On This Day: December 16

Historical Events 📜

• 2024: The Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, takes place, resulting in the death of three people.
• 2022: A landslide occurs at a camp at an organic farm near the town of Batang Kali in Selangor, Malaysia, trapping 92 people and killing 31.
• 2014: Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants attack an Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 150 people, 132 of them schoolchildren.
• 2013: A bus falls from an elevated highway in Manila, capital of the Philippines, killing at least 18 people with 20 injured.
• 2011: The Zhanaozen massacre occurs when violent protests by oil workers take place in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, resulting in security forces killing at least 14 and injuring 100 more.
• 1997: Dennō Senshi Porygon: Over 600 kids in Japan suffer photosensitive epileptic seizures after watching an episode of the Pokémon anime.
• 1992: Deportation of Hamas members: Israeli authorities began deporting hundreds of Palestinians suspected to be members of Hamas across the Lebanese border.
• 1989: Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
• 1986: The Jeltoqsan riots erupt in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, in response to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s dismissal of ethnic Kazakh Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and his replacement with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian from the Russian SFSR.
• 1973: Aeroflot Flight 2022 crashes in the Soviet Union’s (now Russia) Volokolamsky District, killing all 51 aboard, including four Lithuanian doctors.
• 1972: The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh is enacted.
• 1971: Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh and Vijay Diwas in India respectively.
• 1971: The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain’s independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain’s National Day.
• 1968: Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
• 1960: A United Air Lines Douglas DC-8 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York and crash, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft and six more on the ground.

Famous Births 👶

• 2001: Kai Cenat, American streamer
• 1998: Mira Antonitsch, Austrian tennis player
• 1998: Zhou Jieqiong, Chinese singer and actress
• 1996: Wilfred Ndidi, Nigerian footballer
• 1996: Sergio Reguilón, Spanish footballer
• 1996: Henry Thornton, Australian cricketer
• 1994: Nigel Hayes, American basketball player
• 1994: Nicola Murru, Italian footballer
• 1994: José Rodríguez, Spanish footballer
• 1993: Jyoti Amge, Indian actress
• 1993: Stephan James, Canadian actor
• 1992: Anamul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1992: Tom Rogic, Australian footballer
• 1991: Craig Goodwin, Australian footballer
• 1991: David Johnson, American football player

Notable Deaths 🕊️

• 2025: Lusanda Dumke, South African professional rugby union player who played as a flanker (born 1996)
• 2024: Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player (born 1943)
• 2024: Tulsi Gowda, Indian environmentalist (born 1937/1938)
• 2023: Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (born 1937)
• 2017: Keely Smith, American singer and actress (born 1928)
• 2015: Peter Dickinson, Rhodesian-English author and poet (born 1927)
• 2015: Lizmark, Mexican wrestler (born 1950)
• 2015: George Earl Ortman, American painter and sculptor (born 1926)
• 2014: Martin Brasier, English paleontologist, biologist, and academic (born 1947)
• 2014: Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (born 1955)
• 2014: Tahira Qazi, Pakistani educationist and principal of Army Public School Peshawar who was killed in the Peshawar school attack.
• 2013: James Flint, English commander (born 1913)
• 2013: Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1926)
• 2013: Marta Russell, American journalist, author, and activist (born 1951)
• 2012: Elwood V. Jensen, American biologist and academic (born 1920)

Holidays & Observances 🎉

• Christian feast day:
  Adelaide of Italy
• Christian feast day:
  Haggai
• Christian feast day:
  Blessed Marianna Fontanella
• Christian feast day:
  Blessed Philip Siphong Onphitak
• Christian feast day:
  Ralph Adams Cram, Richard Upjohn and John La Farge (Episcopal Church (USA))
• Christian feast day:
  December 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Reconciliation, formerly celebrated as Day of the Vow by the Afrikaners (South Africa)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kazakhstan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• National Day, celebrates the withdrawal of United Kingdom from Bahrain, making Bahrain an independent emirate in 1971.
• National Sports Day (Thailand)
• The beginning of the nine-day celebration beginning December 16 and ending December 24, celebrating the trials which Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born (Hispanidad):
  The first day of Las Posadas (Mexico, Latin America)
• The beginning of the nine-day celebration beginning December 16 and ending December 24, celebrating the trials which Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born (Hispanidad):
  The first day of the Simbang Gabi novena of masses (Philippines)
• Victory Day observances, celebration of the Indo-Bangla allied victory over Pakistan armed forces and the Liberation of Bangladesh. (Bangladesh and India[a])