| Seconds From Disaster | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 50+ |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30/40–50 minutes |
| Production company(s) | National Geographic Society Darlow Smithson Productions |
| Distributor | National Geographic Channel |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | National Geographic Channel |
| Original airing | July 6, 2004 - March 7, 2007 September 5, 2011 - present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Seismic Seconds |
| Followed by | Critical Situation |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Seconds from Disaster is an American documentary television series that aired from July 6, 2004 to March 7, 2007 and from September 5, 2011 to October 2011 on the National Geographic Channel. The program investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters. Each episode aims to explain a single incident[1] by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately affected the disaster.
The series uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience.
Seconds from Disaster was broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and originally consisted of 45 episodes over three seasons. Following its original conclusion in 2007, the series was promptly replaced with Critical Situation. In 2011 National Geographic revived the series, announcing it would air a new season from September 5, 2011. It began with an episode about the September 11 attacks and later episodes include the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bhopal disaster, the Ladbroke Grove rail crash and the 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision as their subjects.[2]
Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith (seasons 1 to 3), Richard Vaughan (local narrator for seasons 1, 2 and first 6 episodes of season 3; narrator from season 4 onwards) and Peter Guinness (local narrator for last 13 episodes of season 3).
Contents |
Seconds from Disaster is characterised by an emphasis on chronological sequencing (in accordance with the show's name), the use of CGI technology and its blueprint-like CGI format. The show has little or no dialogue for the actors in the re-enactments, but instead is almost entirely dominated by the narrator.
Each episode begins with a chronological re-enactment of the disaster, which is always cut into several scenes displaying critical moments in the unfolding of the disaster with a clock appearing at the beginning of each scene. After the sequence of events, the show "winds back" the scenes to analyse the causes and events leading up to it. The series uses blueprint-formatted CGI in every episode to reveal the anatomy of the disaster and the structures involved but in episodes 7–19 in season 3, the blue formatting of the CGI is not used on the background and is replaced with a white background. The CGI is emphasized heavily throughout each episode, such as at the beginning, where the narrator often says "Advanced computer simulation will take us where no camera can go: into the heart of the disaster zone", and before the analysis of the disaster, where he says "cutting-edge simulation will reveal just what happened in those final seconds, from disaster".
The show concludes with the original disaster scenes being "rewound" and played again; the clock is replaced by a countdown timer and the conclusions reached from the analysis being put together with the sequence. Most often, the show finishes with a short moment of sentimentality (where those involved often speak of their emotions on the disaster) followed by the technological advances made to prevent similar disasters from happening again.
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National Geographic Channel has broadcast many episodes under multiple titles. The title currently or most recently listed on the NGC Calendar is shown first. Alternate titles are shown in parentheses.
| # | Airdate | Title | Disaster | Date of disaster | Nature of disaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 6 | "Crash of the Concorde" (Concorde) |
Air France Flight 4590 | July 25, 2000 | Tire blowout, fuel leak, wing fire |
| As a Concorde supersonic jet operating as Air France Flight 4590 takes off from Charles de Gaulle International Airport, it catches fire and crashes into a hotel in Gonesse, killing all 109 people on board and four in the hotel. | |||||
| 2 | July 13 | "Tunnel Inferno" | Mont Blanc Tunnel fire | March 24, 1999 | Lorry engine catches fire, initial cause uncertain. |
| A truck carrying margarine catches fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel, which connects France and Italy under Mont Blanc. 38 people are killed in the inferno. | |||||
