Seconds from Disaster
Season 2
200519 episodes
Episode 1
Columbia's Last Flight (Space Shuttle Columbia)
Jun 28, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.3TMDB
June 28 Columbia's Last Flight (Space Shuttle Columbia) Space Shuttle Columbia disaster February 1, 2003 Texas, February 1, 2003. The Space Shuttle Columbia is re-entering orbit. But something goes horribly wrong and Columbia explodes. All 7 astronauts on board perish. When investigators learn of a small fault which occurred during take-off sixteen days earlier, they are convinced they have found a possible suspect.
Episode 2
Alpine Tsunami
Jul 5, 200547m
TMDB rating 9.0TMDB
The Alpine village of Galtur, an avalanche buries 57 people in the snow. 31 of them die. But why did the avalanche occur in the first place? Were careless villagers to blame?
Episode 3
Motorway Plane Crash (Freeway Plane Crash)
Jul 12, 200547m
TMDB rating 9.7TMDB
January 1989. British Midland Airways Flight 092, a Boeing 737, is landing at Kegworth, United Kingdom, when it crashes on the M1 motorway, killing 47 people. What went wrong? The B-737 is the most widely-used airliner in the world. Could mechanical failure be to blame? Perhaps human error? Or even sabotage?
Episode 4
Mount St Helens Eruption (Mount St. Helens Eruption)
Jul 26, 200547m
TMDB rating 9.0TMDB
Mount St. Helens, in the countryside of Washington State, has been dormant for 123 years. But on May 1980, it suddenly erupts, killing 57. Why couldn't they predict it?
Episode 5
Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster (Capsized in the North Sea)
Aug 16, 200547m
TMDB rating 9.3TMDB
On March 1987, the British Car Ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes off Zeebrugge killing 193. Why did this happen? Was it just a terrible blunder? Or something worse?
Episode 6
Kobe Earthquake (Killer Quake)
Aug 30, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.3TMDB
On 17 January 1995, the Japanese city of Kobe was rocked by the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which destroyed buildings and killed over 1000 people and left thousands homeless. Why couldn't the top of the art equipment predict a disaster of this magnitude?
Episode 7
Crash Landing at Sioux City
Sep 13, 200547m
TMDB rating 10.0TMDB
On 19 July 1989, the pilots of United Airlines Flight 232 are shocked to learn they have lost all control of the DC-10 after an engine failure and make an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa, but in a dramatic crash, the aircraft breaks apart and catches fire with 111 lives lost out of the 285 on board. Why did the engine fail?
Episode 8
The Bali Bombing (Disco Bombing)
Sep 20, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.3TMDB
Bali, located in Indonesia, is one of the most popular resorts in the world. But 202 die on the night of October 12, 2002, Muslim terrorists detonate several bombs in local nightclubs. Its the horror of 9/11 all over again.
Episode 9
Hotel Collapse Singapore (Hotel Collapse)
Sep 27, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.7TMDB
Hotel New World, budget hotel located in Singapore's Little India, collapses on 15 March, 1986. After a 7 day rescue operation, 17 people are rescued but 33 perish. Why did the hotel collapse? Was it sabotage? Or was it faulty maintenance?
Episode 10
TWA Flight 800
Oct 8, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.5TMDB
17 July 1996. TWA Flight 800 leaves New York for Paris. Only 12 minutes into the flight, it explodes catastrophically, breaks in half, then plummets into the sea killing all 230 people on board. There was no mayday call from the crew. Rumours spread that the B-747 was downed by a misguided navy missile, sparking the biggest accident investigation in history.
Episode 11
Paris Train Crash (Runaway Train)
Nov 1, 200547m
TMDB rating 10.0TMDB
In what was no doubt the worst rail incident in French history, a runaway train derails at Gare De Lyon Station, France, killing 56 people. Why did the train crash so horribly? Who is to blame?
Episode 12
The Hindenburg (Hindenburg Airship)
Nov 15, 200547m
TMDB rating 9.0TMDB
When the zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire at Lakehurst, 35 of the 97 on board and one member of the ground crew are killed. Was the most infamous airship disaster caused by a ticking time bomb smuggled on board? Or was the Hindenburg itself a ticking time bomb?
Episode 13
Explosion in Peurto Rico (Puerto Rico Gas Explosion)
Dec 13, 200547m
TMDB rating 8.0TMDB
The Humberto Vidal Shoe Store was just like any other. But one day in Puerto Rico, a gas explosion kills 33 and injures 69 people.
Episode 14
Skywalk Collapse
Jan 10, 200647m
On 17 July 1981, 1,500 people had gathered for a dance in the Hyatt Regency Hotel when, in a catastrophic disaster, the skywalk collapses killing 114 people and injuring countless others in the worst US structural failure.
Episode 15
Amsterdam Air Crash (Plane Crash in the Suburbs)
Mar 28, 200647m
On 4 October 1992, an El Al Israel Airlines Cargo B747-200F takes off from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Holland), when the engines on the right wing of Flight 1862 shear off. 8 minutes later, Flight 8162 glides into a high rise apartment building killing 43 people.
Episode 16
Russia's Nuclear Sub Nightmare (Sinking of the Kursk)
Apr 18, 200647m
When a training mission goes horribly wrong, the Russian submarine Kursk suffers an explosion. 135 seconds later, it sinks. 23 people survive the blast, out of 118 on board. Will they make it out in time? What caused the sinking of the Kursk?
Episode 17
King's Cross Fire (London's Subway Inferno)
May 19, 200647m
On the night of 18 November 1987, a harmless match produced a small flame on the escalator at King's Cross tube station. Suddenly, the containable flame explodes rapidly into a fireball. It charges up the escalator and kills 31 people in the ticket hall 20m away. The inferno leaves investigators stumped. When the answer is revealed, it will shock everyone, adding a new chapter to the laws of fire dynamics.
Episode 18
US Embassy Bombing (American Embassy Bombing)
Jun 27, 200647m
Al Queda struck again on August 7, 1998. In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, a truck bomb destroys the U.S. Embassy buildings killing 257 and injuring thousands.
Episode 19
Florida Swamp Air Crash (Everglades Plane Crash)
Jul 11, 200647m
On May 1996, what started out as a normal flight from Miami, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, when ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 with 110 people on board goes down in the Everglades when a fire starts in the cabin and cockpit. The aircraft is swallowed by the swamp and harsh conditions make the rescue operation impossible. Soon there are no survivors. What happened to ValuJet 592 is a one of a kind accident.