The Kaprun Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- "On the 11th of November, 2000, a fire began on board a train carrying passengers up to a ski resort in Kaprun, Austria..."
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► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
CORRECTIONS:
► At one point in this video I mistakenly give the height of Mount Kitzsteinhorn as "3,000 metres (or around 5,000 feet)". This is an incorrect conversion - I should have said "10,000 feet".
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
I can't stress how much I appreciate the way there's no filler in these videos. Just straight to the story.
I like how there's no "HEY GUYS WELCOMEBACKTOMUHCHANNELLLL"
Yo what is going on squad fam before we get started just remember to smash that like and subscribe button even if I haven't given you any reason to do so yet! Before we start, I'm going to waffle for five minutes, then read an ad!
@@Stratocaster42 spot on. Now buckle up and let's get into it!
@@Stratocaster42 please support us on our patreon and comment, it really helps this channel grow. I love how supportive our community is.. every existing video on planet earth lol
"Today we are going to be talking about a train disaster. We'll be going over a disaster about a train. Yes, guys! That's what what this video is going to be about! I'm so excited to have you as a community, smash that like button, subscribe bc we have content like this twice a week. Oh and don't forget to ring the bell so that way you'll receive notifications of future videos. I love you guys! I am so excited to tell you guys about train disaster. Guys, this is going to be insane, guys! You will not believe how disastrous this train fire was - so many things went wrong, it's crazy!...."
at this point the background song has been completely and forever imprinted into my memory
Haha it really is remarkably memorable and iconic despite being so simple
Music: "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
@@Martin-uf4ut thanks 👍
For me it’s not the song but its’ association with these horrible events in my head
I just hope that i don't start to hear it while I am at a recreational park, or a night club
Awww yes, I'm so ready for my weekly dose of being furious at basic safety failures.
Ha! Good one. I was starting to get piss now I'm laughing
This is the best comment here
True - however what was pointed out here was no one who even thought this was on the scope of being a safety issue. I guess this shows that so many things are considered safe - until they aren’t. That is VERY scary.
@@elliejane72 Ion Batteries on Airplanes!
it's a great way to start a morning. coffee and whose stupid idea was this...
It’s comforting to know so many of them lost consciousness before dying. I can’t imagine how terrifying and slow the death would be. At least they were unconscious before the flames got to them.
They died due to smoke poisoning. This is why it's always important to remain low or sometimes crawl through a room full of smoke from a fire. In autopsies of victims of fires their lungs are damaged and dark from inhaling the dangerous smoke. This is why many victims die even if they're recovered from burning buildings by firefighters and emergency units giving them oxygene from masks. If too much of the lungs are damaged by the smoke (nasty soot which clogs the alveoli of the lungs) nothing much can be done even if they're given oxygene after recovery. Once the lungs are damaged the breathing apparatus is seriously compromised and this means that life is no longer an option. Toxic smoke from burning equipment is even worse because the particles are acidic and react with the liquid in the lungs leading to swelling, tissue damage and in the case of carbonmonoxide it decreases the body's oxygene supply. Smoke kills. When people panic they breathe more rapidly too meaning their lungs receive more of the dangerous smoke. The flames didn't get them, the smoke did.
It's messed up but it definitely sounds better then them burning to death..
By far most people who die in fires, die due to smoke inhalation.
But that's not 'effective' enough for disaster movies, which is why those always depict people burning to death.
Even when people were burned at the stake in olden times, because they were standing upright, they would inhale smoke and die long before the flames actually got to them.
In safety procedures, rescue workers, both professional and non-professional, are taught to tackle a person who is actually on fire.
Force the person into a horizontal position so he or she will not inhale any more smoke, then put out the flames with a fire blanket preferably.
Yeah, apparently when there is thick black smoke, loss of consciousness takes mere seconds, not because of lack of oxygen and soot clogging the lungs, but the toxic chemicals released from combustion that create the dense smoke. Horrible & terrifying but very quick and infinitely better than literally burning alive (or at least alive & conscious).
Sadly it's just as bad. The heat of that toxic smoke burns your throat, lungs, etc. 😢
It goes to show: engineers must always ask “what if this happens” questions - and override objections of “that will never happen”.
We have a saying at my job, the ones who design the systems/buildings never used them.
Like designing a ship to still float with two flooded compartments and calling her unsinkable. Because there would never be a scenario where more than two compartments flooded, right?
@@9foxgrl15 Three engineering professors get on board a plane to leave a conference. The air hostess tells them that this plane was designed by their students. 2 immediately get up and leave the plane in a pnaicked hurry. The hostess asks the third we he isn't leaving. "I've put trust in the quality of my student's work" he said "so I know this piece of junk won't even start"
Not really. It’s possible that a meteor could fall to earth and hit a tall building, but it would be impossible to design said building to withstand said impact. It’s a balance between cost and probability, and there will always be an element of risk. You could have a heart attack 30 seconds after reading this…. just saying.
@@MakerInMotion It was actually 4 or 5 compartments
The most shocking part of this story is that it happened in 2000. The lack of attention to safety seems so 1970s to me.
Same! I took a literal double-take when I saw that date...
I'll agree on that.
But then again, the Grenfell tower happened within the last 5 years.
Major disasters seem unlikely but they happen even now.
Negligence, greed, ignorance, mechanical failure and just bad luck are timeless.
@@Tricia_K yes same here!
@@AngelEmfrbl yes & it wasn’t Grenfells 70s design that killed all those people it was the modern cladding that did. Yes the 1970s design would of withstood that fire easily hadn’t it been for modern cladding installed in the 2000s all in the name of cosmetic vanity.
