WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO JULY 1988
Find out what all happened April to July 1988

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus. (3. July 1988)

Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted. (24. May 1988)

United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. (3. July 1988)

Gare de Lyon rail accident In Paris a train collides with a stationary train killing 56 people. (27. June 1988)

In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. (14. April 1988)

Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight. (28. April 1988)

The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more. (8. July 1988)

In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. (25. April 1988)

The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II. (18. April 1988)

The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. (29. May 1988)

The Ojhri Camp disaster: Killing more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as a result of rockets and other munitions expelled by the blast. (10. April 1988)

A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day. (8. May 1988)

The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire. (4. May 1988)

General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests. (23. July 1988)

Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. (4. April 1988)

32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia. (31. July 1988)

Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. 27 die in the crash and ensuing fire. (14. May 1988)

Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. (4. June 1988)

The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life. (6. July 1988)

The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. (14. April 1988)