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While the Titanic is history's most famous shipwreck, its death toll was eclipsed by a lesser-known maritime disaster almost 80 years ago.

On January 30, 1945, an estimated 9343 people died when the Nazi liner Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed in the Baltic Sea during the closing stages of World War II.

In comparison, the death toll from the 1912 Titanic disaster was 1500.

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The German troops and civilians aboard the Gustloff – including large numbers of women and children – boarded the vessel in German-occupied Poland with high hopes of survival.

Many had heard rumours of the savage treatment handed out by the advancing Soviet army to civilians in eastern Germany including the mass rape of women.

But the Russian submarines roaming the Baltic Sea did not regard it as a refugee ship.

Crucially, by carrying anti-aircraft guns as well as 1000 military personnel, it was a legitimate target under international law.

And decisions by the Gustloff's Captain, Wilhelm Peterson, and German naval commanders during the fateful voyage made the ship a sitting duck.

Its only naval escort was a small torpedo boat, and the fear of sea mines convinced Captain Peterson to take his vessel through the deeper open sea where submarines could operate.

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And concerned about the state of the ship's engines after not being sailed for four years, he decided to keep a slow speed of just 12 knots.

Then, after being alerted to a nearby German convoy and fearing a mid-sea collision, Captain Peterson turned the Gustloff's lights and beacons on.

His order defied military officers aboard who warned it would make the vessel easy prey for submarine attack.

All these factors – and an outside air temperature of -18C – combined in an eventual death sentence for most of the ship's passengers.

And nine hours into their voyage disaster struck, when three torpedoes fired by the Russian submarine S-13 slammed into the port side of the Gustloff.

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Survivors described mass panic aboard, with many people killed as water poured through its pierced hull. Others perished in a stampede on the stairs and decks.

There were not enough lifeboats and many were frozen to the deck. And those who plunged into the sea perished within minutes due to exposure in the freezing water.

German naval vessels rushed to the scene and rescued more than 900 people.

With the end of World War II in May 1945 and Germans determined to close the chapter on Hitler's Third Reich, the catastrophe slipped into obscurity.

Today the Gustloff wreck remains on the Baltic Sea floor and is an official war grave.

To deter treasure hunters, Polish authorities have made it illegal to go within 500 metres of it.

A funeral was held for the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, a week after the renowned Zen master and peace activist died at the age of 95 in Hue in central Vietnam.

Thousands of monks and disciples trailed a procession of pallbearers carrying Nhat Hanh's coffin from Tu Hieu Pagoda on Saturday (local time), where he spent his last days, to the cremation site.

Others kneeled and clasped their hands in prayer on the roadside and bowed to the ground as the casket went past.

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Nhat Hanh was globally recognized for spreading the practice of mindfulness and socially engaged Buddhism, particularly in the West.

For most of his life, he lived in exile at Plum Village, a retreat center he founded in southern France.

Born Nguyen Dinh Lang in 1926 in Hue and ordained at the age of 16, Nhat Hanh distilled Buddhist teachings on compassion and suffering into easily grasped guidance over a lifetime dedicated to working for peace.

His campaign against the Vietnam War in the 1960s led to him being barred from returning to both North and South Vietnam.

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He was only allowed back into the country in 2005, when the communist-ruled government welcomed him back in the first of several visits.

Surviving a stroke in 2014 that left him unable to speak, Nhat Hanh returned home in October 2018, spending his final years at the Tu Hieu Pagoda.

During the seven-day wake, Nhat Hanh was laid in state in Tu Hieu Pagoda's full moon reception hall, where his disciples came to pay respect in silence and practice meditation as a tribute to his teachings.

"I am happy and feel at peace that I could come to Hue to say farewell and meditate with 'Su Ong' for the last time," said Do Minh Hieu, a follower of Nhat Hanh's who travelled from southern Ho Chi Minh City with his family for the funeral.

"Su Ong" is an affectionate Vietnamese term meaning "Grandpa Monk."

According to his wishes, Nhat Hanh will be cremated and his ashes will be scattered at Plum Village centers and monasteries around the world.