# 11. Titanic - $150 Million
The sinking of the Titanic is possibly the most famous accident in the world. But it barely makes our list of top 10 most expensive. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage and was considered to be the most luxurious ocean liner ever built. Over 1,500 people lost their lives when the ship ran into an iceberg and sunk in frigid waters. The ship cost $7 million to build ($150 million in today ' s dollars).


#10. Tanker Truck vs Bridge - $358 Million
On August 26, 2004, a car collided with a tanker truck containing 32,000 liters of fuel on the Wiehltal Bridge in Germany . The tanker crashed through the guardrail and fell 90 feet off the A4 Autobahn resulting in a huge explosion and fire which destroyed the load-bearing ability of the bridge. Temporary repairs cost $40 million and the cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $318 Million.

# 9. MetroLink Crash - $500 Million
On September 12, 2008, in what was one of the worst train crashes in California history, 25 people were killed when a Metrolink commuter train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles . It is thought that the Metrolink train may have run through a red signal while the conductor was busy text messaging.. Wrongful death lawsuits are expected to cause $500 million in losses for Metrolink.

# 8. B-2 Bomber Crash - $1.4 Billion
Here we have our first billion dollar accident (and we ' re only #7 on the list). This B-2 stealth bomber crashed shortly after taking off from an air base in Guam on February 23, 2008. Investigators blamed distorted data in the flight control computers caused by moisture in the system. This resulted in the aircraft making a sudden nose-up move which made the B-2 stall and crash. This was 1 of only 21 ever built and was the most expensive aviation accident in history. Both pilots were able to eject to safety.


# 7. Exxon Valdez - $2.5 Billion
The Exxon Valdez oil spill was not a large one in relation to the world ' s biggest oil spills, but it was a costly one due to the remote location of Prince William Sound (accessible only by helicopter and boat). On March 24, 1989, 10.8 million gallons of oil was spilled when the ship ' s master, Joseph Hazelwood, left the controls and the ship crashed into a Reef. The cleanup cost Exxon $2.5 billion.

# 6. Piper Alpha Oil Rig - $3.4 Billion
The world ' s worst off-shore oil disaster. At one time, it was the world ' s single largest oil producer, spewing out 317,000 barrels of oil per day. On July 6, 1988, as part of routine maintenance, technicians removed and checked safety valves which were essential in preventing dangerous build-up of liquid gas. There were 100 identical safety valves which were checked. Unfortunately, the technicians made a mistake and forgot to replace one of them. At 10 PM that same night, a technician pressed a start button for the liquid gas pumps and the world ' s most expensive oil rig accident was set in motion.
Within 2 hours, the 300 foot platform was engulfed in flames. It eventually collapsed, killing 167 workers and resulting in $3.4 Billion in damages.

# 5. Challenger Explosion - $5.5 Billion
The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after takeoff due on January 28, 1986 due to a faulty O-ring. It failed to seal one of the joints, allowing pressurized gas to reach the outside. This in turn caused the external tank to dump its payload of liquid hydrogen causing a massive explosion. The cost of replacing the Space Shuttle was $2 billion in 1986 ($4.5 billion in today ' s dollars). The cost of investigation, problem correction, and replacement of lost equipment cost $450 million from 1986-1987 ($1 Billion in today ' s dollars).

# 4. Prestige Oil Spill - $12 Billion
On November 13, 2002, the Prestige oil tanker was carrying 77,000 tons of heavy fuel oil when one of its twelve tanks burst during a storm off Galicia , Spain . Fearing that the ship would sink, the captain called for help from Spanish rescue workers, expecting them to take the ship into harbour. However, pressure from local authorities forced the captain to steer the ship away from the coast. The captain tried to get help from the French and Portuguese authorities, but they too ordered the ship away from their shores. The storm eventually took its toll on the ship resulting in the tanker splitting in half and releasing 20 million gallons oil into the sea.
According to a report by the Pontevedra Economist Board, the total cleanup cost $12 billion.

