- 5 months ago
Sometimes the smallest errors lead to the biggest disasters. Join us as we examine catastrophic blunders that shocked the world and changed history forever! From nuclear meltdowns to oil spills, aviation disasters to chemical leaks, these human mistakes had devastating global consequences that are still felt today.
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00:00The anticipation and publicity surrounding a teacher in space will add pressure to keep this mission on schedule, and that pressure will have consequences.
00:10Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 20 blunders that resulted in notorious tragedies.
00:16There has been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union, and the Soviets have admitted that it happened.
00:21Grenfell Tower fire. The blaze itself wasn't the shock so much as it's unbelievably rapid spread.
00:27In June 2017, a refrigerator fire ignited inside London's Grenfell Tower.
00:33Two hours after the fire service were first called, almost half of the flats are ablaze, and by 4.30, the whole building's on fire.
00:41It should have been contained easily and quickly. Instead, flammable cladding wrapped around the building turned it into a giant chimney of fire.
00:49Safety inspections had flagged the risks long before, but warnings were ignored.
00:53Even as the flames raced upwards, residents were told to stay put.
00:58Seventy-two people died in one of modern Britain's deadliest fires.
01:02On the night of the fire, for some, the advice they were given and the decisions they took based on that advice were to make the difference between life and death.
01:11Grenfell became a symbol of bureaucratic negligence, corporate corner-cutting, and the human cost of ignoring safety for profit.
01:19The Seveso disaster. One valve, a lack of planning, and a simple error poisoned an entire Italian town.
01:27At a chemical plant near Seveso, Italy, a runaway reaction built pressure until it blew.
01:32One of the deadliest toxins on earth, dioxin, vented into Seveso's atmosphere.
01:48The plant had no alarms, no emergency plan, and no idea how far the poison would drift.
01:54The company told no one. Days later, children's skin erupted in blisters. Farm animals dropped dead in the fields.
02:01The leak stayed secret until panic made hiding it impossible.
02:12Whole neighborhoods were evacuated. Only two executives were found guilty of criminal negligence.
02:17Despite the lack of justice for Seveso's victims, Europe was spurred to strengthen safety regulations across the continent.
02:24Three Mile Island nuclear accident. It wasn't sabotage. It wasn't an earthquake. It was a stuck valve, compounded by a cascade of human error.
02:34What is happening on Three Mile Island on this March night was never adequately planned for.
02:39At Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the emergency cooling system should have saved the reactor.
02:45Unfortunately, operators misread their instruments and shut it off.
02:49Instead of saving the reactor, they cooked it.
02:52For days, confusion reigned while the world wondered if the U.S. was about to lose a city.
02:57A total meltdown was narrowly avoided.
03:00But radioactive gas leaked and ruined the plant.
03:03No one died, but America's trust in nuclear energy never recovered.
03:07Five frightening days in the spring of 1979 changed forever the face of nuclear power in America.
03:15They ended the nation's blind infatuation with the atomic miracle.
03:19Three Mile Island proved that one tiny error and mountains of panic could nearly end in catastrophe.
03:26Piper Alpha oil rig explosion.
03:29Night fell quiet over the North Sea until the first blast tore the sky apart.
03:34On the Piper Alpha platform, Routine Maintenance had sidelined a safety valve.
03:39During maintenance, its safety valve has been removed, meaning that there is nothing to stop thousands of cubic feet of gas escaping into the atmosphere.
03:49Here's the thing.
03:50Nobody bothered to update the next shift of maintenance workers.
03:53When they restarted the pump, gas flooded the rig and ignited in seconds.
03:57Explosions cascaded through the structure, turning the platform into a floating firestorm.
04:03One hundred and sixty-seven men died, many trapped with nowhere to escape but the sea.
04:07And the towering inferno.
04:10All hell was breaking loose on that.
04:13It was just a scene for hell.
04:15It's the only way you could describe it.
04:17A scene of absolute carnage and hell.
