Tukuk-OS📅 May 18
21 events · 12 births · 12 deaths
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What happened on May 18? Below are the notable events chosen by Wikipedia’s editors for this date, followed by celebrated births, deaths and the observances recognised around the world.
Events
- 2018 — Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972 crashed near Santiago de las Vegas shortly after takeoff from José Martí International Airport, killing 112 of the 113 people on board.
Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972Santiago de las VegasJosé Martí International Airport
- 2013 — Mark Carson, an openly gay man, was murdered in a hate crime incident in New York City, prompting a 1,500-person march against anti-LGBTQ violence.
- 2009 — The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.
Sri Lanka ArmyVelupillai PrabhakaranLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
- 2006 — The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers.
Federal Parliament of Nepal2006 Nepalese revolutionGyanendra of Nepal
- 2005 — The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
- 1996 — Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023.
- 1980 — Mount St. Helens explosively erupted (pictured), killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage.
Mount St. Helens1980 eruption of Mount St. HelensWashington (state)
- 1974 — India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
- 1965 — Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.
- 1955 — Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended.
- 1952 — First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors.
- 1944 — The Soviet Union forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country.
Deportation of the Crimean TatarsCrimean TatarsUzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
- 1936 — In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest.
- 1933 — U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority to stimulate the economic development of the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression.
Franklin D. RooseveltTennessee Valley AuthorityEconomic development
- 1927 — Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off explosives with timers and a rifle, causing the Bath School disaster in the Bath Consolidated School in Michigan, killing 44 people in the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.
- 1926 — Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (pictured) was reportedly kidnapped near Venice Beach in Los Angeles before reappearing five weeks later in Mexico.
PentecostalismAimee Semple McPhersonDisappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson
- 1896 — Ruling in the landmark decision Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of racial segregation in public transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.
List of landmark court decisions in the United StatesPlessy v. FergusonSupreme Court of the United States
- 1863 — American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of Vicksburg.
- 1695 — An earthquake measuring .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms 7.8 struck Shanxi Province in northern China, resulting in at least 52,600 deaths.
- 1388 — At the Battle of Buir Lake, a Ming Chinese army led by general Lan Yu defeated the forces of Tögüs Temür, the Mongol khan of Northern Yuan.
- 1302 — Armed insurrectionists massacred the occupying French garrison in Bruges, Flanders, killing approximately 2,000 people.
Births
- 2009 — Hala Finley, American actress
- 2003 — Travis Hunter, American football player
- 2002 — Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater
- 2001 — Emma Navarro, American tennis player
- 2001 — Grace Reiter, American actress, comedian, and content creator
- 2000 — Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
- 2000 — Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
- 1999 — Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 1998 — Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
- 1993 — Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 — Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
- 1992 — Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
Deaths
- 2026 — Tom Kane, American voice actor (born 1962)
- 2024 — Bruce Nordstrom, American businessman (born 1933)
- 2024 — Tony O'Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman (born 1936)
- 2024 — Alice Stewart, American political commentator (born 1966)
- 2023 — Jim Brown, American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)
- 2021 — Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (born 1935)
- 2021 — Yolanda Tortolero, Venezuelan politician
- 2020 — Ken Osmond, American actor and police officer (born 1943)
- 2019 — Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981)
- 2017 — Roger Ailes, American businessman (born 1940)
- 2017 — Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964)
- 2017 — Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (born 1916)
Observances & holidays
- Christian feast day: Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
- Christian feast day: Blessed Blandine Merten
- Christian feast day: Eric IX of Sweden
- Christian feast day: Felix of Cantalice
- Christian feast day: Pope John I
- Christian feast day: Venantius of Camerino
- Christian feast day: May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
- Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
- Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
Independence Day (Somaliland)List of states with limited recognition
- International Museum Day
- National Speech Pathologist Day (United States)
- Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
- Teacher's Day (Syria)
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