Trapped on a crowded train in a tunnel, plunged into darkness, burning and choking to death... that's on the shortlist of most terrifying ways to go.
Yeah, “horror” is the perfect description for this one. It’s just about my worst nightmare.
Makes me think of the line from Aliens: "Express elevator to Hell."
Imagine being one of the people stuck in the doorway of the Station nightclub.
Imagine the sounds...
Smoke inhalation death, 'GOOD !!!'
Imagine over a hundred people fleeing away from a raging inferno and ONE person tells you and less than a dozen others "no, let's run towards the fire." And then you survive. I can't even imagine the terror any of these people, victims or survivors, felt there in the pitch black. And you just know those survivors were hit with crippling PTSD and survivor's guilt.
It does demostrat the power of knowledge, if that guy didn't know to run down, no one would have survived.
You leave out the part that the ONE person who told them “let’s run towards the fire” was a FIREFIGHTER who was unfortunately in the wrong place at the right time & that’s how those people survived. The one person knew what would happen if they went up because they had experience with fires. If there’s a fire & a firefighter says run down rather than up, I’m listening.
It sounded like the people who went up had escaped later than the ones with the firefighter. So possibly the fire would have been too big by that point to run past it (if that makes sense).
This is a good observation. I honestly don't know what I would've done in that situation. I don't know that I would have had the presence of mind to run PAST the fire to survive...
It’s a miracle they listened to him. As the video says the impulse would be to run up, away; not down, toward the flames
My best friends grandparents died in the disaster. I never knew them but I know that her mom is still grieving. It was horrific.
😢
Anybody who still grieves about something that happened 20 years ago needs to consult a psychiatrist already.
@@sunnyjim1355 You have no idea what you're talking about. You probably don't even have 20 years worth of things to remember and reflect on
@@sunnyjim1355 grief does not end, it’s very telling that you think it does
@@sunnyjim1355 Perhaps you associate grief with debilitating mourning or agony. Grief can come in many ways.
My grandmother lost a daughter who only survived 6 hours after birth. Her heart valve never closed. My mother and uncle lived long and happy lives, as did my grandmother, yet she always referred to Charlene tenderly. That is a grief. She was not morose, but she alway felt the loss of her 2nd child.
Please also note that the heater that caused the fire was heavily modified by completly incompetent personnel, taking the electrical parts out of the casing and badly fiting it in the back of the train (and surrounding it with flammable isolation). It is unbelivable that the person that modified the train and the person checking this "modification" were not sent behind bars - even more unbelivable: the company operating the train afterwards tried to sue Fakir, the company that produced the original heater.
Exactly, Austria has a remarkable history of irrational Court decisions and Police actions.
Tierschützer Prozess and the grotesque disappearing of a Canadian snowboarder in Stubaital.
German student jailed as terrorist for months.
you forgot to mention that the heater was not needed , nobody gonna freeze to death in that thing anyway
@Alter Kater they tend to do that in the US too.
The heater was even labeled as not for vehicles, if I recall.
@Alter Kater Scary stuff. Sounds like Austrian authorities has some serious reliability issues ...
Can we take a moment to appreciate the firefighter who saved those few people? Without that one person onboard, we would be hearing “there were no survivors”.
What I seriously don't understand. Yes, fire is painful, hot and scary but everybody knows smoke and hot gases rise, so of course in a tunnel/building you have to always flee downwards. Common sense and yet they did it wrong.
@@FeuerblutRM I wouldn't have known that, I would have fled up and away. When you add the fear factor, there's no point in even discussing "common sense". The firefighter was a hero.
Agreeded
@@hithere5553 Good comment, I was thinking even before the video mentioned the firefighter, I'd run down, it is common sense. I say that sipping a whiskey in my dressing gown at 10pm sat in front of my monitor. Who knows if I'd have thought that way in that situation, hopefully I never find out.
@@FeuerblutRM Lol as simple as it is definitely not everyone knows that- plus when you add the fear element and the heard mentality it's not that hard to see ppl making this mistake.
"It hasn't happened before so why bother taking precaution" is an incredibly dangerous and stupid mindset. It's like saying "I've never been in a car crash so I won't bother wearing a seatbelt". Prevention is better than reaction
It's a very dangerous mindset to think "It can't happen here".
This is how so easily complacency can be so deadly.
@@MikinessAnalog Many of the worst disasters occur specifically because no one bothered to think about what could happen.
@@JCBro-yg8vd I could totally be a QC because I am always thinking the worst, being a student of human nature.
I have often been called the English term a "negative Nancy", but I care not, especially if it will save someone's life or prevent injury.
I'm sure you know how we are, being complacent & lax on what has always been.
And they’ll put in a emergency door on the rebuild, 100+ bodies too late.......
I'm a train driver by trade and a fire in a tunnel petrifies me. Even though all the equipment is there it's so easy and quick to go wrong. R. I. P to all the souls lost in this tragic incident.
Thank you FH for the videos.
Every tunnel is a chimney waiting for some fire.
As a daily passanger tunnel is the worst place for an accident to be happen , idk if it was my claustrophobia or everyone think the same.
Things like this disaster and the Mont Blanc tunnel fire make me as scared as you.
Look up what happened to a train in Balvano, Italy back in 1944 if you really want terror...
@@cygnia I now wish I hadn’t googled this.
You know it's serious when he cuts out the music for a third of the video. You're probably one of the most astonishingly respectful real-world horror channels on TH-cam.
"What if someone drops a cigarette butt?"
Engineer: "Not a worry, Sir, we have no smoking signs."
This was the cause of the King's Cross disaster in London
What do you mean?
