Seven cavers become trapped underground after heavy rains on the surface cause water levels inside the Vitarelles caves in southern France to rise. The seven are not rescued until over a week later.
The 300-bed Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana takes in patients from other hospitals during Hurricane Katrina. Relatives of the patients and others also arrive until there are over 2,000 people at the hospital.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale rocks Pakistan. Two ten-storey blocks in the Margalla Towers, a luxury apartment complex in Islamabad, collapse.
A JR-207 type train, bound for Osaka on a commuter service, derails on a curve at a speed greater than the limit for that section of track. The two front carriages crash into an adjacent apartment block.