04:19The investigation uncovered a culture of rushed handoffs and cut corners.
04:24Piper Alpha became a brutal case study in how one missed message can kill hundreds.
04:29Halifax explosion.
04:31Two ships, one narrow harbor, and one colossal miscue added up to an utter disaster.
04:37It brought a city to its knees in an instant.
04:40Two square kilometers of Halifax simply obliterated by the largest human-made explosion prior to Hiroshima.
04:47The French freighter SS Montblanc steamed into Halifax loaded with 28 tons of explosives.
04:54When it crossed paths with a Norwegian ship, neither captain yielded.
04:58It was one of the deadliest games of chicken in history.
05:01Both sides lost.
05:02The collision sparked a fire that reached the Montblanc's cargo hold, causing a massive explosion.
05:07The blast obliterated the Richmond district, leveled thousands of homes, instantly killed around 2,000 people.
05:14There were many never even found, because there was a tsunami, a wave of water that came up the shore on both sides,
05:21and washed away numbers of people who were never seen again.
05:24Windows shattered 50 miles away, and a tsunami followed.
05:27Enormous destruction, all because two crews couldn't navigate a simple pass together.
05:32The Bhopal gas tragedy.
05:34Safety wasn't the top priority for the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India.
05:39It wasn't even really a consideration.
05:41The scenes are simply hellish. So much suffering from India's invisible killer.
05:46At one point, an official said one death was being recorded every minute from the poison gas leak in the city of Bhopal.
05:52Critical maintenance was skipped for the sake of expediency and profits.
05:56As a result, warning systems failed.
05:58When water leaked into a tank of methyl isocyanate gas, it set off a runaway chemical reaction.
06:04Alarms didn't sound, valves didn't work, and poison poured into the city while thousands slept.
06:09By dawn, more than 3,000 people had died in their sleep.
06:13Hundreds more would die or suffer lingering health problems in the years that followed.
06:17In Bhopal today, the survivors of the poison gas disaster were visited by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa.
06:23At 74, she is bent but hardly broken by what she has seen.
06:27She tries to comfort by listening.
06:30These men saying, we can hardly see anymore.
06:33The Bhopal tragedy wasn't some kind of freak accident.
06:36It was corporate negligence on a staggering scale, and its toxic legacy still lingers in the soil.
06:42The Great Smog of London.
06:44For centuries, London had been known for its thick blankets of fog.
06:47But in 1952, Londoners weren't prepared for a fog that turned the air into a deadly poison.
06:53It started on the 5th of December.
06:56Fog laid a blanket over the London area.
06:58A snap of bitter cold drove residents to burn cheap, sulfur-heavy coal.
07:03At the same time, factories released toxic smoke into windless skies.
07:07Why?
07:08Because the government cut corners on air regulations.
07:11Nobody warned the public as a yellow-brown blanket smothered the city.
07:15Visibility dropped to inches.
07:17Traffic slowed to a crawl.
07:19Ambulances stopped.
07:20For five days, London suffocated, and thousands died before anybody understood why.
07:25The Great Smog was an avoidable, man-made catastrophe.
07:29We still had smog, but as time went on, we had the availability of smokeless fuels,
07:35like natural gas, like oil.
07:38Without that, we'd have been in a bad way.
07:41Its terrible cost finally forced Britain to confront its toxic air
07:45and pass some of the first clean air legislation in history.
07:48The Waco Siege.
07:49The plan was supposed to be simple.
07:51Arrest a cult leader and seize a stockpile of guns.
07:54Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrived at the Mount Carmel compound,
07:59armed with search warrants for the property, and an arrest warrant for Koresh.
08:04But when some plans meet reality, catastrophe results.
08:07Poor preparation and rash decisions turned the Waco siege into a national nightmare.
08:12Federal agents stormed David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound in Texas
08:16without the element of surprise or proper backup.
08:19A gunfight erupted.
08:20What followed was 51 days of botched negotiations and mixed messages.
08:25Worse, it was all under the watchful eye of 24-7 news coverage.