1) We have no "Smoking"-signs.
2) We have "No smoking"-signs.
Summerland, right? Horrible…
@@Nitramrec i think they meant "no smoking" :))
Ever heard of the King’s Cross disaster?
"Fireproof" as much as the Titanic was unsinkable..
My thoughts exactly
I thought of titanic too
now we only need an airplane that is uncrashable
I thought the same thing.
"A fire was deemed unlikely". Yeah. Right.
They are missing the key point in this disaster. This line was build according to the rules for an air-lift using gondolas. Not to train regulations. As an example this explains the shatter proof vindows, and several other key factors resulting in the disaster.
Exactly. The fact that the heating system was forbidden in trains, but this line was not considered a train, contributed to the disaster.
why would it be built to air lift gondola safety standards when it's a train? what do you mean it "wasnt considered" a train?
Maybe it's the system, trains have an indepeneent engine while gondolas are carried by a single engine
@@MalcolmCooks someone explained the exact technicalities in another comment, but by law, this was a gondola
From what I gave read: The safety standards for funicular tunnel railways in austria at the time had no fire protection measures. So it was built to the appropriate standards at the time, although much stricter standards for similar systems existed in France and Switzerland.
I also found out the electric fan heater wasn't just placed inside the vehicles, it was dismantled and modified to be mounted inside the car. A properly certified fan heater was supposed to be used instead, but it was unavailable at the time of purchase, so they bought domestic units instead. How anyone avoided prosecution for this fire is a mystery.
That volunteer firefighter sure deserves an award amongst other things.
amongst us
If it weren’t for him there probably would have been no survivors
Punani
@@Gooberdabs sus
@@ExistentialKitty sussy
"The safety regulations that govern them are written in blood."
That's the eeriest (and most accurate) thing you've said.
It's also an old saying lmao
@@sebastianvakarian9773 Yes, common knowledge.
he says it often
I hate these hyperboles people use all the time. The most accurate? As opposed to all the other, less accurate things he's said?
@@s3dchr yes, some things said are less accurate. Doesn't mean they're wrong, just not as correct.
“The flames melted plastic pipes carrying flammable hydraulic fluids”
PLASTIC PIPES? PLASTIC?
Plastic is the new EVERYTHING and it's KILLING THE PLANET!
@@earthangel8730 it is a great invention that will always be needed but we just gotta find a way to be less wasteful
Dude it's a train system functioning as a ski lift, you couldn't have a hydraulic system using steel pipes going through the constant temperature extremes that train went through. It was the year 2000, so probably standard PVC. The plastic pipes are not at fault here, and to suggest using any other material is pretty short sighted and stupid.
Plastic (PVC) is VERY common for piping; it's lightweight, durable, and cheap. Your house or apartment probably has plastic piping. I think it's dumb to use it in something like that train, but as another commenter said, it's wise for temp changes and such.
@@daffers2345 I know plastic pipes are commonly used in pretty much any building, vessel, or vehicle, but my comment is about the fact that they used plastic pipes to carry flammable hydraulics fluid
What a beautiful memorial. So many times when a disaster like this happens all the victims get is a plaque with a list of names, and maybe a generic statue. But that room full of rainbows of glass to encase you in the vibrancy of every life lost...even as a complete stranger to this tragedy (I'd never so much as heard of it until now), I feel moved by the photographs alone. *That's* how you convey the gravity of a loss like this and remind the world that these people meant something.
The most deadly fire in the US doesn't even have a tiny plaque. It's pathetic.
Btw, it was the Iroquois fire, not the Great Chicago fire. 602 dead. Nothing on the site.
As there's many duplicate colours & no obvious pattern, I'd like to think that they asked relatives of victims what their favourite colour was to honour them.
I know I was expecting a plaque or nothing, but I was pleasantly surprised seeing the memorial
Nowadays, human lives mean as much as a pigs life. There is always a replacement for you, you arent special, that us what many try to tell themselves so they cover up their worthlessness.
@@MatsYoo who hurt you dude?
Funny how when they thought the train was indeed fireproof, no one considered that a fire from inside the train would cook everyone inside relatively quick since all the heat it would create would have no place to go.
Imagine rescuers finding the train and it's in great condition since it's fireproof, but everyone inside is burnt to ash.
That is a horrifying way to go. Damn.
Right! That seems so beyond crazy that that wasn’t thought about
bUt TheRe'S a fAn tO lEt tHe hEat oUt
It was arrogance, plain and simple.
Really don't understand why they didn't think a few latches on the inside to pop open the windows in case of whatever emergency.
They really didn't think of any what ifs, so regulations were updated in blood.
I’m a Merchant Marine and we have a saying: every rule is written in someone else’s blood, don’t add to that blood with your blood.
Who said "If it looks stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid?"
My dad was a Merchant Marine during the late 1940’s and the 1950’s. I remember him saying stuff like that to me and my friends. Of course that was before he cut open his own thigh with a chainsaw while not wearing the safety pants that he always made me wear (irony?).
My father is a ship Captain and ex Navy reservist and I can say this is true
Building codes, workplace safety rules, all written in blood.
If I fuck up at work we lose several historical documents and a lot of wealth but no one will die. I still follow the procedures because someone probably had an awful day to implement those.
