An ordinary day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1996. Christmas is coming and the city is packed with shoppers. Then a massive blast rips through the streets overturning vehicles and causing widespread disaster. Seconds from Disaster s2e13: Puerto Rico Gas Explosion
33 people are dead and more than 80 are injured. ibid.
Rescuers spend days clambering through the shattered building. ibid.
What if it was gas? If that’s true, who knows how many other lives are still as stake … A massive buildup of some kind of flammable gas must have ignited … Propane is heavier than air so will sink and gather in invisible pools near the floor. ibid.
Kansas City, 1978: A new $50-million dollar hotel … The hotel’s centrepiece will be its impressive 44-metre-wide 15-metre high glass-ceilinged atrium. 3 suspended walkways will span this vast space connecting guest rooms to a conference centre and shopping centre. Seconds from Disaster s2e14: Hyatt Regency Skywalk Disaster
17 months in there is a major setback: a section of the atrium’s glass ceiling, the size of a tennis court, crashes to the ground. ibid.
The first and third floor glass and concrete skywalks plummet into the crowded lobby. Dozens of dancers and spectators lie dead crushed beneath sixty-five tons of glass and steel. ibid.
Sunday 4th October 1992, Schiphol Airport: 6 minutes after takeoff El Al flight 1862 heads east over Amsterdam’s suburbs … Suddenly, a terrifying jolt rocks the plane; it starts to lose altitude and rolls violently to the right … Both engines on the right wing are out of action … The jumbo is losing height fast … El Al 1862 smashes into the 6th floor of the 11-storey apartment block. Seconds from Disaster s2e15: Amsterdam Air Crash
The two right-hand engines didn’t simply fail, they sheared off completely. ibid.
Russia, August 2000, Kursk: She’s at the cutting-edge of Russia defences: powered by two nuclear reactors, she’s 150-metres long and as high as a six-storey building. More than twice the size of a jumbo jet. Seconds from Disaster s2e16: Russia’s Nuclear Sub Nightmare
A shockwave bursts through the command centre; the crew are slammed to the floor. Toxic smoke pours into the room. An explosion tears through the torpedo room of the giant Russian submarine … Another detonation rips through the front of Kursk … All 118 men are dead. ibid.
The Russian Navy has documented 25 cases of submarine collisions since 1967. ibid.
The chilling truth is that Kursk was on the brink of nuclear disaster. ibid.
The first small explosion … The torpedo is Tube 4 was the first thing to explode ... When certain metals or even rust come into contact with HTP they act as a catalyst: the hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and steam … ibid.
It’s the Christmas shopping season in London and the rush hour is in full swing. Commuters and shoppers stream through King’s Cross, the city’s busiest rail interchange. Suddenly, a deadly wall of flame roars through the packed station. It kills 31 people. Seconds from Disaster s2e17: King’s Cross Fire
Fires are a fact of life on the ageing infrastructure of the Tube. There have been over 400 the previous three decades. ibid.
Moments later a huge jet of fire erupts … A small blaze has suddenly erupted into a ferocious inferno. ibid.
The prime suspect for the King’s Cross fire is now a careless smoker discarding a still-burning match. ibid.
It’s a busy Friday morning in the African city of Nairobi. Then, the air is shattered by a massive explosion. A huge bomb detonates outside the American Embassy demolishing a neighbouring seven-storey building. Hundreds of people are buried and thousands are injured. Seconds from Disaster s2e18: American Embassy Bombing, Nairobi
The driver steers the truck straight at the fence. As rescuers arrive they are confronted with total chaos: the force of the huge blast has brought the Ufundi building crashing to the ground. ibid.
In Tanzania witnesses say that two-thirds of the US Embassy in Das-es-Salaam was destroyed. ibid. US TV news
Miami International Airport, May 11th 1996: a McDonald-Douglas DC9, it’s fleet is among the oldest in America averaging 26 years, and they’ve been recent incidents. Seconds from Disaster s2e19: Florida Swamp Air Crash
Valujet flight 592, 107 passengers bound for Atlanta: Just minutes after takeoff people start to smell smoke … The pilots hear a loud bang on their headphones … Smoke starts to seep into the cockpit … Flight 592 crashes into the Florida Everglades. ibid.
The aircraft seems to have been suffering from multiple mechanical and electrical failures for over two minutes. ibid.
The world’s largest passenger liner Titanic steams through the mid-Atlantic to America. Over 2,200 people are on board. Then disaster strikes. She fills rapidly with water and sinks … Over 1,500 people are left to drown. Seconds from Disaster s3e1: Titanic, National Geographic 2006
The equip her with only twenty lifeboats. ibid.
North Vietnam, July 1967: America is bogged down in a messy ground war in North Vietnam. The body count is rising fast. Over 6,600 US military personnel have died. Seconds from Disaster s3e2: Aircraft Carrier Explosion
Sailing to her first tour of duty in Vietnam is the biggest of them all: USS Forrestal … a crew of 5,400 men. ibid.
The explosives are in poor condition … A flash and a loud bang; jet fuel stills on to the flight deck and spreads rapidly; a massive fire rips through the Skyhawk planes … The world’s biggest aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal, is on fire. ibid.
She lists badly and sailors struggle to fight fire above and below decks … They jettison multi-million-dollar planes and tons of bombs into the ocean … It takes another 16 hours to extinguish the fires below deck … 134 men are dead. ibid.
A plane takes off for a routine flight from New York. But within seconds the aircraft is in trouble. On the ground below New Yorkers witness the terrifying sight. As the pilot struggles at the controls, the aircraft is torn apart. Within seconds the plane plummets to earth, smashing into a once-peaceful suburb. 265 people are dead. Seconds from Disaster s3e3: Plane Crash in Queens
The truth will rock the aviation industry to its core. ibid.
AA flight 587 [Airbus A300-600R]: Hundreds of firefighters from across the city are fighting the blaze … Airports are closed and all civil aircraft are grounded … Americans fear their worst nightmare is unfolding once more. ibid.
Witnesses saw the plane break up in flight … Five extreme movements of the rudder causing the plane to lurch violently … The pilot broke the aircraft. ibid.