the pushed towards this new state was driven in part from a burst of transport - related disasters in the late 1980s , such as the sinking of cross - channel barge the herald of freely enterprise in 1987 , the pipeline platform ian alpha disaster in 1988 , and the marchioness thames channel boat collision in 1989 . more than 400 fishermen lose their lives in these other disasters , but no particular individual or community was summoned to note .
100 or more people lost their lives in a ferry sinking.