A very balanced report, my congratulations. I grew up in Kaprun, and as a skiing instructor used this funicular countless times. Never I could think of something to happen like what happened then. As is said in the video, funiculars were a rarity, and when the new "Gletscherbahn" was introduced, it was mightily impressive. No other funicular in the world was similarly fast, with such a large passenger capacity and ran almost completely in a tunnel. Consequently, in our perception, it was much more a railroad train than a funicular. In my opinion, the engineers building it should have applied the safety measures common to trains, not the basic ones necessary on funiculars. However, many things seeming like flaws can be explained: The acylic windows were deemed necessary since the skis held by the passengers often smashed on the windows and would have destroyed glass. The sealing of the doors was made "safe", since the full capacity of the trains meant that the wagons were really crammed, by passengers carrying bags, rucksacks, and of course their skiing equipment. Apparently, the staff was more worried of people accidentally opeining the doors and falling out from the wagon than to offer them a quick escape.
I lost one of two best childhood friends in that fire, and still visit his grave, whenever I am in Kaprun.
I'm sorry about your friend. Thank you for sharing your perspective as someone from the area
Keep it short
Sorry for your loss
@@MsLouisVee you don't have to read the comment. If reading is too much for you just keep scrolling... Why stopped to make a stupid comment when he's talking about the loss of a friend. Or is there just too many words comprehend?
@@shannaclankie184 My my you must have too much time on your hands and your kind words make my day
When my little brother was very young, he was terrified of everything. Seeing a tree fall made him scared of the wind; a nearby bridge collapse made him cry whenever we drove over bridges. Many of your stories are tragic, and all of them dark, but I can't help but think of that four-year-old in the backseat, and how much it could have helped him, and I'm sure many others, to speak with someone who has your tone. Someone who acknowledges that fears have good reasons to exist, while also explaining how these tragedies have helped us make the world a little safer. Thanks for the content, and keep up the good work.
I would’ve never thought to flee downwards. It makes sense once explained
You have to remember that smoke rises. Therefore, clearer air is lower down. If you're in a room full of smoke, drop to the floor. In a sloping tunnel, head downhill.
Just think of a fireplace and the smoke going up the chimney.
Smoke rises: survivors go the other way.
@@A_Fenland_Demon Also a feature of the Kings Cross fire.
in Switzerland was also fire in the tunnel..but this was normal roadway tunnel...it was looong...and truck caught on fire and blocked the road...so everyone insted of running down the tunnel starter running up the tunnel...reason was the exit upwards was only like 500m away...and downwards was like 2km away...so they all run upwards and died...
few of them took the long way and survived...
Probably make better time going downhill.
@@GFSTaylor it's not only about fresh air and smoke. In the confine space of a tunnel, the heat of the fire has no way to escape, smoke itself can burn and as the smoke, the fire ball and the heat rise. During the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999, just one year prior, the fire was so intense that firefighters had to stop 300 meters away for the burning truck and had to abandon their truck, some of them died IIRC. The heat in that tunnel had risen to 1000°C.
I work on passenger trains for a living, so hearing about all of the completely ignored safety features is both infuriating and chilling. Every single thing on the trains I work on has a backup and a backup for the backup. Doors are either entirely manual or pneumatic. Windows are designed to break with one good smack or be pulled out with very easy to use handles. If the lights go out there are glow-in-the-dark strips that guide you to the exits. There are doors on both sides that, in the case of being unable to open (no electricity, no air in the case of the pneumatic doors) there is a very clear way to just pull a red handle and pop it open. These are just a few standard things they should have implemented that would have saved lives.
That cost money as you probably know my friend. And as I grown up I have discovered every company or industry(including health care), no matter what they say, is all about saving money, for THEIR own profits. They will cut cost to every illegal or legal limit they can. They will take their profits in robbing customers more, in spending less on training and safety, or overworking and using employees anyway they can legally. There are no morals in business. Just laws, and even those they break daily.
I created all those safety features
Same. I'm a driver on passenger trains and I'm absolutely amazed by the lack of any safety features. Jaw dropping. Although most safety features and rules on the railway are there because of something bad that happened in the past.
@@gardenclaw6995 Agree - it pretty much always takes a disaster or something like it to get changes made. Otherwise, people don't necessarily have a reason to think something could go wrong. It's hard to plan for something that's never happened before.
I was a teenager in Austria back then and this incident is burned into my memory, it shook the whole nation. I really need to visit the memorial, I've often thought of the victims, some of them very young 😢
“Burned” into your memory....I know that wasn’t intended, but I can’t help myself.
Same, to this day it is one of the worst catastrophies to ever happen here. I remember that I had nightmares about this, even though I had only seen it on the news, but it really stuck with me. I also remember that me and my family were going on holiday in Kärnten/Carinthia that year and we planned on taking a very similar train up a mountain (the Reißeckbahn) and I simply couldn't do it since I panicked even thinking about boarding the thing, so I stayed down with my mum while my brother and father took it.
Edit: typo
I'm Tyrolean and my parents went skiing to a differnet skiing area that day. It too had a similar tunnel to get to the mountain. Needless to say that they got back very unsettled. It was a bad 2 year period in the Alpine Region: Kaprun, Galtür, Tauern-Tunnel-Fire
@@evamg21 and 2 years prior was the Lassing disaster. Really not the best times in Austria.. =(
None Where Under 1, right?
I'm glad that a youtube channel finally covers this incident because I live only about 15 km away from Kaprun in a little village and here the People still remember the 11th November 2000 as a terrifying day
Edit: Sorry for the bad english
Your English is very good.
It has been covered in Seconds from Disaster, and you can find those on TH-cam.
Your English is much better than most Americans! Seems like people just don’t care about correct grammar any more. Thanks for caring❣️
@@JaidenJimenez86 I used to love that series, when it was on the Discovery channel, years ago. At least I think it was that channel. Great subjects!!
