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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!

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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 explain a single incidental by analyzing the causes and circumstances

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 14 - Skywalk Collapse
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Skywalk Collapse

    S2:E14

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 15 - Amsterdam Air Crash (Plane Crash in the Suburbs)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Amsterdam Air Crash (Plane Crash in the Suburbs)

    S2:E15

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 16 - Russia's Nuclear Sub Nightmare (Sinking of the Kursk)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Russia's Nuclear Sub Nightmare (Sinking of the Kursk)

    S2:E16

    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?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 17 - King's Cross Fire (London's Subway Inferno)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

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

    S2:E17

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 18 - US Embassy Bombing (American Embassy Bombing)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - US Embassy Bombing (American Embassy Bombing)

    S2:E18

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Seconds from Disaster Season 2 Episode 19 - Florida Swamp Air Crash (Everglades Plane Crash)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Florida Swamp Air Crash (Everglades Plane Crash)

    S2:E19

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 BEST Episodes of Seconds from Disaster

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  7. Seconds from Disaster Season 7 Episode 2 - Deadly Design
    5.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - Deadly Design

    S7:E2

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Seconds from Disaster Season 5 Episode 4 - Waco Cult
    5.5/10(4 votes)

    #8 - Waco Cult

    S5:E4

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 10 - Chinook Helicopter Crash
    5.5/10(2 votes)

    #9 - Chinook Helicopter Crash

    S6:E10

    On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Seconds from Disaster Season 4 Episode 5 - Cable Car Collision
    5.7/10(3 votes)

    #10 - 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.

    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Seconds from Disaster Season 3 Episode 7 - Titanic
    6.0/10(4 votes)

    #11 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Seconds from Disaster Season 1 Episode 3 - Oklahoma City (Bomb in Oklahoma)
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #12 - Oklahoma City (Bomb in Oklahoma)

    S1:E3

    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:Unknown

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  13. Seconds from Disaster Season 7 Episode 1 - Chopper Down
    6.5/10(2 votes)

    #13 - Chopper Down

    S7:E1

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Seconds from Disaster Season 5 Episode 1 - Japan's Nuclear Nightmare
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #14 - 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.

    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Seconds from Disaster Season 4 Episode 2 - Pearl Harbor
    6.8/10(4 votes)

    #15 - Pearl Harbor

    S4:E2

    On December 7, 1941 Japanese forces attack United States military installations in and around Pearl Harbor, thus bringing the US into World War II.

    Director:Sean Smith
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Seconds from Disaster Season 5 Episode 5 - Deepwater Horizon
    6.8/10(4 votes)

    #16 - Deepwater Horizon

    S5:E5

    A look at the series of decisions and mistakes that led to the world's largest oil spill disaster, and that 11 workers on the rig died.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Seconds from Disaster Season 1 Episode 8 - Inferno at Guadalajara
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #17 - Inferno at Guadalajara

    S1:E8

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 1 - Norway Massacre: I Was There
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #18 - 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.

    Director:John Maidens
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 6 - Terrified Over Tokyo
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #19 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 7 - Runaway Train
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #20 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 8 - Nagasaki - The Forgotten Bomb
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #21 - Nagasaki - The Forgotten Bomb

    S6:E8

    On August 9, 1945, the United States of America, during the final stages of World War II in 1945 bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki causing a huge death toll.

    Director:John Maidens
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Seconds from Disaster Season 4 Episode 6 - Bhopal Nightmare
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #22 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Seconds from Disaster Season 6 Episode 5 - Into The Death Zone
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #23 - Into The Death Zone

    S6:E5

    On May 10–11, 1996 saw the death of nine climbers, including New Zealand climbing veteran Rob Hall. Was it a fierce storm, extreme ambition or something else that caused their demise?

    Director:Gareth Johnson
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Seconds from Disaster Season 3 Episode 2 - Amsterdam Air Crash
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #24 - Amsterdam Air Crash

    S3:E2

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Seconds from Disaster Season 4 Episode 3 - Paddington Train Collision
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #25 - 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.

    Director:Steve Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Skywalk Collapse" is the worst rated episode of "Seconds from Disaster". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/10/2006. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Amsterdam Air Crash (Plane Crash in the Suburbs)".