| 3 | July 20 | "The Bomb in Oklahoma City" (Oklahoma City) |
Oklahoma City bombing | April 19, 1995 | Truck bomb |
| In retaliation against the U.S. government, Timothy McVeigh parks a truck carrying a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Minutes later it explodes, destroying the building and killing 168 people. | |||||
| 4 | July 27 | "Fire on the Star" (Fire Onboard the Star) |
M/S Scandinavian Star Fire | April 7, 1990 | Arson, confusing ship layout, lack of staff training and common language |
| An arsonist sets a fire on Deck 3 of the Frederikshavn, Denmark-bound M/S Scandinavian Star, loaded with passengers and cars at Oslo, Norway. 158 people on board die from smoke inhalation. | |||||
| 5 | August 3 | "Derailment at Eschede" (High Speed Train Crash) |
Eschede train disaster | June 3, 1998 | Metal fatigue |
| A wheel of the InterCity Express (ICE) No. 884 'Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen' fails during travel in Eschede, Germany. The train derails and collides with a bridge, killing 101 people and injuring 88. | |||||
| 6 | August 10 | "Wreck of the Sunset Limited" | 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck | September 22, 1993 | Barge collision with bridge in fog, bent tracks |
| After one of a string of barges hit a support of a bridge in Big Bayou Canot, the Sunset Limited (an Amtrak train) derails as it crosses the bridge, resulting in its collapse and the deaths of 47 people. | |||||
| 7 | August 17 | "Meltdown in Chernobyl" | Chernobyl disaster | April 26, 1986 | Design flaws in reactor, poor management |
| An explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant kills 56 people while the health of thousands more continue to be affected. | |||||
| 8 | August 24 | "Inferno in Guadalajara" (Inferno at Guadalajara) |
Guadalajara gas explosions | April 22, 1992 | Metal-to-metal corrosion, gas leak into sewers |
| Days after residents of Guadalajara complained of a foul smell, a series of gasoline-fueled explosions in the sewers kills 206 people. | |||||
| 9 | August 31 | "Fire on the Ski Slope" | Kaprun disaster | November 11, 2000 | Hydraulic oil leaked onto fan heater element, caught fire |
| A funicular train catches fire as it travels through a tunnel at the Kaprun Ski Resort, killing 155 people. Only 12 survived by walking downwards and out of the tunnel. | |||||
| 10 | October 5 | "Explosion in the North Sea" | Piper Alpha disaster | July 6, 1988 | LPG explosion, ruptured pipelines, human error |
| A series of explosions and fires on the Piper Alpha, an oil platform 110 miles off the coast of Scotland that had been converted to liquified petroleum gas (LPG) production, results in the deaths of 167 people and the collapse of the platform. | |||||
| 11 | October 12 | "Flood at Stava Dam" (Flood at Stava) |
Collapse of Stava Dam | July 19, 1985 | Poor maintenance and management, water overload in the top dam |
| Two dams above the village of Stava in northern Italy collapse, causing an ensuing mudslide and flood down the Stava River valley that kills 268 people in the village below. | |||||
| 12 | October 19 | "Collision on the Runway" | Tenerife airport disaster | March 27, 1977 | pilot error, pilot attempted to take off in limited visibility without ensuring that the runway was clear |
| A KLM Boeing 747 slams into a Pan Am Boeing 747, causing both to explode on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. | |||||
| 13 | October 26 | "Pentagon 9/11" (Pentagon 9-11) (Pentagon Plane Crash) |
American Airlines Flight 77 | September 11, 2001 | Hijacking, intentional low level building crash |
| As the World Trade Center in New York City burns after being hit by two hijacked aircraft, another hijacked Boeing 757-200 is deliberately flown into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing all 64 people on board and 125 on the ground. | |||||
| # | Airdate | Title | Disaster | Date of disaster | Nature of disaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | June 28 | "Space Shuttle Columbia" (Columbia's Last Flight) |
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | February 1, 2003 | Hole in thermal protection plates in the left wing caused from a piece of insulating foam from external fuel tank |
| As the Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center 16 days before re-entry, a piece of insulating foam breaks off the external fuel tank and damages the left wing of the shuttle. As it enters the Earth's atmosphere during the return trip, it disintegrates under the massive heat, killing all seven astronauts on board. | |||||