@@Angelhorselady I accede with you. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, it's all lost!! And just when we're all supposed, to be getting more intelligent, with the access to the internet, but Alas--------
You just took an entire episode of Seconds from Disaster and successfully compressed it into less than twelve minutes without forgetting any details
How is “well, one of these has never caught fire before” grounds to call it a day on safety?
I think it's that people (wrongly) assumed they couldn't catch fire. "The sun has risen every day so far, thus it will rise every day forever" kind of thinking. Sometimes it's correct to think this way, sometimes it's not.
Basically, because they thought that, even with the hydraulic system, there wasn't any potential ignition point. Which proved to be fatally incorrect.
Well regardless why not have mechanical exits in case of hydraulic door failure and need to escape quickly - even if they aren't considered "fire exits".
@@SoulDelSol Absolutely. The lack of a mechanical alternative for opening the doors was in my view negligent, even simply for the scenario of the hydraulic fluid leaking.
Laziness has no logic.
That firefighter is a hero, singlehandedly saving 12 lives in that condition is nothing short of a miracle.
Also, 162 people? That's more than some single aisle planes!
Edit: apparently they were all standing, packed like sardines. They're literally cremated alive.
He’s a hero for volunteering his free time in order to save lives. His karmic reward was the knowledge to save his own and 11 others during this disaster.
You can get an idea of how bad the situation was when he could only save 12
@@Jedda73 Sadly the train was divided in closed cabins that could only be entered or left by the doors on the side. Thats why he could only safe the people that were in his cabin after breaking the window.
How do you know he was the one who managed to crack a hole through the window they escaped from?
I'd love to know how the person created the hole in the window to escape. Its a small detail I know but somehow it interests me. Was it with the end of a ski pole I wonder. The guy is f**king ledge anyway.
I remember watching the “Seconds From Disaster” episode on this. So sad that so many people died because they went the wrong way after getting off of the train.
I can’t find the vid u mentioned. Is there a link U can provide plz?
@@knickd1979 probably this?
th-cam.com/video/GGYTAQxwHy8/w-d-xo.html
@@Kitty-mb4hy no, the whole channel with episodes got taken down, likely due to copyright issues.
@@Kitty-mb4hy Yeah that's the one. "Seconds from Disaster" was a show that went in depth to show the chain of events that led to disasters.
@Sedd - yes me too. I did fire awareness training some years ago & they said about keeping low to the ground, but this really brought it back how important it is. All those people who fled up the tracks, dying in the hot poisonous smoke.
OMG. The memories come back. I was there with some of my friends and two of my best friends were victims of this tragedy. RIP my two angels. I love you and always think of you.
I am so sorry for your loss!
I went 2-3 times on ski trips to Kaprun in the late 70's and early 80's. On one occasion, while riding the train a friend of mine invited me to imagine what horror it would be if the train caught fire. "This tunnel is a chimney" he said. This is a true story. Whenever the Kaprun disaster is mentioned I remember those words.
Horror is absolutely the appropriate word for this.
I notice that all 16 accused workers and inspectors were brought together in a single trial. This is appallingly incompetent prosecutorial technique- and probably deliberately so. The clearly innocent workers among them diluted the guilt of (well-connected) management. A stitch-up by the Austrian state.
The whole trial and all collection of evidence that happened beforehand were a farce. Anybody asking the wrong questions was immediately put off the case and replaced by someone who knew their place.
@@frauleinbird i remember the ENDLESS dancing around terms..infuriating,
I have seen a documentary called 'Seconds From Disaster' on this incident. The fact that nobody was held accountable is ridiculous, but then, how many times have we heard that before?
I can't think of anyone I would blame for it, maybe the staff member who decided to fit electric heaters to the trains but I'd feel pretty bad if I threw away the life of someone whose only intention was to make passengers more comfortable.
We just can’t throw everyone in jail when something happens
@@willnill7946 No but whe might consider that there should be some punishment for the ppl who build a death box that locks you in whit a fire.
@Rob Fraser In a system failure, the doors should be designed to open, not close. There was also a lack of emergency egress windows. This is criminal negligence in the design and/or by management. I wouldn't be surprised if this was left out to reduce costs somehow.
@@na195097 It was left out because the possibility of there ever being a fire was thought to be non-existent.
The more of these videos I watch, the more I think that before any project is deemed complete, someone with intense anxiety should have to also clear it. As in, they are presented with the finished product, and then ask all their concerns. If every single eventuality the person presents is not accounted for with a solution, the project must be reconfigured with safety measures until it is. Folks with anxiety have excellent (albeit sometimes overdeveloped) sense of critical analysis. May as well put it to good use.
Yes! Same with germaphobes in health issues…(cross contamination would not happen under someone who fears germs) Possibilities for Human error (such as wearing gloves but with a quick nose pick) would be eliminated. Sometimes there is staph in our noses!
Critical analysis would be amazing for every industry, yes please!
This is so legit. We would surely avoid a lot of disasters this way....
People with anxiety do NOT have "excellent" or "overdeveloped" critical analysis, it is a DISORDER for a reason.
Anyone with a brain would have excellent critical analysis. People with anxiety wouldn't have even THOUGHT of a fire happening if a conductor tells them "This whole train is made of metal and plastic, there's no possible way for a fire to start in here!"
Yes, people with anxiety are often more aware of their surroundings, but their critical analysis skills are INCREDIBLY low, which is exactly WHY they have anxiety. Anxious disorders are far from logical.
@@nomoretwitterhandles A) The vast majority of people have anxiety in one form or another; it's not always a "disorder."
