1,159 people die when ferry sinks in Tsugaru Strait 60 years ago tonight (Sep 26 1954)

(Sunday, September 26, 1954, 10:43 p.m. local time) — The Japanese commercial ferry Toya Maru capsized and sank tonight during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait several hundred meters off the shore of Hakodate.

Of the 1,309 on board, only 150 people survived, while 1,159 (1,041 passengers, 73 crew and 41 others) died.