| 2 | July 5 | "Alpine Tsunami" | Galtür avalanche | February 23, 1999 | Powder avalanche |
| At the Austrian alpine village of Galtur, snow on the mountains surrounding the village build up. Due to the changing temperature during the month, a strong but brittle layer of ice forms under the snow. On the day of the disaster, the ice layer collapses and the building ice bank slips down the slope and forms a powder avalanche. Two minutes later, it hits Galtur and buries 57 people in the snow, killing 31 of them. | |||||
| 3 | July 12 | "Motorway Plane Crash" (Freeway Plane Crash) |
British Midland Flight 092 | January 8, 1989 | Fan blade failure, lack of cockpit simulation emergency training, pilot error, shutting down the wrong engine |
| British Midland Flight 092, a two-month-old Boeing 737-400, takes-off from Heathrow Airport in London, heading for Belfast. While en route the aircraft's left engine suffers a fan blade failure. Changes in cabin air intake design and engine performance gauges cause the pilot to shut down the wrong engine and prepare for an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport which is just across the M1 motorway at Kegworth. On approach to the airport the damaged left engine fails completely and then catches fire. The crew tries to glide the aircraft to the runway but it bounces over the M1 and crashes on the embankment of the motorway, killing 47 people. | |||||
| 4 | July 26 | "Mount St. Helens Eruption" | 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens | May 18, 1980 | Lava bulge opened by earthquake, volcanic eruption, lahars, landslide |
| Mount St. Helens in the countryside of Washington erupts for the first time in 123 years. A building bulge on the north face of the volcano collapses after a small tremor. It starts a landslide that removes the plug on the volcano, starting the eruption. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens kills 57 people. | |||||
| 5 | August 16 | "Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster" (Capsized in the North Sea) |
MS Herald of Free Enterprise | March 6, 1987 | Crew error |
| The British car ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise departs the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium. The crew have left the bow doors open and water splashes into the car deck. So much water pours in that the car ferry capsizes, taking the lives of 193 passengers and crew. | |||||
| 6 | August 30 | "Kobe Earthquake" (Killer Quake) |
1995 earthquake in Kobe | January 17, 1995 | Earthquake |
| The Japanese city of Kobe is rocked by the Great Hanshin Earthquake which destroys most of its buildings. The driver of a bus and his passengers have a narrow escape when the earthquake causes a section of an elevated freeway to fall leaving the bus dangling over the edge. Many traditional houses collapse due to the heavy roofs and weak walls. Liquefaction occurs at the coastal and port areas of Kobe. 6,434 people die in what was Japan's worst peacetime disaster until the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. | |||||
| 7 | September 13 | "Crash Landing at Sioux City" (Crash Landing in Sioux City) |
United Airlines Flight 232 | July 19, 1989 | Catastrophic engine failure, loss of hydraulics, uncontrollable landing |
| United Airlines Flight 232, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, loses hydraulic pressure after the tail-mounted no.2 engine's fan blade splits and disintegrates. The damage to the aircraft is so severe that it can only turn right. The pilots try to land at Sioux City, Iowa. As the DC-10 descends towards the runway at 6 times the normal descent rate, it rolls right, causing it to break up into three main parts and explode into a fireball. 111 of the 285 people on board are killed in the emergency landing. | |||||
| 8 | September 20 | "The Bali Bombing" (Disco Bombing) |
2002 Bali bombings | October 12, 2002 | Suicide bomb, truck bomb and mobile-started bomb |
| Bombers in Bali attempt to detonate bombs in three different places. The first, a suicide bomb, is detonated in a small nightclub across the road from another nightclub, the Sari Club. A second bomb, a truck filled with explosives parked outside the Sari Club explodes 15 seconds after the first. 45 seconds later, a third mobile activated bomb detonates outside the United States Consulate. The total death toll is 202. | |||||
| 9 | September 27 | "Hotel Collapse Singapore" (Hotel Collapse) |
Hotel New World disaster | March 15, 1986 | Construction error, column failure |