# 3. Space Shuttle Columbia - $13 Billion
The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space worthy shuttle in NASA ' s orbital fleet. It was destroyed during re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003 after a hole was punctured in one of the wings during launch 16 days earlier. The original cost of the shuttle was $2 Billion in 1978. That comes out to $6.3 Billion in today ' s dollars. $500 million was spent on the investigation, making it the costliest aircraft accident investigation in history. The search and recovery of debris cost $300 million.
In the end, the total cost of the accident (not including replacement of the shuttle) came out to $13 Billion according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics..

# 2. Chernobyl - $200 Billion
On April 26, 1986, the world witnessed the costliest accident in history. The Chernobyl disaster has been called the biggest socio-economic catastrophe in peacetime history. 50% of the area of Ukraine is in some way contaminated. Over 200,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled while 1.7 million people were directly affected by the disaster. The death toll attributed to Chernobyl , including people who died from cancer years later, is estimated at 125,000. The total costs including cleanup, resettlement, and compensation to victims has been estimated to be roughly $200 Billion. The cost of a new steel shelter for the Chernobyl nuclear plant will cost $2 billion alone. The accident was officially attributed to power plant operators who violated plant procedures and were ignorant of the safety requirements needed.


# 1. 2008 Presidential Election- $800 Billion in the first two months………..

 

yawn...

 

the fact that i was only 4 or 5 when most of that stuff happened.........................priceless!

 

Mackman, I'm assuming someone ELSE wrote all that info, so I'm not blaming YOU, but look at the text under #8. Not only does it erroneously state that we are "at #7 on the list," but it is also NOT the "first" billion dollar accident. Reorder the list by DATES.... not dollars.... to find out which was the FIRST.

Oh, and add # 1.5.... the $700 Billion dollar TARP program authorized by Dubya before Obama took office. THAT money has pretty much already been dispersed.... with NO record of whose pocket it ended up in.... whereas the Obama money will be spread out over about 4 years or so, with at least SOME infrastructure and projects to represent it, and with full disclosure and transparency at:

www.recovery.gov


Btw, where are y'all getting.... and how much are you paying.... for your "Chicken Little" suits? I want to buy one for posterity! :lol2:

 

Hobo...the FOXNews Group is not interested in anything that happened during the "W" times. That $700 Billion was just fodder.

 

And, are we going to get $800 billion worth out of it? I seriously doubt it. But, WE WILL GET THE BILL FOR IT.

 

I just copied and paste it from another forum i visit.

 

This country would have been much better off had we allowed these investment companies and banks to fail. They could have filed bankruptcy and their assets sold off in pieces to pay their debts. Both parties have sold out to the socialists. The government can't even successfully run a government yet they now want to take over the banking business. One thing we should note about what has happened in the banking industry now and back around 1980 when the savings and loan companies went bust. It primarily affected those in New York, the Northeast and New England. Just as in 1980, the media hype complicated things by spreading panic across the country. There are many smaller banks that were not directly affected by the banking failure in New York. The problem comes in when larger companies who may have been doing business with the large New York banks had their credit lines either closed or severely reduced. That made in much more difficult to do business. It became a domino effect across the country. When companies cannot finance their short term needs they will need to cut back on costs. Those costs could include cutting hours or jobs. This further complicates the situation because laid off workers or those with less expendable income spend less which in turn effects retailers and so on down the line. We have been told that something needed to be done. Something would have been done had the government stayed out of it. These investment companies and banks would have had to forgo their billions in bonuses and their investors would have had to put some of the billions they have made off the backs of hard working Americans back into their businesses or suffered bankruptcy. Under bankruptcy assets would have been sold off to pay creditors. The investors would have lost most or all of their investments but it would not have affected most of the U.S. That is the way things should work in a capitalistic system.

 

# 12. Enduring yet another post from Golfhobo - $Incalculable

 

Just a thought for you.

What percentage of the American workforce is employed by the big businesses that are getting bailed out, and what percentage of the workforce is, or was, employed by small, privately owned businesses that are now boarded up? Yes, restaurants qualify as a small, privately owned business. In my area, McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King, and Checkers are still staying open, but have cut their workforce by half. Not that 12 hours/week is going to pay any bodies' mortgages.

And, just who is getting the bail-outs?

How much more effective would it be to give financial grants to people to start up small businesses, and start putting people back to work? Can you imagine how many businesses could be started with $800 billion? If each employs at least a dozen people, how many would that put to work?