On May 6, 1937, the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire while docking at the naval air station Lakehurst, New Jersey, and burned completely within seconds. The photograph shows the airship at an advanced stage of the fire, as the structure of the Zeppelin was already collapsing and the wreckage descended to the ground. Of the 97 people on board, 36 died; the disaster was recorded by several film cameras and marked the end of commercial passenger airship service.