| Hotel New World, a 1-star budget hotel located in Singapore's Little India district, collapses due to growing microcracks in the failing columns. The cracks are caused by the additional weight put on the hotel. After a seven day rescue operation, 17 people are saved, but 33 perish. | |||||
| 10 | October 18 | "TWA 800" (TWA Flight 800) (The Last Flight of TWA 800) |
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 | July 17, 1996 | Center fuel tank explosion probably caused by vaporised fuel ignited from a short circuit |
| TWA Flight 800 leaves New York for Paris 80 minutes late. Only 12 minutes into the flight, there are short circuits in electrical wires which cause ignition of vaporised jet fuel in the center fuel tank. The explosion causes the nose of the aircraft to break off. The plane continues to disintegrate as it plummets into the sea, killing all 230 on board. | |||||
| 11 | November 1 | "Paris Train Crash" (Runaway Train) |
Gare de Lyon rail accident | June 27, 1988 | Brake failure caused by passenger pulling emergency brakes and crew error |
| A commuter train bound for Paris is forced to stop at Melun when a woman pulls the emergency brake. The crew reset the brake system so the train can resume its trip. They make a series of mistakes that results in the train being unable to brake and slow down. When the train arrives at the Gare de Lyon, it collides with another train parked at the station, killing 56 people. | |||||
| 12 | November 15 | "The Hindenburg" (Hindenburg Airship) (Hindenburg Air Ship) |
Hindenburg disaster | May 6, 1937 | Hydrogen leak, static ignition |
| The zeppelin LZ-129 Hindenburg approaches the Lakehurst Naval Air Station for landing. Thunderstorms have added static electricity to the zeppelin's skin. It makes two sharp turns as it approaches the air field, something that the Hindenburg was not designed to do. A cable in one of the hydrogen cells snap and whiplashes the cell. When the landing ropes touch the ground, they are slowly soaked by the light rain falling, a static spark ignites the hydrogen leak. The zeppelin explodes into an inferno and crashes, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and one ground crew member. | |||||
| 13 | December 13 | "Puerto Rico Gas Explosion" | Humberto Vidal Explosion | November 21, 1996 | Propane gas leak |
| For days, a foul smell hangs around in the Humberto Vidal shoe store in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The smell is caused by leaking propane gas coming from an unmapped pipe in the sloping road near the shoe store. Then, an air conditioner with bad wiring is switched on, starting a spark that ignites the propane and the store explodes, claiming 33 lives. | |||||
| # | Airdate | Title | Disaster | Date of disaster | Nature of disaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 10, 2006 | "Skywalk Collapse" (Hotel Skywalk) |
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse | July 17, 1981 | Construction failure |
| 1,500 people gather for a dance in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City. The 2nd and 4th floor skywalks, hung from steel rods, fail . They collapse and crush 114 people to death. This was the worst structural failure in the United States. | |||||
| 2 | March 28, 2006 | "Amsterdam Air Crash" (Schiphol Plane Crash) (Plane Crash in the Suburbs) |
El Al Flight 1862 | October 4, 1992 | Metal fatigue in the fuse pin, engine collision |
| El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-200F cargo airliner, takes-off from Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Metal fatigue in the fuse pin holding up the inner engine on the right wing causes it to fail and force the engine to break off. The engine running at full power shoots forward and knocks out the outer engine and damages 30 ft. of the wing. The lift between the wings becomes unbalanced, but at its current speed, the aircraft is able to remain relatively level in the air. Eight minutes later, when the crew slow down the 747 for landing, it banks sharply to the right and loses altitude. Now out of control, the aircraft crashes into a high-rise apartment building, killing 43 people. | |||||
| 3 | April 18, 2006 | "Russia's Nuclear Sub Nightmare" (Sinking of the Kursk) (The Kursk) |
Russian submarine Kursk explosion | August 12, 2000 | Hydrogen peroxide leak, chemical reaction, poor maintenance |
| During a training mission, a torpedo on board the Kursk leaks hydrogen peroxide. It reacts with iron oxide (rust) in the submarine and blasts the front of the Kursk. Although the submarine has explosion-proof walls, the explosion spreads through the ventilation shafts. 135 seconds later, another explosion rocks the submarine. Then it sinks, killing all but 23 men on board. While they wait to be rescued, special boards that produce oxygen to breathe drop into the oily floor, starting a reaction that creates a fire, killing the survivors. | |||||
