The worst in the last 15 years:
Dec 20th, 1987: Philippines In the worst peacetime sea tragedy, the ferry Dona Paz sank after a collision with the tanker Vector in the Sibuyan Sea. 4,375 people died on the ferry, 11 of the Vector's 13-man crew were killed.
Oct 24th, 1988: Philippines Dona Marilyn, sister ship of Dona Paz, sank killing 250.
Dec 15th, 1991: Egypt 464 people were killed when the Salem Express hit coral outside the Red Sea port of Safaga.
Feb 17th, 1993: Haiti Passenger ferry Neptune with 800-2,000 aboard sank off Petit Goave, west of Port-au-Prince, after leaving the port of Jeremie. Several hundred people drowned.
Oct 10th, 1993 South Korea The Seohae ferry, overloaded with 362 people, capsized off Puan county killing 292.
April 29th, 1994: Kenya A ferry capsized after leaving the village of Mtongwe near Mombasa, killing 272 people.
Aug 20th, 1994: Bangladesh More than 300 people died after an overcrowded ferry travelling from Dhaka sank in a whirlpool in the Meghna river while trying to berth at Chandpur.
Sept 28th, 1994: Estonia/Finland 852 people drowned when the ferry Estonia carrying 989 people sank off the Finnish island of Utoe, en route to Stockholm. It was Europe's worst peacetime maritime disaster.
June 29th, 2000: Indonesia Some 550 people died when an Indonesian ferry, the Cahaya Bahari, packed with 561 refugees and other passengers, sank off the coast of Sulawesi.
Oct 19th, 2001: Indonesia 353 people were killed when an overcrowded boat, carrying asylum seekers to Australia from Lampung in Sumatra, sank near Java.
Sept 26th, 2002: Senegal State-owned ferry Joola, designed to carry 550 people, capsized off the Gambian coast with nearly 2,000 passengers and crew aboard. 1,863 people were killed and only 64 were rescued.
July 9th, 2003: Bangladesh Up to 400 people drowned after the ferry MV Nasreen sank in the monsoon-swollen Meghna river 170 km (106 miles) southeast of Dhaka.
May 23rd, 2004: At least 200 die when two ferries sink in the Meghna river.