08:29The final assault sparked a fire that killed 76 people, including children.
08:34Waco became a case study in catastrophic mismanagement.
08:38The raid drew sharp public criticism and controversy swirled over whether or not federal agents started to fire
08:43and shot the Branch Davidians.
08:45It was a deadly mix of hubris and miscommunication, fueling anti-government fury for decades.
08:51Hindenburg.
08:52The Hindenburg was meant to be a symbol, whose success would be proof positive that airships were the future.
08:58Hindenburg provided something that no other type of aircraft could provide.
09:02Three-day passage from Europe to the United States.
09:06And great luxury.
09:07Instead, the name Hindenburg became synonymous with calamity.
09:11As the German Zeppelin descended over New Jersey, a spark, likely from static electricity, ignited its hydrogen-filled hull.
09:18In seconds, the pride of Nazi engineering was a fireball, captured live for all the world to see.
09:2436 people died, and Herbert Morrison's anguished cry, Oh, the humanity, echoed throughout history.
09:31The mistake?
09:31Filling a passenger airship with highly flammable hydrogen.
09:35Safer helium existed, but U.S. export bans forced Germany's hand.
09:40Miraculously, about two-thirds of the people on actually live through this disaster.
09:46One shortcut, one spark, and the entire era of Zeppelins went up in flames.
09:51Fukushima disaster.
09:52The earthquake was inevitable, but the meltdown that followed was not.
09:57It was never possible to happen.
10:03It was absolutely safe.
10:06It was absolutely safe.
10:08It was absolutely safe.
10:08When a massive quake and a tsunami struck Japan's coast, the Fukushima Daiachi nuclear plant's defenses should have held.
10:15Sadly, their seawalls were built too low, and their backup generators were in flood zones.
10:20The plant's emergency plans were destined for failure.
10:23Water swallowed the reactors, triggering meltdowns and spewing radiation into the air.
10:27The tsunami flooded the nuclear power plant.
10:30Result?
10:31Massive overheating and reactors one, two, and three suffered meltdowns.
10:35Hundreds of thousands fled as fears of another Chernobyl gripped the world.
10:39Nature was the initial cause, but human oversight turned the crisis into a catastrophe.
10:44Years later, cleanup drags on, and Fukushima stands as a brutal warning to build for the worst.
10:50First, the 2024 CrowdStrike incident.
10:53It's hit transport with air passengers and their luggage having to be manually processed, delaying flights.
10:58Trains have also been affected.
11:00Before July 19th, 2024, few people had ever heard of CrowdStrike.
11:04It's amazing how much damage just one day can do.
11:08CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company based out of Austin, Texas, that caused about $10 billion in damage on the morning of July 19th.
11:16CrowdStrike made an update to its Falcon sensor software, but a bug caused the software to crash.
11:22Officials in Europe were already getting a grasp on how bad the issue was.
11:27Germany's cybersecurity chief warned people it would be a long day.
11:31Systems running Microsoft Windows crashed, resulting in the largest outage in world history.
11:36The results were devastating and disrupted nearly all aspects of daily life, upending banks, hospitals, air transport, and retail.
11:44It just goes to show how fragile our tech-heavy existence truly is.
11:49Ambulance services across the country have reported a surge in demand as a result.
11:54If you have an urgent problem, you should contact your own GP surgery, either in person or by telephone.
12:01Pickett's Charge.
12:03March!
12:03Confederate General Robert E. Lee made the biggest mistake of his life on July 3rd, 1863, when he ordered his troops to charge on Cemetery Ridge.
12:18There were several flaws in Lee's plan.
12:20Union General George G. Meade had anticipated Lee's attack on the center of his lines rather than the flanks, and concentrated his defenses there.
12:28Now Pickett gave the order, up men and to your posts.
12:34Don't forget today that you are from Old Virginia.
12:37The charge exposed Confederate soldiers to heavy artillery and rifle fire, and the army suffered catastrophic casualties.