B) There are a LOT of people with a brain that not only lack critical analysis skills, but lack common sense in GENERAL. Look at all the idiotic, entitled people in the world.. things like the infamous 'tide pod challenge' didn't gain traction because the world is filled with geniuses.
So no, not "anyone with a brain would have excellent critical analysis." Because they really, really don't.
C) Saying that people with anxiety are more aware of their surroundings but have incredibly low critical analysis skills is quite the blanket statement to make, and actually quite off-base.
When your brain is trying to convince you that anything and everything can and will go wrong, the best way to cope is to try and think of every possible scenario, and a solution for said scenario.
It's the people who DON'T have anxiety, who are like "aw, nothing's gonna happen," who are the ones that tend to lack critical analysis skills.. because of you're not worried about something, why would you be analyzing it in the first place?
Tl,dr; based on your comment, I'm not really sure you understand anxiety or how it works.
True dat. Like I'm gonna let p*ssies dictate my life with all their effing "anxieties" lol. Look at these comments, are Americans the biggest cowards in the world or what. Everyone is scared shitless.
This is PURE “Final destination” real life movie horror type stuff.
...and from the aftermath photos it's quite apparent that the train wasn't so fireproof at all.
Or how hot the fire burned... Aliminium melts at 660 c.
It was considered fireprro as there was no ignition source before the later installed heater.
@@thoges5040 I suppose no one smoked cigarettes either because it was (likely) forbidden, too.
@@BrorAppelsin even if they did, the cigarets would not have been anywhere near something ignitable. The Heater was near the Hydraulic. Before heater Installation it was pointless thinking about fire Hazzards as it would be in an Elevator.
@@thoges5040 You forget that the train didn't exist just to be a train. It was designed to transport people with whatever they had with them, and for example clothing, hair etc. is quite easy to ignite.
The real sad part is extended family members all got on the compensation train... over 5,000 people tried to sue for compensation, and it took 8 years to narrow it down to actually 451 family members, who had to wait 8 years to get a rather modest amount. One grand mother who sued to get money for her grand children who were orphaned only got $27,400 for each child and $0 for her self.
Impossible to put a dollar amount on such loss and suffering. Just awful
Why should she get money tough? I mean losing a family member is tragic. But as an adult it's sadly part of life. If some one kills your child in a driving accident you don't get compensated either. Losing a family member in an accident is not considered damage. It would be if there was negligence. But in this case negligence was rulled out. (Something that is of course suspicious. Cause knowing how small these communities are i suspect the ones doing the judging probably where personally connected to the ones beeing judged.
@@scheikundeiscool4086 this was caused because of human error ... damn right the family deserves compensation for something that could of been prevented!
@@scheikundeiscool4086 it sounds like she had to take over their care. That is compensable in situations like these to most courts.
@@scheikundeiscool4086 yes, you do often get compensated.
I always have a small flashlight with me. When people ask why I tell them that half of your lifetime is spent in the dark. We depend on vision so much that when we can't see we're nearly helpless, and when that happens people tend to panic. Add the horror of fire and not being able to breathe and almost everyone will panic.
A glass of water and a rag can't hurt, either. You can put it over your face. Or pee on it if desperate.
I love my tiny Maglite. You can put it in your teeth and still have hands free. Can't do that with a cell phone, lol.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 plus, cell phone batteries die quickly, especially when used as flashlights!
My poor wife is basically deaf from a bacterial ear infection and I couldn’t imagine if she ended up in a situation like this. She couldn’t see or hear and would have no way to survive a disaster like this one.
@@jaxonrandle9054 well according to this guy a freaking flashlight would save everyone
So in other words you are forever in the dark about anything?
Imagine the lives that could’ve been spared if there were accessible fire extinguishers and emergency exits
....or if they would have all stayed home?
But scarily you have the natural human response to escape uphill, away from the flames. Unless they could have put the fire out, people escaping uphill were sadly doomed. Thank goodness for that firefighter.
@@tonysoprano3921 yea but you don’t stay home all the time thinking “phew if i don’t go the building won’t crush me.” they were living life. your statement is just ignorant at best.
Fire extinguishers would have done nothing, no amount of spraying one can quench a flame fed by more than a hundred liters of flammable fluid
@@tonysoprano3921 And communism is a religion of peace.
Saw this story first on the show "Seconds from Disaster" years ago and I learnt a lot about the "chimney effect" and how our instincts aren't always right. And how much worse smoke can be than fire in certain circumstances. Watching these kind of stories can help us learn and to be safer. Thank you for another great presentation. Very sorry for all who were impacted by this horrible event.
Omg this is horrific. Your channel is so interesting, because I've never heard of a lot of these disasters. I feel awful for these people.
I like you
From Germany here. I remember this so vividly, can't believe it's now 20 years past!
Kaprun and the aftermath made me really eerie about tunnels... and also taught me the chimney effect. I hope I will remember it in case of a fire.
yeah... If i remember correct a lot of people around me back then had already a bad feeling driving thru tunnels because of the fatality in tauerntunnel just 1 year before. gotthard 1 year later didn't made it better...
The Gleinalmtunnel fire is also still well known here in the area. There were "just" 4 lives lost but this event was also a reason for austrian motorway company to add a second tunnel to nearly each highway tunnel and abandon the idea of "Gegenverkehrstunnel".
Safety systems, ventilation and evacuation to the parallel tunnel are so advanced today, I personally don't have any fear going through a tunnel
From Australia here. I remember this pretty clearly. I hear "train fire in tunnel" and thought, okay they can get out at one end or both. But when they said the tunnel was on a hillside, I was not expecting any survivors, knowing 99% of people would run upwards and die. I was very glad to hear there were at least a few survivors.
