After the Hindenburg caught fire during the mooring maneuver in Lakehurst, the hydrogen-filled airship burned completely in just under one minute and sank to the ground of the landing field. The photograph shows the collapsed, still-burning skeleton of the LZ 129 – a stage immediately after the crash in which rescue forces simultaneously advance toward the wreckage. This phase of the disaster documents the final end of the airship and the beginning of rescue and salvage operations. The catastrophe of May 6, 1937 claimed the lives of 36 people and sealed the end of commercial passenger airship service.