| 4 | May 19, 2006 | "King's Cross Fire" (Kings Cross Fire) (London's Subway Inferno) |
King's Cross fire | November 18, 1987 | Dropped match, trench effect |
| A smoker drops a lit match down through a gap between steps in a wooden escalator at the King's Cross tube (underground railway) station, where it ignites grease and accumulated litter. Noticing the glow of the fire, someone presses the emergency knob to stop the escalator. Although most of the blaze remains hidden, the entire area under the escalator is soon on fire. The growing conflagration causes the escalator above it to heat up. It gets so hot that, aided by the rising draught up the stairway, it combusts and blasts a fireball up the escalator, killing 31 people in the ticket hall 20 metres away. This effect is now called the trench effect. | |||||
| 5 | June 27, 2006 | "US Embassy Bombings" (American Embassy Bombing) (Nairobi Bombing) |
1998 U.S. embassy bombings | August 7, 1998 | Truck bombs |
| In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, truck bombs destroy the U.S. Embassy buildings killing 257 and injuring thousands. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are responsible for the attacks. | |||||
| 6 | July 11, 2006 | "Florida Swamp Air Crash" (Everglades Plane Crash) (Florida Air Crash) |
ValuJet Flight 592 | May 11, 1996 | Activation of chemical oxygen generators, in-flight fire |
| ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 with 110 people on board, is bound for Atlanta, Georgia from Miami, Florida. While it taxis for take-off, expired oxygen generators being transported in the cargo hold self-activate. The oxygen ignites in the overheated hold. Shortly after take-off, the cargo fire grows so large that the cabin is consumed in flames. The jet loses control and goes down in the Everglades. There are no survivors as the wreckage is entirely absorbed by the swamp. | |||||
| 7 | July 25, 2006 | "Titanic" (Sinking of the Titanic) |
RMS Titanic | April 14–15, 1912 | Iceberg collision, rivet failure |
| The RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York with over 2,000 people on board, strikes an iceberg. The rivets holding the hull together fail upon impact, allowing water to enter the first five compartments, one more than the ship can handle and remain afloat. It transpires that the vessel is equipped with insufficient lifeboats. Within 2 hours and 40 minutes, the ship sinks, taking with it 1,517 lives. | |||||
| 8 | August 15, 2006 | "Aircraft Carrier Explosion" | USS Forrestal fire | July 29, 1967 | Accidental firing of rocket into armed aircraft, resultant fire detonates various munitions |
| Fighter aircraft on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal prepare to launch for a sortie over Vietnam. An electrical power surge together with an ineffective safety mechanism and altered weapon-arming procedures cause the accidental firing of a Zuni rocket. The rocket strikes another armed and fuelled aircraft, starting a fire that detonates various munitions. Firefighting efforts inadvertently spread the fire below deck. The disaster kills 132 personnel with a further 161 wounded and 2 missing, presumed dead. | |||||
| 9 | September 6, 2006 | "Plane Crash in Queens" (New York Air Crash) |
American Airlines Flight 587 | November 12, 2001 | Design flaw, pilot error, improper use of rudder |
| American Airlines Flight 587, operated by an Airbus A300-600R, leaves John F. Kennedy Airport for Santo Domingo. Shortly after take-off, the A300 encounters wake turbulence from a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 that has taken off from the same runway 30 seconds earlier, causing it to roll violently about its lateral axis. The handling pilot attempts to stabilize the airliner by applying firm rudder, but this is so extreme that it overstresses the attachments between the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer (or 'fin'), causing them to fail. The entire fin then breaks away. Without the fin to give it lateral stability, the aircraft rolls out of control and crashes into Rockaway, Queens, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground. | |||||
| 10 | September 13, 2006 | "Munich Olympic Massacre" (Munich Olympics Massacre) (Olympic Hostage Crisis) |
Munich Massacre | September 5–6, 1972 | Hostage taking, helicopter explosion from grenade, failed rescue attempt |