I was a kid when this happened. We had been educated on fire safety by our school in some lessons including a visit to the fire station and talks with firefighters. We were told how smoke always rises and how it's cooler closer to the ground etc. When the narrator said most of the people fled upward, I said out loud "oh no"...I thought it was common knowledge, but apparently not, especially while panicking. It does make sense in the moment to flee upwards. The fear they must have felt! It's so tragic.
The memorial to the victims is absolutely one of the most beautiful I have seen. It is apparent much thought was given to the design.
If they had made a better designed tunnel and well planned out train interiors, that memorial would not have been built at the first place.
Apparently more thought was put into the memorial design than the safety design of the rail system.
Talk about "cold comfort," . . .
@@romekhanna You could say that about any memorial, does that mean we should not build memorials that look nice to commemorate those people?
Trapped in a burning train stuck in a tunnel. What a horrific tragedy. One of the most shocking tragedies I've seen on FH
What surprised me the most, is that people who were in the other train (not the one on fire) died too. :(
Why is there a suprise? They were in the same tunnel. So once the smoke reached them their fate was also sealed.
@@chrischrist4160 you would think they would have a bigger chance to escape. Or at least maybe seal the doors inside their own train so they can breath whatever air is inside instead of the smoke from outside, since the fire was not in their own train.
If this channel has done nothing else, it's taught me the importance of good fire safety. I'll never not pay attention during an emergency exit explanation again after watching your content.
I love this guy. He is so articulate and normal. He doesn't need to put on a stupid voice like some do (cough cough.. Chills). He researches the stories so well and delivers the information perfectly. I also really love the music he uses, which evokes emotions. Really superb content!
Chills actually has a medical condition that effects his voice. He doesn’t do it on purpose. I don’t really like it that much either, but it’s not his choice.
@@MeowRealest what medical condition is it?
I thought it was a regional dialect thing, but yeah, he doesn’t do the voice on purpose, so I try to cut him some slack
I agree. Disasters and other bad events are only trivialised by dramatic narration. They are inherently dramatic and need dignity for the sake of the dead.
Chills dumbass voice over ruined everything. Even the most interesting story become a cringe.
I love how you cover less known disasters, not the incredibly famous ones that everyone knows about
Depends on region. The Kaprun Desaster is pretty famous in Europe.
Wonder if he will also cover the tragedies of Montblanc tunnel, Tauerntunnel and Gotthardtunnel infernos, the ICE train desaster of Eschede, Ramstein or maybe the Love parade desaster of Duisburg.... There are so many.
Remember folks, smoke rises. If you’re ever trying to get out of a burning room try crawling towards the exit. Smoke inhalation tends to kill just as much as flames.
"The safety regulations were written in blood". That's something I was told when I worked at a theme park and they were going over general safety. Nobody can plan for everything, but I'm horrified at some of the stories on this channel because people's safety often wasn't thought of at all.
"Fire extinguishers were locked away in drivers' cabinets"
Great place for them!
I've been to bars where I honestly couldn't SEE them! They were UNDER the counter!
Whenever I see a chain on a fire exit I always report it.
This was done most likely because of idiots who stole these from the train or activate them on the train just for fun. This happens quite often and in an area where people have fun and often are drunk the inhibition level for such behaviour is low. One of the most stolen item in public transport are these window hammer (safety hammer) as you could see on the pictures of the bus. If people would behave a bit more mature many situations wouldn't end in such big disasters and more people could survive.
Fire extinguishers, life vests, and other life saving things is always kept and not easy to access when emergency hits.
@@seleyav.7101 Easy solution, make the punishment for these crimes extremely severe
"[Fire] wasn't a considered a danger that was worth planning for." When is that ever true, especially when dealing with mass transit and tunnels?
Basically, they were building Titanic's version of funicular 🤔
The perception of that was largely due to the train having no engine or fuel tank that were fire hazards
@@theshermantanker7043 Still, you never know if a passenger will drop a cigarette, or match. Or, you know, part of the train itself decides to break and start a fire.
Now, whereas I had seen a documentary on this subject, you have, as always added more detail to the story. I love the way you present your highly researched content. Thank you, as always chilling, yet informative.
+1
I appreciate his no-nonsense approach to the subject. No filler, straight to the point. I'm sure you can watch a 30-minute documentary on the subject that gives more irrelevant detail, but from which you learn less.
You consistently have S tier content and there is no fat or fluff in the video just the story and that’s what makes it so nice to just put on and listen to PLUS your voice is perfect to understand
Two things about this video stand out for me:
1. Always plan for a fire. Assuming it won’t happen isn’t a plan.
2. Never use fan heaters for anything. Ever. Those things are accidents waiting to happen
Fuck fan heaters straight up never liked em hahahah
I still remember watching the news when it happened - the investigation showed that the fan heater not only was one for domestic use but it was taken apart (so the safety features of the device itself didnt work anymore) and that the hydraulic lines were running around the heater which was built into a wooden box filled with insulation wool. I remember someone saying in the news that really it was a ticking time bomb.
Unfortunately the well informed Judge didn't agree on that topic.
Cui bono ...
Sad really very sad
This is the way you inform people on a given topic. No hype, just good old fashioned information! Great Channel 👍🏼
YESS ! 👍🏼
I appreciate that you treat these incidents with the gravity they deserve and consistently humanize and highlight the victims. It is easy to forget these horrors happened to real people, and even easier to get lost in the idea that their suffering was senseless. It shouldn’t have happened, but as you always point out, we can and do turn these disasters into lives saved by new regulations, monitoring, and awareness. Thank you for that carefully balanced message.
