NaN/100 votesLoading...#1 - Comet Air Crash
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 11/15/2006
The DH Comet is the first jet airliner and the pride of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. But on January 10, 1954, BOAC Flight 781, enroute from Rome to London, explodes catastrophically and crashes, killing 35 people. The investigation begins, but when South African Airways Flight 201 crashes exactly the same way taking another 21 lives, all Comets are grounded and the investigation takes a step forward.
Director: Martin O'Collins
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#2 - Flight Engine Down
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 11/29/2006
American Airlines Flight 191, a DC-10, leaves Chicago. But when the engine falls off, the plane stalls and crashes killing 273 people. The investigators discover a shocking secret which will turn the aviation world upside down.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#3 - Oil Fire in Texas
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 12/6/2006
The Texas BP oil refinery is the third largest in America producing more than 437,000 barrels per day. Workmen are starting a routine day, then, and explosion rocks the structure with the death of 15. What went wrong?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#4 - Tornado Outbreak
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/2/2007
On 3 April 1974, the most violent outbreak of tornadoes in history struck. The well-named "Super Outbreak" produces 148 twisters over 13 American states and in Ontario, Canada destroying thousands of homes and over 5,000 people die. How did a single storm form the 1974 "Super Outbreak" tornadoes?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#5 - Space Shuttle Challenger
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 1/31/2007
On a cold winter day in 1986, space shuttle Challenger takes off from Cape Canaveral to start Mission 51-L. 73 seconds later, Challenger's boosters explode and send it into the ocean in pieces. What happened? Was a fault to blame? Or was there ice on the shuttle?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#6 - Eruption on Montserrat
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 3/7/2007
On the Caribbean island of Montserrat is the Soufrière Hills volcano. Nearby is Plymouth, the island's capital. In 1995, Soufrière Hills came to life and spewed ash over the island. Everyone is evacuated to the north of Montserrat. Two years on, the eruptions get worse and in 1997, Soufrière Hills erupts violently. Pyroclastic flows rage down the mountain and destroy Plymouth and Bramble Airport, killing 23 people. It generates a small tsunami. People crowd onto ships to escape their home, knowing it's been destroyed.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#7 - Chopper Down
Season 7 Episode 1 - Aired 2/15/2018
This compilation of Seconds from Disaster combines two helicopter tragedies of a military nature. Chinhook HC-2 crashed into a hill on the west side of the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland after taking a group of VIP passengers from Northern Ireland to Fort George. The following day would bring a mysterious crash that remains unsolved. When a US Black Hawk falls on the streets of Mogadishu, all hell breaks loose. In this infamous story of the daring escape of the surviving US military personnel, we learn about the seconds that meant the difference between life and death.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#8 - Deadly Design
Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 2/22/2018
This compilation of Seconds from Disaster combines two airplane tragedies that took hundreds of lives and were caused by the smallest issues. Swiss Air 111 fell from the sky due to microscopic fault in the wiring that sparked a fire in the cockpit. This fire grew uncontrollably and led to the demise of 229 people onboard. JAL123 mysteriously crashed just after take-off into a remote mountainside. Through thorough investigation, it's learned that wear and tear on small repairs caused the untimely death of the 520 people on board.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1032 votesLoading...
#9 - Plane Crash in the Potomac
Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 9/27/2006
On 13 January 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 leaves Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC for Miami with 79 passengers and crew on board. The Boeing 737 is delayed for hours by bad conditions, and only seconds after getting airborne it crashes into the icy Potomac river. Five survivors are pulled out alive but 78-including four motorists-lose their lives.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1052 votesLoading...
#10 - Pentagon 9/11
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 9/11/2005
September 11, 2001 is one of the worst days in history. In Washington, D.C, the workers at the Pentagon have only just heard of the chaos going on at the New York World Trade Centre, but are unaware that they themselves have become a target. American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 aircraft, collides with the Pentagon killing 189. Pentagon 9/11 recreates the events leading up to the explosion at the Pentagon.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1032 votesLoading...
#11 - Disco Bombing (The Bali Bombing)
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 9/20/2005
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1040 votesLoading...
