On this day in 1971, a disastrous avalanche caused the death of hundreds at Yanawayin Lake, northeast of Lima.

The site made world headlines in 1971 when on March 18 a rock avalanche of 100,000 cubic metres (3,500,000 cu ft)[5] fell from an outcrop of jointed limestone about 400 metres (1,300 ft) above the lake. It created a wave of 30 metres (98 ft) that destroyed the Chungar Mining Company (Cia Minera Chungar, S.A.) camp on the shore, destroyed all the mines’ surface facilities,[5] and killed 200–600 miners.[3][5][6]

Source: Yanawayin Lake – Wikipedia