Seconds from Disaster - Season 1 (2004)

Friday 06 April 1990, the newly renovated ferry Scandinavian Star sets sail after a delay in the loading. A calm 13 hour voyage with a party like atmosphere is expected by all. Then it all went wrong for 482 passengers in just 45 minutes.

A recounting of what happened on 3 June 1998, when it came to the worst train disaster of an ICE with 101 dead in Germany.

When a boat in southern Alabama gets lost and bumps into a small bridge, a Amtrak train going at high speed derails into a small canal outside of Mobile.

An explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant kills 56 people while the health of thousands more continue to be affected.

Days after residents of Guadalajara complained of a foul smell, a series of gasoline-fueled explosions in the sewers kills 206 people.

In Kaprun, Austria, a mountain train to bring skiers up the mountain erupts in fire as it passes through a tunnel. 155 people die. The cause is an electric heater that catches fire and ignites hydraulic fluid dripping from a leaky line.

Detailed account of the Piper Alpha oil rig that was destroyed in 1988 after a gas leak caused by faulty maintenance led to a series of massive explosions. Includes testaments from eye witnesses and survivors.

The Stava Dam consisted of two basins arranged on on top of the other. Due to this poor design, they could not cope with the quantity of waste from the nearby mining operation and a catastrophic collapse followed.

On Tenerife, a Pan Am flight taxied on the runway, while a KLM flight took off. But miscommunication caused one of the worst aviation disasters when the two jumbo jets collided, killing 583 people. The second by second analysis with interviewed survivors is covered in this episode.

On 11th September 2001, an American Airlines flight was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon building. The resulting fire weakened the damaged structure causing further collapses at various points.