Flashback 2021: Ten Most Striking Photographs From The Year That Will Remain Etched In Memory

A collage of images that defined 2021 | Photos: AFP/Getty

Richard Barnett, a supporter of former US President Donald Trump, sits inside the office of then US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. Demonstrators breached security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election’s Electoral Vote Certification | Photo: AFP

This satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of the MV Ever Given container ship and tugboats in the Suez Canal on March 29, 2021. The MV Ever Given was refloated and the Suez Canal reopened on March 29, 2021, sparking relief almost a week after the huge container ship got stuck during a sandstorm and blocked a major artery for global trade | Photo: AFP

An oxygen cylinder is being carried on a cart drawn by oxen in New Delhi. India saw a massive surge in Covid-19 cases during the second wave that started in April and continued until August, marked by an increase in the demand for oxygen amid high fatalities | Photo: Getty

Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray near the rubble of a destroyed mosque in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on May 27, 2021. After 11 days of deadly violence between Israel and the Hamas movement, which runs Gaza, a ceasefire was reached. According to the Gaza health ministry, bombardment by Israel killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, while Israel claimed rockets from Gaza claimed 12 lives, including one child and an Israeli soldier, in the country | Photo: AFP

A picture taken on July 15, 2021 shows cars piled up by the water at a roundabout in the Belgian city of Verviers, after heavy rains and floods lashed western Europe | Photo: AFP

An image grab taken from Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television on August 16, 2021, shows Members of Taliban taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul after Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country. Taliban forces patrolled Kabul after a swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war, as thousands rushed to the city's airport trying to flee the group's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule | Photo: AFP

Afghan people sit inside a US military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021 after Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan | Photo: AFP

Cloud of ash and lava coming out of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in Tacande de Abajo, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. The eruption that began on September 19, 2021 continued until December 13, destroying hundreds of buildings and vegetation | Photo: Getty

Simon Kofe, foreign minister of the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, stood thigh-deep in seawater as he addressed the UN climate summit in Glasgow. His objective was to demonstrate how rising sea levels and the raging climate crisis threatened the low-lying country. "We will not stand idly by as the water rises around us," Kofe said. The image was striking and his words moved many | Photo: Tuvalu Government

An aerial view of the businesses destroyed by a tornado that hit Mayfield in Kentucky on December 12, 2021. Multiple storms ripped through the US this year, causing severe damage and leaving people dead | Photo: Getty