Bethnal Green is a London Underground station in Bethnal Green, Greater London, England, and is served by the Central line between Liverpool Street and Mile End. The station was opened as part of the long planned Central line eastern extension on 4 December 1946; before that it was used as an air-raid shelter. On 3 March 1943, 173 people were killed in a crush while attempting to enter the shelter, in what is believed to be the largest loss of civilian life in the UK during World War II.