12:44It effectively crippled the Confederate forces at Gettysburg, and forced Lee to abandon the battle and retreat from the north.
12:51With this one simple change, the tide of the American Civil War permanently shifted.
12:56All to the detriment of Lee and his forces.
12:59What's happening?
13:01I can't see what's happening to my boys.
13:04What's happening to my boys?
13:06The Cedar Fire.
13:07It's gigantic.
13:09You never imagine it's as big as that, until it happens.
13:14Imagine accidentally starting a fire that burns over 270,000 acres of land and kills 15 people.
13:21The guilt would be unimaginable.
13:23Sergio Martinez was a novice hunter who got lost in the Cuyamaca Mountains of Southern California in October 2003, and started a fire to signal potential rescuers.
13:33Afraid he was going to die in the wilderness, he finally set a signal fire, which got out of control.
13:40But the flames quickly spread to the nearby Chaparral, and he lost control of the fire.
13:45The low humidity and Santa Ana winds exacerbated the destruction, and the fire burned through 273,000 acres of San Diego County.
13:54Nearly 3,000 buildings were destroyed, and 15 people lost their lives.
13:59Martinez was given five years probation and 960 hours of community service.
14:04If you take a look down Fairbrook here, Fairbrook Place, this is just something you'd probably see in a movie.
14:11That's the only way to describe it.
14:12Germany invades Russia.
14:14In the summer of 1941, Hitler orders a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union, catching his ally completely off guard.
14:24Back in 1812, Napoleon tried invading Russia.
14:27It didn't work.
14:28Like, it really didn't work.
14:29Over 100 years later, Hitler made the same mistake, and to equally devastating results.
14:35The entire world watched with bated breath as Nazi Germany invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa.
14:41Join your German comrades.
14:43They understand your suffering, and will care more for you than your own officers.
14:49It was a catastrophic military blunder, owing mainly to insurmountable Soviet strength,
14:54the vastness of the territory, and the brutal winter conditions that crippled German forces.
15:00Despite having the largest invasion force in the history of warfare, Operation Barbarossa was a monumental failure.
15:06The Soviets successfully repelled the Germans, leading to massive casualties,
15:11and ultimately turning the tide of World War II, and for that matter, the entire 20th century.
15:16If Hitler wants a war, Stalin will give him one.
15:21The Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
15:23126 people were on board at the time of the explosion.
15:27Some jumped more than 75 feet into the ocean.
15:30A multitude of factors went into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
15:35A central mistake was the failure to correctly respond to the signs of impending disaster.
15:40Pressure tests indicated that the well was not properly sealed, but the readings were misinterpreted.
15:46Mayday, mayday, mayday.
15:47This is Deepwater Horizon.
15:48We've had a major explosion.
15:50We need assistance.
15:51We need to see the fire!
15:52This error was compounded by a rush to complete the drilling operation, driven largely by cost-cutting pressures,
15:59leading to the decision to proceed with the operation despite warning signs.
16:03The sequence of failures ultimately triggered the calamitous explosion that killed 11 people, and sent 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
16:14Meanwhile, live cameras on the ocean floor show the ferocity of the ongoing leak.
16:19The Exxon Valdez oil spill.
16:20The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest in American history, dumping more than 10 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound.
16:35But this accident was far less complex, and is attributed almost entirely to human error.
16:40Shortly after midnight on March 24th, 1989, the tanker ran aground on Bly Reef, puncturing eight of its 11 cargo holds.
16:49When we got on the radio, he said, well, how big's the hole?
16:51And I said, well, it's big enough to drive our boat through.
16:53At the time, Captain Joe Hazelwood was below decks, sleeping off, quote, two or three vodkas he had consumed earlier.
17:01Furthermore, the crew was overworked and exhausted, contributing to third mate Gregory Cousins driving the vessel into the reef.
17:08Part of the blame also reportedly lay on the Exxon Shipping Company for failing to maintain the ship's collision avoidance system.
