Disasters happen every day — some minor, others massive. But a few are so shocking they leave you speechless. From rocket explosions to devastating earthquakes and collapsing buildings, these moments remind us how fragile even our greatest creations can be.
The Catastrophic Failure Reddit community has gathered some of the most jaw-dropping examples of things going disastrously wrong. Scroll down to see some of the most unbelievable failures ever caught on camera.
#1 Brand new Boeing 737 fuselages wrecked in a train derailment (Montana, July 2014)
#2 SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket (intentionally) blows up in the skies over Cape Canaveral during this morning’s successful abort test
#3 Altenburg (Germany) before and after the ongoing severe flooding due to excessive rain (2021).
#4 2020/11/02 Train breaks through barrier onto statue at the end of the line. Happened in the middle of the night, no injuries as of yet. Spijkenisse, The Netherlands
#5 The view of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse from atop the suspension cabling, 1940
#6 Under construction Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans collapsed this morning. Was due to open next month.
#7 $300k video wall came down today in Vegas
#8 Today in Pittsburgh. Sinkhole eats bus. No one seriously hurt.
#9 On May 20, 1976, during structural renovations, a fire burned away the Montreal’s Biosphère transparent acrylic dome.
#10 08/10/2020 – Arecibo Observatory, one of the largest single-aperture radio telescopes in the world, has suffered extensive damage after an auxiliary cable snapped and crashed through the telescope’s reflector dish.
#11 A functioning Dutch windmill from 1848 burned down yesterday.
#12 Gas leak into water main Taiwan
#13 Markham, Ontario, plywood used to repair building proves insufficient for the task.
#14 Arecibo Radio Telescope after the Instrument Platform collapsed. (11/30/2020)
#15 Since we’re talking about collapsed highways, here is the january 17th 1995 earthquake in kobe, a 6.9 earthquake that made about $ 200 billions of damage
#16 A cross-sea bridge collapsed, today 2019-10-01 in Yilan, Taiwan.
#17 A wind turbine was destroyed in Texas after being hit by a tornado 14 June 2021 causing a fire after a blade broke apart and hit a transformer
#18 Incorrectly installed part led to gas leak. One fatality and 3 injured after explosion when workers were sent to investigate.
#19 Tires from the United flight that declared emergency during takeoff yesterday. No injuries.
#20 In 1945, a B-25 Bomber got lost in a patch of fog and crash into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building. Fourteen people passed away in the incident.
#21 Aftermath of the collapse of I-35 W in Minneapolis MN (August 2, 2007)
#22 Update in Pittsburgh: bus is out, hole is square. 10/28/19 10:17p
#23 Unsecured load on Highway 30.
#24 Close up of catastrophically failed 737 engine
#25 Stucked bulk carrier ship Wakashio spilling oil on the coast of Mauricius, 7.8.2020
#26 Rough landing at Burbank Airport.
#27 Pickup truck driver loses consciousness and accelerates into Walmart entrance in Iowa, killing 3. (2016-12-01) Parking lot was poorly designed with 600-ft straightaway pointed at front door, and the protective bollards were mostly-decorative.
#28 Cruise ship, the MSC Lirica, catches fire off Greek coast, no injuries. March 12, 2021.
#29 A huge fire ripped through Star City amusement park, Oct 2, 2019 02:15 am in Pasay City, Philippines
#30 Explosion from Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia at approximately 4:25 am est this morning. I believe it was at an oil/jet fuel refinery.
