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The Best Episodes of Seconds From Disaster

Every episode of Seconds From Disaster ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Seconds From Disaster!

The Best Episodes of Seconds From Disaster

Seconds from Disaster is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters of the 20th century. Each episode aims to...

Seasons7

  1. Background image for Collision on the Runway
    8.3/10(71 votes)

    #1 - Collision on the Runway

    S1:E12

    Two Jumbo Jets, Pan Am 1736 and KLM 4805 collide on the lone runway at Tenerife, Spain. The two aircraft are then burnt out and 583 people lose their lives. But how come two experienced pilots made a mistake of this magnitude? How come two passenger jets collided on the runway?

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    Director:Paul Burgess
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Crash Landing in Sioux City
    8.3/10(51 votes)

    #2 - Crash Landing in Sioux City

    S2:E7

    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?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Collision at 35,000 Feet
    8.3/10(49 votes)

    #3 - Collision at 35,000 Feet

    S4:E4

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Bhopal Nightmare
    8.2/10(43 votes)

    #4 - Bhopal Nightmare

    S4:E6

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Columbia's Last Flight (Space Shuttle Columbia)
    8.0/10(59 votes)

    #5 - Columbia's Last Flight (Space Shuttle Columbia)

    S2:E1

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for TWA Flight 800
    7.9/10(52 votes)

    #6 - TWA Flight 800

    S2:E10

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for Skywalk Collapse
    7.9/10(66 votes)

    #7 - Skywalk Collapse

    S3:E1

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Norway Massacre: I Was There
    7.9/10(43 votes)

    #8 - Norway Massacre: I Was There

    S6:E1

    On July 22, 2011, a gunman goes on a terrorist rampage – starting with an explosion in Oslo and ending with the slaughter of dozens of teenagers.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Runaway Train
    7.9/10(107 votes)

    #9 - Runaway Train

    S6:E7

    On April 25, 2005, a seven-car commuter train came off the tracks and crashed just before Amagasaki Station in Japan causing 107 deaths and 562 injuries.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Crash of the Concorde
    7.8/10(75 votes)

    #10 - Crash of the Concorde

    S1:E1

    Behind every disaster lies a chain of events. The Concorde was the world's first supersonic airliner, but on a charter flight to New York, 109 people are on board an Air France Concorde as it takes off from Paris. But as it lifts off the runway, the control tower notices flames trailing behind the aircraft. They can do nothing. The Concorde becomes uncontrollable and plows into a hotel in nearby Gonesse. 113 people are killed in the accident. The dream that was Concorde is shattered and the aircraft is grounded. What happened to Air France Flight 4590 could shatter the aviation industry as we know it.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for High Speed Train Wreck (Derailment at Eschede)
    7.8/10(47 votes)

    #11 - High Speed Train Wreck (Derailment at Eschede)

    S1:E5

    June 1998. The new German InterCity Express is a trip from Munich to Hamburg, one of many. Today should be no different. The new train offers the ultimate luxury in high-speed travel. But a terrible accident sets off a chain of events causing the loss of 101 lives when the train derails catastrophically at the town of Eschede. But what caused such a horrible accident?

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    Director:Sid Bennett
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Kursk: Russia's Nuclear Nightmare
    7.8/10(46 votes)

    #12 - Kursk: Russia's Nuclear Nightmare

    S3:E3

    When a training mission goes horribly wrong, the Russian sumbarine 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?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Nairobi Bombing
    7.8/10(49 votes)

    #13 - Nairobi Bombing

    S3:E5

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for 9/11
    7.8/10(48 votes)

    #14 - 9/11

    S4:E1

    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.

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    Director:Sean Smith
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Japan's Nuclear Nightmare
    7.8/10(45 votes)

    #15 - Japan's Nuclear Nightmare

    S5:E1

    On 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami off Japan’s coast caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

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    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Fire in the Cockpit
    7.8/10(45 votes)

    #16 - Fire in the Cockpit

    S6:E3

    On September 2, 1998, a fire broke out on Swissair Flight 111 while in-flight, damaging vital systems and causing the aircraft to crash into the sea off Peggy's Cove with no survivors. The fire was caused by faulty wiring in the onboard first class entertainment system.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Terrified Over Tokyo
    7.8/10(40 votes)

    #17 - Terrified Over Tokyo

    S6:E6

    On August 12, 1985, the rear pressure bulkhead burst on Japan Airlines Flight 123, destroying the vertical stabilizer and severing all four of the aircraft's vital hydraulic systems. The crew kept the aircraft flying for 32 minutes until it clipped Mt Osutaka and crashed, killing all but 4 people out of the 524 passengers and crew aboard.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Aircraft Carrier Explosion
    7.7/10(53 votes)

    #18 - Aircraft Carrier Explosion

    S3:E8

    The massive aircraft carrier USS Forrestal is sailing to Vietnam on July 29, 1967, when a fighter jet explodes, a massive blast rocks the ship, and in just 17 hours 134 men lose their lives. Was it hostile fire, human error, or a fault in the fighter jets.

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    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Bismarck
    7.7/10(40 votes)

    #19 - Bismarck

    S5:E2

    Maritime Historian Andrew Lambert looks at the Royal Navy's battle with the German battleship Bismarck.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Massacre in Mumbai
    7.7/10(36 votes)

    #20 - Massacre in Mumbai

    S5:E6

    On 26 November 2008, terrorists attacked two luxury hotels (one of them the famous Taj Mahal Hotel), a Jewish educational center, a café and a train station in Mumbai, killing 166 people.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for King's Cross Fire (London's Subway Inferno)
    7.6/10(54 votes)

    #21 - King's Cross Fire (London's Subway Inferno)

    S3:E4

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Titanic
    7.6/10(40 votes)

    #22 - Titanic

    S3:E7

    It was known as the "unsinkable ship." The RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southhampton to New York with over 2,000 people on board strikes an iceberg, and within two hours and forty minutes, sinks taking with it 1,500 lives. Now, Seconds from Disaster re-examines the sinking of the Titanic to find out who-or-what was to blame.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Paddington Train Collision
    7.6/10(42 votes)

    #23 - Paddington Train Collision

    S4:E3

    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.

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    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Cable Car Collision
    7.6/10(36 votes)

    #24 - Cable Car Collision

    S4:E5

    The Cavalese cable car disaster of 1998 (as distinct from a cable car disaster in the same location in 1976), occurred on 3 February 1998 near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort located in the Dolomites, some 40 km north-east of Trento. The disaster, which led to the death of 20 people, occurred when a U.S. military plane cut a cable supporting a gondola of an aerial tramway.

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    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Mountain Tsunami
    7.6/10(44 votes)

    #25 - Mountain Tsunami

    S5:E3

    In 1963 a landslide from Monte Toc into the reservoir of the Europe's highest dam caused a giant flood wave that destroyed the village of Longarone and other villages, claiming over 2,000 lives.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Collision on the Runway" is the best rated episode of "Seconds From Disaster". It scored 8.3/10 based on 71 votes. Directed by Paul Burgess and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/3/2005. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Crash Landing in Sioux City".