17:16You can see oil like a boiling cauldron.
17:20The Tenerife Airport disaster.
17:22Look at it out there.
17:24I mean, this cloud just rolled right onto us.
17:27I don't think anybody has the minimums now.
17:29This disaster on Spain's Canary Islands in March 1977 remains the deadliest accident in aviation history, costing 583 lives.
17:38Los Rodeos Airport was congested due to a bomb explosion at Gran Canaria.
17:43Exacerbating this was a dense fog rolling into the airport.
17:46KLM Flight 4805 took off in the fog and crashed into Pan Am Flight 1736, which was still taxiing on the runway.
17:56It feels great to be alive. I'd be lying if I said anything else.
18:01An investigation found that the accident resulted from critical miscommunication between KLM Captain Jacob Veldhuysen-Vanzanten and air traffic control.
18:11Ambiguous and non-standard wording led Veldhuysen-Vanzanten to commence takeoff without proper clearance, resulting in the tragic collision.
18:20When I got out on the ground, I could hear people screaming and yelling and all.
18:24Within about five minutes, you heard absolutely nothing.
18:28There was no noise at all.
18:31Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
18:32As recorded on E-207 and E-204, the first visual indication that the anomalous plume penetrated the external tank was seen at 64.66 seconds as an abrupt change in the shape and color of the plume.
18:46Roughly 40 million people tuned in to watch NASA's Challenger launch into space in 1986.
18:51Unfortunately, the launch was plagued by freezing temperatures.
18:55Engineers were worried that the cold could compromise the integrity of the O-ring seals in the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.
19:01The cold made the rubber less resilient, leading to a weakened seal, which could allow hot gas to escape the booster.
19:08We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.
19:12The flight director confirms that.
19:14We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.
19:19Engineers at SRB manufacturer Morton Thiokol recommended against launching, but after internal discussion, management gave the go-ahead.
19:27Challenger launched, and the O-ring failed, just as predicted.
19:31Causing the shuttle to break apart and killing all seven crew members.
19:35My job began just at the time that this tragic accident occurred, and I was not permitted to have emotional feelings about it.
19:46The sinking of the Titanic.
19:47Numerous factors went into the sinking of the Titanic.
20:00The crew were warned of icebergs in the vicinity several times that fateful day, on April 14th, 1912, but these warnings were largely ignored.
20:08Not only that, but the Titanic was traveling at a reckless speed of 22.5 knots through the area, relying solely on the crow's nest to spot impending obstacles.
20:18This was done mainly to bolster public image, as Atlantic liners had a reputation for being fast and on time.
20:30As a result, ships often traveled at full speed and treated warnings as mere advisories.
20:36But, in this case, the iceberg was spotted too late, and the ship was going too fast to avoid it.
20:42Roughly 1,500 people lost their lives.
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21:11The Chernobyl Disaster.
21:12At long last, we have arrived.
21:1512345.
21:17Explosion.
21:19As anyone who watched the masterful HBO show would know, Chernobyl was an accident waiting to happen.
21:25And happen it did, on the morning of April 26th, 1986.
21:29The nuclear plant was, ironically, running a safety test and pushing the reactor to its limits.
21:34Unfortunately, operator errors and inadequate safety protocols caused a catastrophic surge in power inside of the reactor.
21:42No one in the room that night knew the shutdown button could act as a detonator.
21:48This, combined with cheap building materials, led to a massive steam explosion,
21:53which ruptured the reactor vessel and released a substantial amount of radiation into the atmosphere.
21:58The disaster cost untold lives, damaged the surrounding area, and cost hundreds of billions of dollars,
22:05making it the costliest disaster in human history.
22:08And one big problem which Western scientists see in Soviet plants is the lack of a containment building.
22:14When all else fails, there's no outer shell to hold the radioactivity in.
22:19Did we make a mistake by leaving off an earth-shattering error?
22:23Let us know in the comments below.
22:24The earthquake that shook the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
22:28was the most powerful to strike Japan since records began.
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