| During the Olympic Games in Munich, 11 Israeli athletes are held hostage by Palestinian terrorists. They supply a list of Palestine prisoners whose release they demand in exchange for freeing the athletes. But at Fürstenfeldbruck Airport, a rescue attempt goes wrong, and by 12:00 am on the next day, 17 people are dead. | |||||
| 11 | September 20, 2006 | "Superstore Collapse" (Department Store Collapse) |
Sampoong Department Store collapse | June 29, 1995 | Design failure, bribery |
| The five-story Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea is kept open, despite reservations about its safety, until the entire store collapses and 501 people die. | |||||
| 12 | September 27, 2006 | "Plane Crash in the Potomac" (Washington Air Crash) (Potomac) |
Air Florida Flight 90 | January 13, 1982 | Icy conditions, pilot error |
| Air Florida Flight 90 leaves Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., for Miami with 79 passengers and crew on board. The Boeing 737-200 has been delayed for hours by bad weather conditions, allowing ice to build up and disrupt the airflow over the wings. Seconds after getting airborne, the aircraft stalls and crashes into the 14th Street Bridge. It bounces off and slams into the icy Potomac river. Five people are rescued but 78 lose their lives, four of them motorists on the bridge. | |||||
| 13 | October 25, 2006 | "Asian Tsunami" | 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake | December 26, 2004 | Massive megathrust earthquake, ocean-wide tsunamis |
| The second largest earthquake in 40 years, with a magnitude of 9.3, strikes the town of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Soon, it unleashes a tsunami which takes nearly 230,000 lives around the coasts of the entire Indian Ocean. | |||||
| 14 | November 15, 2006 | "Comet Air Crash" (Crash of the Comet) |
BOAC Flight 781 South African Airways Flight 201 |
BOAC 781: January 10, 1954 SAA 201: April 8, 1954 |
Design failure, metal fatigue |
| A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, the world's first passenger jet airliner, takes off from Rome but explodes over the Tyrrhenian Sea 26 minutes into the flight, killing 35. Three months later, another Comet crashes into the sea at night, evidently in the same manner. It emerges that in both crashes the aluminium hull of the aircraft has split open. The cause is determined to have been metal fatigue, brought about by factors including repeated pressurisation of the cabin to a higher and more frequent degree than previously experienced, the square-cornered design of fuselage apertures such as windows, and an inadequate understanding of the behaviour of metals in the conditions of high-altitude flight. The investigation results in improved metallurgical understanding from which all aircraft design greatly benefits.
This episode mainly focuses on BOAC Flight 781, the first to crash. |
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| 15 | November 29, 2006 | "Chicago Air Crash" (Flight Engine Down) (Chicago Flight 191) |
American Airlines Flight 191 | May 25, 1979 | Faulty maintenance, metal fatigue, loss of hydraulic fluid for left wing slats |
| American Airlines Flight 191, a DC-10, takes-off from Chicago's O'Hare Airport. As the aircraft lifts off the runway the engine breaks free from the left wing and flies over and behind it, smashing onto the runway and leaving a gash in the wing leading edge. A leak of hydraulic fluid from the damaged wing leads to loss of hydraulic pressure, in turn causing the left wing slats to retract, depriving that wing of lift. The resulting asymmetric condition of the wings causes the DC-10 to roll rapidly to the left, becoming almost inverted. It crashes into a trailer park, killing all on board plus two on the ground. The cause is found to lie in time- and money-saving maintenance methods adopted by the airline, with the non-redundant design of the controls operating the DC-10's flying surfaces ajudged a contributing factor. | |||||
| 16 | December 6, 2006 | "Texas Oil Explosion" (Texas Refinery Disaster) (Oil Fire in Texas) |
Texas BP Refinery explosion | March 23, 2005 | Human error |
| At the BP Oil Refinery in Texas City, a test on the distillation tower goes wrong. Liquid waste builds up and flows out through the blowout tower. Waste fumes ignite and detonate, destroying a trailer placed dangerously close to the blowout tower. Fifteen workers die. | |||||
| 17 | January 2, 2007 | "Tornado Outbreak" | The Super Outbreak | April 3–4, 1974 | Outbreak of tornadoes from storm cell |
| The most violent outbreak of tornadoes in history, the Super Outbreak, releases 149 tornadoes in 13 American states and one province in Canada. Thousands of homes are destroyed and over 350 people die. 5,000 people are left homeless or injured, or both.
