The disasters timeline provides a quick overview of New Zealand's worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life
New Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near Tangiwai. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy stunned the world and left a nation in mourning.
For most second-class travellers, travelling the main trunk meant a long, sleepless journey on hard-backed seats, struggling to find 'elusive comfort with the NZR pillow'.
This map shows the wide dispersal of wreckage after the engine and first six carriages of the Wellington–Auckland express plunged into the Whangaehu River near Tangiwai on Christmas Eve 1953.
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh attends the mass funeral at Karori Cemetery, Wellington, on 31 December 1953 for 21 of the victims of the Tangiwai tragedy. A few months later the grave was exhumed when it became clear that a number of the bodies were misidentified.
One of the most memorable and poignant moments in New Zealand cricket history occurred on 26 December 1953, just two days after the Tangiwai rail disaster.