WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO SEPTEMBER 1988
Find out what all happened May to September 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)

Al Holbert was fatally injured when his privately owned propeller driven Piper PA-60 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff near Columbus, Ohio when a clamshell door was not closed. (30. September 1988)

The Tompkins Square Park Riot in New York City spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible for the event. (6. August 1988)

The Troubles: Eight British Army soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by a Provisional Irish Republican Army roadside bomb in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom (see Ballygawley bus bombing). (20. August 1988)

End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students), are killed by the Tatmadaw. (18. September 1988)

The Chiado area in Lisbon is partially destroyed by a fire. (25. August 1988)

Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure). (13. September 1988)

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

Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan. (15. May 1988)

A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. (16. May 1988)

Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II. (10. August 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)

Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. (29. September 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 St Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (11. September 1988)

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

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station. (7. September 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)

Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured. (28. August 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)