This episode focuses on the 148 tornadoes that hit the USA. |
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| 18 | January 31, 2007 | "Space Shuttle Explosion" (Space Shuttle Challenger) |
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | January 28, 1986 | O-ring failure due to icy conditions, strong jetstream |
| Space Shuttle Challenger blasts off from Cape Canaveral to start the STS-51-L mission. A badly damaged joint in a solid rocket booster leaks hot gases that impinge on its mount on the external tank. 73 seconds later, the external tank breaks up, the solid rocket boosters fly free, and aerodynamic forces rip Challenger into pieces that fall into the ocean. All seven astronauts on board are killed. Record low temperatures were a major contributing factor to the accident. | |||||
| 19 | March 7, 2007 | "Eruption on Montserrat" (Montserrat) (When the Volcano Blew) |
1995-1997 eruption of Soufrière Hills | July 18, 1995-December 26, 1997 | Volcanic eruption, lava dome collapse, pyroclastic flows |
| In July 1995, the Soufrière Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat spews ash over the island. The nearby capital of Plymouth is evacuated. Two years on, Soufrière Hills erupts violently. Pyroclastic flows rage down the mountain and destroy Plymouth and Bramble Airport, killing 19 people. The eruption generates a small tsunami.
This episode mainly focuses on the events of July 25, 1997. |
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| # | Airdate | Title | Disaster | Date of disaster | Nature of disaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 5, 2011 | "9/11" | September 11 attacks | September 11, 2001 | Terrorist Attacks |
| On September 11, 2001 two aircraft are deliberately flown into two buildings of the World Trade Center and one is flown into the Pentagon. Another crashes in a field in rural Pennsylvania. | |||||
| 2 | September 12, 2011 | "Pearl Harbor" | Attack on Pearl Harbor | December 7, 1941 | Act of War |
| On December 7, 1941 Japanese forces attack United States military installations in and around Pearl Harbor, thus bringing the US into World War II. | |||||
| 3 | September 19, 2011 | "Paddington Train Collision" | Ladbroke Grove rail crash | October 5, 1999 | Signal passed at danger |
| On October 5, 1999 two trains collide at Ladbroke Grove junction near London's Paddington station after the driver of one fails to stop his train at a red signal. | |||||
| 4 | September 26, 2011 | "Collision at 35,000 Feet" | 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision | July 1, 2002 | Mid-air collision as a result of inadequate ATC staffing levels |
| On July 1, 2002 a cargo airliner and a passenger airliner collide while they are over Überlingen in Germany. The two aircraft crash, killing all on board. | |||||
| 5 | October 3, 2011 | "Cable Car Collision" | Cavalese cable car disaster (1998) | February 3, 1998 | Controlled flight into terrain |
| On February 3, 1998 a low-flying Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler of the United States Marine Corps hits the support cable of an aerial tramway near the Italian town of Cavalese, severing it. The cabin on the cable falls to the ground, killing the occupants. The aircraft lands safely. | |||||
| 6 | October 10, 2011 | "Bhopal Nightmare" | Bhopal disaster | December 2-3, 1984 | Industrial catastrophe |
| On December 2, 1984 in Bhopal, India, a toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant results in the deaths of 3,000 people. | |||||