On this day March 15 1986 tragedy struck in Singapore when the six story Hotel New World collapsed suddenly killing 33 people and trapping many others under the rubble. The disaster was one of the worst structural failures in the country’s history.
Rescue teams worked tirelessly for days to search for survivors pulling 17 people from the wreckage. Investigations later revealed that the collapse was caused by serious structural design flaws and overloading of the building leading to its catastrophic failure.
80s insight: The Hotel New World collapse led to major reforms in Singapore’s building safety regulations to prevent similar tragedies in the future.