List of crowd accidents from 1900 to 2024

This list contains information about crowd accidents that occurred worldwide between 1900 and 2024. The files included in this dataset are described as follows:

• accident_data_raw.csv - CSV file containing information on all accidents, as indicated in the header. Dates, countries, and locations are provided using commonly used standards. Information such as fatalities or the number of people injured is reported using expressions found in the referenced sources (for example, "a dozen people" is recorded as "dozen"). Descriptions are written by the author; please refer to the original sources for full details, as descriptions may not be completely accurate (the most recent entries have been generated using AI tools and then verified). References are provided as text files, as described below.
• references.zip - ZIP file containing the sources used to collect information on each accident. The date of the accident is used as the filename (and is reported in the last column of the dataset above). Sources for each accident are listed line by line in the corresponding text file.
• accident_data_numeric.csv - CSV file containing only numeric values corresponding to word-based expressions. The conversion scheme used is provided below; alternative approaches are possible.
• number_conversion.csv - CSV file describing the conversion scheme used to transform word expressions into numerical values.
• gis_data.zip - Shapefiles for use with mapping applications. The content of these files is generated from the CSV files listed above and is provided for convenience.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The criteria used to compile this list differ slightly from those used in the previous version. Only accidents with at least one fatality are included here (the previous version also included cases with 10 or more injuries). The time period has been extended from 2019 to 2024, and newly identified accidents have been added. In total, 132 accidents have been added.

If you use this data, please cite the following work. It provides an extensive description of the methods used to collect the data and the definitions of relevant categories (e.g., purpose of the gathering). Although the data presented there refer to a previous version of this dataset, the methods remain applicable (except for the focus on fatalities-only accidents in this version).

• Feliciani, Claudio, et al. "Trends in crowd accidents based on an analysis of press reports." Safety science 164 (2023): 106174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106174

The following works have helped identify previously unlisted accidents:

• Dubroca-Voisin, Capucine-Marin. "How to navigate crowd crushes history? A compilation of six existing sources." Collective Dynamics 8 (2023): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.17815/CD.2023.145
• Yang, Xiangmin, et al. "Characteristics of crowd disaster: Database construction and pattern identification." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 111 (2024): 104653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104653
• The database provided by the people behind Working with Crowds. https://www.workingwithcrowds.com/crowd-disasters-and-incidents/