Today in History: 1,863 people drowned after Senegalese ferry ‘Le Joola’ capsized off Gambia in 2002

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on September 26:

1901 - Great Britain annexes the Ashanti Kingdom and places it under the governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana).

1907 – New Zealand becomes dominion within British Empire.

1937 – American blues singer Bessie Smith died after a car crash.

1997 – Mafia boss Salvatore Riina and 23 of his closest associates were jailed for life for the 1992 killing of prosecutor Giovanni Falcone.

2000 – Large-scale protests and rioting in Prague during IMF and World Bank meeting.

2002 – Senegalese ferry the Joola capsized off the Gambian coast. Only 64 people survived and 1,863 people drowned.

2006 – American golfing great Byron Nelson, who won an unprecedented 11 successive PGA Tour events during 1945, died at the age of 94.

2007 – Judge declares a mistrial in murder trial of pioneering rock music producer Phil Spector.

2009 – Thousands of people marooned in Manila by tropical storm Ketsana.

2010 – British model Naomi Campbell marks 25 years in the fashion industry.

2011 – Opening statements in trial of singer Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray.

2014 – Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft launches carrying International Space Station crew including the first Russian woman to serve on the space outpost.

(Reuters)