1993 - An air crash that killed 59 people in a remote but popular tourism spot has fuelled worries that Chinese air safety is falling behind the furious growth of civil aviation. China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119, bound for Beijing, crashed on takeoff in the Ningxia province capital of Yinchuan, killing 59 of its 113 passengers and crew. Numerous passengers were being treated for serious injuries. Xinhua news agency said that 21 of the 54 people in hospital were in intensive care with serious injuries and that 40 survivors, including two foreigners, were not in mortal danger. Hundreds of troops joined the rescue in Yinchuan a city near the Great Wall that draws growing numbers of tourists seeking adventure in the rugged, sparsely-populated northwest.
Other important events
1798 - Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt.
1829 - The first typewriter is patented by William Burt of Mount Vernon, Michigan.
1920 - King Faisal’s Arab army is defeated at Maysaloun, and Syria falls to the French.
1921 - The first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party is held.
1952 - Egyptian military officers, led by Jamal Abdul Nasser, overthrow King Farouq I.
1970 - Qaboos Bin Saeed becomes Sultan of Oman.
1972 - First Earth Resources Technology Satellite is launched.
1997 - Slobodan Milosevic becomes President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1999 - King Hassan II of Morocco dies.
2001 - Megawati Sukarnoputri is sworn in as Indonesian president.
2005 - Multiple pre-dawn bombings targeting several hotels kill at least 88 in the Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm Al Shaikh.
2007 - Afghanistan’s last king Mohammad Zahir Shah dies in Kabul.
2011 - British soul singer Amy Winehouse is found dead in her home in London. She was 27.
2014 - Taiwanese airline TransAsia Airways crashes while landing outside an airport and killing 47 people on board.
2015 - A Earth-like planet Kepler 452b is discovered.
2016 - Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov sets world record for flying round the globe in a hot air balloon in just over 11 days.
2017 - Chris Froome of Britain wins his fourth title of Tour de France.
