Monday, May 3, 1824

An elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapsed, killing 26 people and injuring 98 others.

Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal; she has never been found.

The Kargil War initiates when Indian forces detected the infiltration of Pakistani forces in Indian-administered Kargil, a city in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Doppler on Wheels team measured the fastest winds recorded on Earth, at 143.6 m/s (321 mph; 517 km/h), in a tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma.

Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany.

Police in Birmingham, Alabama, used high-pressure water hoses and dogs against civil-rights protesters, bringing scrutiny on racial segregation in the southern United States.

The Off-Broadway show The Fantasticks premiered, eventually becoming the world's longest-running musical, with 17,162 performances across 42 years.

A new Constitution of Japan went into effect, providing for a parliamentary system of government, guaranteeing certain fundamental rights, and relegating the Japanese monarchy to a purely ceremonial role.

Second World War: The German ocean liner Cap Arcona, afloat in the Bay of Lübeck with thousands of concentration camp survivors on board, was attacked and sunk by the Royal Air Force.

Second World War: Japanese forces began an invasion of Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands, enabling them to threaten and intercept supply and communication routes between the United States and Australasia.

Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence.

Under the British Government of Ireland Act, Ireland was partitioned into two self-governing territories, Northern and Southern Ireland.