Seconds from Disaster — Season 1, Episode 10: Explosion in the North Sea

Episode synopsis

July 6, 1988. The Piper Alpha stands over 110 miles off Scotland. But on this fateful day, a gas leak causes a catastrophic fire with a loss of 167 workers. Why did the Piper Alpha explode without warning? Was Human Error to blame? What about Mechanical Failure? Or even sabotage?

About Seconds from Disaster

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 that ultimately effected the disaster. The program uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience. Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith, Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Crash of the Concorde (Concorde)
• E2Tunnel Inferno
• E3The Bomb in Oklahoma City
• E4Fire On the Star (Fire Onboard the Star)
• E5Derailment at Eschede (High Speed Train Wreck)
• E6Wreck of the Sunset Limited
• E7Meltdown in Chernobyl
• E8Inferno at Guadalajara
• E9Fire on the Ski Slope
• E11Flood at Stava Dam
• E12Collision on the Runway
• E13Pentagon 9/11