#12 - Munich Olympic Massacre
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 9/13/2006
During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, 11 Israeli athletes are been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists. They demand the list of Palestine prisoners in exchange for the release of the ahtletes. But at Furstenfeldbruck Airfield, a rescue attempt goes wrong and soon 17 people are dead.
Director: Jim Nally
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1053 votesLoading...
#13 - The Bomb in Oklahoma City
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/2005
One April morning in 1995, at Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Timothy McVeigh parks a truck packed with explosives at the front of the government landmark. At 9:02AM, it explodes and the front of the building collapses with a loss of 168 lives. Survivors recount the terrifying experience as investigators attempt to discover what caused the building to collapse.
Director: Ian Bremner
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1044 votesLoading...
#14 - Explosion in the North Sea
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/2005
July 6, 1988. The Piper Alpha stands over 110 miles off Scotland. But on this fateful day, a gas leak causes a catastrophic fire with a loss of 167 workers. Why did the Piper Alpha explode without warning? Was Human Error to blame? What about Mechanical Failure? Or even sabotage?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1036 votesLoading...
#15 - Hotel Collapse
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 9/27/2005
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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.9/1034 votesLoading...
#16 - Alpine Tsunami
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 7/5/2005
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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.9/1037 votesLoading...
#17 - Killer Quake (Kobe Earthquake)
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 8/30/2005
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?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.0/1041 votesLoading...
#18 - Wreck of the Sunset Limited
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/2005
September 1993. The captain of a towboat unwittingly causes the collapse of a bridge over the Big Bayou Canot. When an Amtrak train comes along, it derails with 47 lives lost. Why was such a hideous mistake made? How could it have been prevented? Could it have been prevented at all? Wreck of the Sunset Limited explains why over 40 people died that Autumn day.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.0/1052 votesLoading...
#19 - Asian Tsunami
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 10/25/2006
On Boxing Day 2004, the second largest earthquake in recorded history with a magnitude of 9.3 strikes the town Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Soon, it unleashes a tsunami which takes over 275,000 lives all along the coast of the Indian Ocean. How come such a disaster happened?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10113 votesLoading...#20 - Meltdown in Chernobyl
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/6/2005
We make mistakes every few seconds of our lives. They are unavoidable. But sometimes the results can be disastrous. On April 26, 1986, a series of catastrophic blunders leave dozens dead when the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant melts down.
Director: Stan Griffin, Maninderpal Sahota
Writer: N/A
- 7.1/1043 votesLoading...
#21 - Inferno at Guadalajara
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/9/2005
April 1992, Guadalajara, Mexico. On the 19th, residents start complaining of a strong gasoline-like smell coming from the sewers. Three days later, on the 22nd, numerous gas explosions in the sewers over a time span of four hours destroy kilometers of housing estate and killing 206 people. But who, if anyone, is to blame? What caused the inferno in Guadalajara?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.1/1032 votesLoading...
#22 - Superstore Collapse
Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 9/20/2006
On 29 June 1995, the five story Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, Korea, collapses killing 502 people. Is there a fault in the building? Or is sabotage to blame? And how did the last survivor survive under the rubble for 16 days?
Director: Iain Riddick
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1035 votesLoading...
#23 - Flood at Stava Dam
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 11/20/2005
On July 1985, Italy's Stava Dam collapses and demolishes 70 structures killing 268 people in the process. Was there a fault in the design of the dam? Is this something that could happen to any dam around the world? Find out how a structural failure leads to a massive catastrophe with Flood at Stava Dam
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1034 votesLoading...
#24 - Puerto Rico Gas Explosion
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 12/13/2005
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1028 votesLoading...
#25 - Waco Cult
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 4/1/2012
After a 51-day siege at the ranch of an armed religious cult, the FBI tries to force people out with tear gas, but a fire breaks out and almost 80 people die.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Worst Episodes of Seconds From Disaster
Every episode of Seconds From Disaster ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:National Geographic
Worst Episodes Summary
"Comet Air Crash" is the worst rated episode of "Seconds From Disaster". It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Martin O'Collins and written by N/A, it aired on 11/15/2006. This episode scored NaN points lower than the second lowest rated, "Flight Engine Down".