2018 in review: A year that experienced pain

World
Europe

01:37

For better or for worse, 2018 is nearing its end, and in just a few days, a new year will herald a fresh start and a chance to make things right. But before this year becomes history, we are turning back the clock to revisit the biggest events and most notable moments that grabbed the headlines – and our attention – in the past 360-odd days. "2018 in Review" is a four-episode series about this year's news that are set to shape 2019.

2018 witnessed many heartbreaking moments around the world – natural disasters, accidents, regional conflicts and refugee crises – that left a lasting impression on us.

Natural disasters devastated many regions. Super Typhoon Mangkhut, a powerful tropical cyclone, brought widespread destruction to the Philippines and Hong Kong in mid-September, while Indonesia was struck by nine big earthquakes in one year, which killed almost 3,000 people and affected two million people overall.

The year's worst accident happened when the Phoenix – which had 105 people on board, including 93 Chinese tourists and 12 Thai crew members – went down in bad weather off the coast of Phuket, Thailand. Forty-seven Chinese were killed in the tragic accident.

Meanwhile, migrant crises deepened. Migrant arrivals and refugees to the EU this year have reached 76,000. The doorsteps of Italy and Greece have been hit the hardest, where fences are stormed, overcrowded camps are bursting at the seams and boats full of people are stranded at sea. In Central America, thousands of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador tried to stream into the U.S.

Regional conflicts continued. Israelis and Arabs have been fighting for decades, with no end in sight. Israeli air strikes completely destroyed Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV building in the Gaza Strip in November. The war in Yemen sparked a massive humanitarian crisis, causing some 14 million Yemenis to be on the brink of starvation, more than four years into the country's war.