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.
As athletes sleep at the Olympic games, masked gunmen launch an attack. The terrorists kill two people and take nine hostage. After hours of negotiations, a desperate rescue operation is launched. But it ends in catastrophe. Seventeen people are dead, and the world faces a terrifying new reality. Seconds from Disaster s3e4: Munich Olympic Massacre
The snipers fail to eliminate the terrorists. A furious gun battle erupts … For thirty minutes they exchange gunfire with the terrorists … Two massive explosions … The media reveals the full extent of the carnage. ibid.
South Korea: A bustling department store in one of the busiest cities in the world. 1,500 people are crammed inside the building. Suddenly, an explosion erupts from the top floor. In less than 20 seconds the entire store crashes to the ground. In its place lies a massive pile of twisted steel and concrete. Over 500 people are dead. Seconds from Disaster s3e5: Superstore Collapse
1,500 people are crushed under 42,000 tons of rubble. ibid.
Built in the late ’80s from reinforced concrete the complex has 4 basement levels and 5 storeys above ground. It stands on 15,000 square metres of real estate … The area was one a landfill site and the city’s wastedump. Now in a remarkable turnaround it’s one of Seoul’s most affluent areas. ibid.
The entire structure came straight down … Some kind of structural failure must have caused this disaster. ibid.
One of the world’s most modern planes lies at the bottom of the sea with 187 dead passengers and crew inside. The Boeing 757 left the Dominican Republic in February 1996 with a planeload of German holidaymakers. Minutes later it plunged into the sea in shark-infested waters. There were no survivors. Seconds from Disaster s3e6: Plane Crash in the Potomac
The atmosphere on the flight deck was poisonous. ibid.
It’s Sunday morning on a paradise island in Asia. Home to 40 mission people. Just offshore lies one of the largest geological faults on the planet. Scientists have been studying it for decades hoping to understand its seismic behaviour. Then the biggest quake for 40 years rocks the region. Seconds from Disaster s3e7: Asian Tsunami
Freak waves destroy entire communities. ibid.
1954 and one of the world’s first jet airlines takes off from Italy … Just 26 minutes into the flight it explodes catastrophically. 35 people are dead. Seconds from Disaster s3e8: Comet Air Crash
Since the Comet entered service 20 months ago they’ve been 2 accidents with the loss of 54 lives. ibid.
Sunday, January 10th: BOAC flight 781 [de Havilland DH106 Comet I] climbs to an altitude of 11,000 metres … Flaming wreckage falls from the sky … At 11.15 a.m. Air Traffic Control receives word that a plane has crashed into the sea. ibid.
The lungs of all the victims are extensively damaged; many have ruptured like an exploding balloon. ibid.
6:32 p.m. on April 8th, 16 days after the resumption of flying, a Comet takes off from Rome bound for Egypt. 14 passengers and 7 crew members are on board: a further 21 people are dead … Similarities between the 2 accidents are uncanny. ibid.
An explosion at the front of the cabin … The rapidly escaping air causes a tremendous release of energy … ‘The pressurised cabin exploding is the same as a 500-pound bomb going off inside the cabin.’ ibid.
The entire fleet seems to be fatally flawed … The supports around the windows are riveted, not glued as designed. ibid.