New Year's Eve celebrations often transform from occasions of joy and welcoming a new year with hope into painful memories and tragedies etched in the annals of global accidents. Over the past two decades, and up to the beginning of 2026, the world witnessed a series of bloody incidents ranging from terrorist attacks and fires caused by negligence to fatal stampedes, turning nights of celebration into mourning in many countries.
2026 and 2025: The tragedies of recent years
In the latest episode of this bloody series, the world awoke at the beginning of 2026 to a tragedy at the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland , where a massive fire engulfed a crowded bar, leaving 40 dead and more than 100 injured, bringing back to mind the dangers of safety in crowded enclosed spaces.
The year before was no less bloody, as the United States witnessed a terrorist incident in Louisiana in 2025, carried out by former soldier Shamseddine Jabbar (42 years old), who declared his allegiance to ISIS before running over a crowd of revelers, killing 14 people and injuring 30 others, before the police ended his life in an exchange of gunfire.
Terrorism strikes celebrants (2004-2017)
New Year's gatherings have long been a target for extremist groups. In Turkey in 2017, Istanbul experienced a horrific night when a gunman stormed the Reina nightclub, opening fire indiscriminately and killing 39 people, mostly foreigners, in an attack later claimed by ISIS. Going back to 2004, Indonesia was the scene of a bomb attack at a concert in Aceh province that killed 10 people; the attack was attributed to the Free Aceh Movement, a separatist group.
Disorganization and deadly stampedes
Aside from terrorism, poor organization was the primary cause of death. In China in 2015, a tourist avenue in Shanghai became a death trap, with 36 people trampled to death in a stampede. A similar tragedy unfolded in Africa in 2013, with separate stampedes in Ivory Coast and Angola claiming dozens of lives as people left festival venues.
In 2023, Uganda paid the price for negligence when organizers of a party at a shopping mall closed the exits, causing a stampede that killed 10 people, most of them teenagers and children who were eager to watch the fireworks.
Fires caused by negligence and fireworks
Fireworks in enclosed spaces are a recipe for disaster, as demonstrated in Thailand in 2009 when the Santika nightclub caught fire, killing 66 people. Years earlier, in 2001, a similar tragedy struck a café in Volendam, Netherlands, where the use of flares ignited decorations and the ceiling, resulting in 14 deaths and 268 injuries amidst panic and a lack of adequate emergency exits.
