane crash	Avlona, Attica	[15]
19	1954	1954 Elefsina Air Base crash	Plane crash	Elefsina Air Base	[16]
17	2023	Storm Daniel	Tropical Cyclone	Thessaly and Central Greece
17	1983	1983 Salonica-Athens bus crash	Bus crash	Attica	[17]
17	2004	2004 Hellenic Army Chinook crash  [ el ]	Helicopter crash	Off of Mount Athos
17	1956	1956 Elefsina Air Base crash	Plane crash	Elefsina Air Base	[18]
17	1943	1943 Rhodes SM.75 crash	Plane crash	Maritsa, Rhodes, South Aegean	[19]
14	1979	Swissair Flight 316	Plane crash	Athens, Attica
14	1979	1979 Samos bus crash	Bus crash	Samos, North Aegean	[20]
13	1993	1993 Ikaria forest fire	Forest fire	Ikaria, North Aegean
11	2022	Euroferry Olympia fire	Ship fire	Off of Corfu, Ionian Islands
11	1982	1982 US Navy C-1A Trader crash	Plane crash	Chania, Crete, South Aegean	[21]
10	1952	1952 USAF C-124 crash	Plane crash	Aroania, Peloponnese	[22]
10	1994	1994 Aigeiros helicopter crash	Helicopter crash	Aigeiros, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace	[23]
10	2013	Collision between the M/V Consouth and the M/V Pirireis	Ship collision	Offshore of Peloponnese	[24]

See also

• List of rail accidents in Greece
• List of earthquakes in Greece
• List of disasters in Croatia by death toll
• List of disasters in Romania by death toll
• List of disasters in Spain by death toll

References

1. "7 Μαρτίου 1867". ΟΑΣΠ (in Greek). Retrieved 7 June 2025.
2. "4 Φεβρουαρίου 1867". ΟΑΣΠ (in Greek). Retrieved 7 June 2025.
3. Athanasiou, Maria; Lytras, Theodore; Spala, Georgia; Triantafyllou, Eleni; Gkolfinopoulou, Kassiani; Theocharopoulos, Georgios; Patrinos, Stavros; Danis, Kostas; Detsis, Marios; Tsiodras, Sotirios; Bonovas, Stefanos; Panagiotopoulos, Takis (9 November 2010). "Fatal cases associated with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) reported in Greece". PLOS Currents. 2: RRN1194. doi: 10.1371/currents.RRN1194 . PMC   2976846 . PMID   21085493.
4. "1 Αυγούστου 1870". ΟΑΣΠ (in Greek). Retrieved 7 June 2025.
5. "Σαν σήμερα 14.05.1895, Ο καταστροφικός σεισμός 6.3 ρίχτερ της Παραμυθιάς με 75 θύματα". Paramythia Online (in Greek). 14 May 2025. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
6. "Crash of a Lockheed C-130H on Mt Othrys: 63 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
7. "Crash of a Douglas DC-4-1009 near Athens: 44 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
8. "Crash of a Transall C-160D near Chania: 42 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
9. Stoukas, Michael (12 June 2017). "Οι σεισμοί της Λέσβου και της Χίου από την αρχαιότητα μέχρι σήμερα" (in Greek). protothema.gr. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
10. "Greek Bus Crash Takes 30 Lives". Reading Eagle. 22 December 1958. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
11. "25 persons killed in bus crash". The Phoenix. 14 March 1979. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
12. "Crash of a Douglas C47A-20-DK on Mt Taigetos: 24 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
13. "Crash of a Douglas C-47 near Vilia: 23 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
14. "Crash of a Douglas C-47A-1-DK near Athens: 22 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
15. "Crash of a Douglas C-47A-30-DL near Avlona: 19 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
16. "Crash of a Douglas C-47 at Elefsis AFB: 19 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
17. "Bloody collision kills 17 in Greece". Times Daily. 12 February 1983. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
18. "Crash of a Douglas C-47 on Mt Dirfi: 17 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
19. "Crash of a Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 bis II off Rhodes: 17 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
20. "14 are killed in Greek bus crash". St. Joseph News-Press. 29 January 1979. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
21. "Crash of a Grumman C-1A Trader in Hania: 11 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
22. "Crash of a Douglas C-124C Globemaster II on Mt Helmos: 10 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
23. "Ten killed in Greek chopper crash". UPI.com. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
24. "MARINE CASUALTY SAFETY INVESTIGATION REPORT 06/2013 Collision between M/V Consouth & M/V Pirireis" (PDF). HBMCI . Retrieved 7 June 2025.