On This Day: 18 January

18 January in Indian history

• 1898British colonial engineer and estate manager William Claxton Peppé discovered the Buddha's remains in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, India.India

18 January in world history

• 2026At least 45 people are killed and 292 others injured after two trains collide in Adamuz in the worst railway disaster in over a decade in Spain.
• 2023A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky.
• 2019An oil pipeline explosion killed 137 people in Tlahuelilpan, Mexico.
• 2018A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.
• 2012More than 115,000 websites engage in an online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the US.[citation needed] The websites involved viewed the laws as infringing on the right to free speech and many of them temporarily shut down
• 1986An Aerovías Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes on approach to Mundo Maya International Airport in Flores, Petén, Guatemala, killing all 94 people on board.
• 1977SFR Yugoslavia's Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1967Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 1958Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins played his first game in the National Hockey League, becoming the first black Canadian to compete in the NHL.
• 1958Members of the Lumbee tribe arrived to protest at a Ku Klux Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, which turned into an armed confrontation between the two groups.
• 1956Iranian Shia cleric Navvab Safavi, founder of the fundamentalist group Fada'iyan-e Islam, was executed for attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Hossein Ala'.
• 1943World War II: In Operation Iskra, the Red Army established a narrow land corridor to Leningrad, partially easing the protracted German siege of the city.
• 1941World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
• 1932The Alt Llobregat insurrection began with a miners' strike in Fígols and quickly spreads throughout central Catalonia.
• 1913First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
• 1871The German Empire was formed by the unification of previously independent German states, under the rule of Kaiser Wilhelm I.
• 474The young child Leo II became the sole Byzantine emperor upon the death of his grandfather Leo I.

Born on 18 January

• 1973Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
• 1953B. K. Misra, Indian neurosurgeonIndia
• 1937John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020)
• 1936David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
• 1927S. Balachander, Indian actor, singer, and veena player (died 1990)India
• 1793Pratap Singh Bhosle, Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (died 1847)India

Died on 18 January

• 2025Claire van Kampen, English director and composer (born 1953)
• 2016T. S. Sinnathuray, Judge of the High Court of Singapore (born 1930)
• 2003Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Indian poet and author (born 1907)India
• 1996N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (born 1923)India

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 18 January in history?

2026: At least 45 people are killed and 292 others injured after two trains collide in Adamuz in the worst railway disaster in over a decade in Spain. 2023: A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky. 2019: An oil pipeline explosion killed 137 people in Tlahuelilpan, Mexico. 2018: A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.

What happened on 18 January in Indian history?

1898: British colonial engineer and estate manager William Claxton Peppé discovered the Buddha's remains in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Which famous people were born on 18 January?

Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director (1973); B. K. Misra, Indian neurosurgeon (1953); John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020) (1937); David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (1936).

Which day is observed on 18 January?

Royal Thai Armed Forces Day (Thailand).