What bothers me most... I worked on a SIL2 device that moved persons. It had a "fire safety" system, in that it had to continue to operate in any fire that a human could survive. When the fire safety triggered it turned off almost all other safeties such as 'crush detection'.
Your videos have really inspired me to take a look at my family and do the best I can to make sure we are educated about these things. I never would have thought to run downward in this situation. My family has a fire plan and we stick to our safety rules whenever going out to crowded places. Having a buddy within arms reach at all times, knowing where all exits are, etc. Some people think videos like these are morbid, but I find them extremely educational, not to mention very respectful to the victims and their families.
There used to be a televised public service announcement in Australia about house fires that used the line "Get down low and go, go, go!" to remind people that heat and smoke rises, so the air lower down (near the floor) gives you a better chance to escape a building.
I recently saw an interview with people who lost family and friends in that tragedy for the 20th anniversary of it. Truly another terrible, yet preventable incident
I have visited Kitzsteinhorn a couple times during my vacations to Kaprun and Zell am See. I knew this disaster happened there, but never knew there was a memorial, I'll make sure to visit it next time I'm there.
"Not even Negligence"
But... they installed a home fan, not one for trains. how is that not negligent enough?
They couldn't PROVE they were negligent. Probably couldn't pinpoint who did it and that they were aware of the risk
Maybe they didn't read the fine print or thought it's okay anyway. Technically it was 'indoor use' after all. The fan was a Fakir, which usually is a very reliable hardware brand. I don't know.
No negligence was to be found because it would have meant calling out the entire political system that brought the disaster to your doorstep to begin with ... that disaster happened as a DIRECT result of negligence by the political and financial elite who wanted to cash in with little to no interference and you see the outcome ... prime example of holding people accountable because you and I would be if it were our fault
@@craigdurso3005 "... the entire political system that brought the disaster to your doorstep ..."
You mean capitalism? Thats only the boundary, which allows the strongest power of men to grow: Egoism!
@@Nitramrec you realise capitalism isn’t the only structure that falls victim to these things? I’d suggest looking into similar disasters from communist/socialist regimes like the Soviet Union and CCP as well, you’ll find the regime actually has no effect on greed and ego driven “men” in power. You’ll also find the corruption and censorship that follows these disasters is far worse in regimes like them. In fact often by its very nature capitalism can help avert disasters like this because of potential economic repercussions from negligence and the fact the companies are often private enterprises and are easily trialed in court for things like negligence.
There are far to many people putting the blame on capitalism for tragedies that actually happened through human nature.
Hell, I even guaranty capitalist societies are far safer than equivalent socialist/ex-socialist ones. Do more structures fail in Europe/north America/Australasia or China/Russia? And when they do who’s victims are more likely to be compensated? I think we both know the answer.
This is all being said over an accident likely caused by an individual or small team trying to solve a problem with keeping the trains at a comfortable temperature for the passengers and being unaware of the risks of the solution they chose to go with. If the concern of fire had been made aware of, its highly likely the company would’ve amended it appropriately. I.e. fitted a suitable heater for the job. Capitalist business’s don’t want people dying because of their products... it’s bad for business.
I appreciate that this is genuinely not a clickbait channel! Thanks!
I watched the full version of this on seconds from disaster. It’s absolutely terrifying. How brave those 12 were to pass the fire.
Is it strange that I find these so relaxing
It's the voice.
I actually watch this when I want to go to sleep
The voice I tells ya!! THE VOICE!!!
It’s morbid, but I feel like I’m learning survival techniques
@@Kodiak1234 same I be taking mental notes lmao
There are a lot of terrible ways to die, and this is certainly high up there. You couldn't open up the doors to escape because the fire used the power the doors ran on. It was pitch black, so the only light you could see was the deadly flames coming closer and closer upon you, and even when you were able to escape, it was pretty much a 50/50 chance of survival since there were only two ways out of the pitch black tunnel.
Absolutely Horrible.
It wasn’t 50/50 because the fire was at the rear of the train so almost everyone went up instead of down. 😞
"Oh, it won't catch on fire."
*Titanic music plays*
No one ever said the Titanic is unsinkable it's a lie that people keep repeating.
@@Fireglo people actually did thought it was unsinkable
@@Manda8789 people actually did think it was unsinkable.
@@Fireglo That phrase was coined by the British newspaper's, prior to the TITANIC departing. That's where that comes from.
@@Manda8789 And it was, for the most part. Remember the TITANIC'S watertight compartments, if one or more floods, the ship CAN remain afloat.
A well narrated story, concise and to the point. Without the plethora of vocabulary errors, incorrect information, and loud annoying back ground music like most TH-cam channels have... Very well done! One new subscriber earned.. 👍
I went to school with Kyle, one of the victims of this disaster, while we both attended a school for children of military parents that were stationed in Wurzburg, Germany. I wish I could find some of classmates that remember this, but since we get moved every 3 years, no telling where we all are.
RIP Kyle Goodridge. When a local family accidentally locked their baby in their apartment, Kyle jumped into the basement through a small hole outside to get in there and unlock the door. He was a hero.
Rest in peace Kyle🙏
So glad this channel was recommended to me!
Another professional, respectful, non sensationalised and extremely informative video - thank you FH!
Brutal fire situation. I learnt something today about walking downhill in a tunnel fire. RIP those poor souls. Thank you for the story.
Thank you for another interesting bit of history. I appreciate how you have the screen go black when you talk of the lost lives, very respectful.
I used this funicular a few times on skiing holidays.
This was an accident waiting to happen. I can't believe that there was no emergency door release or windows which could be broken to escape.
Also, at the first sign of fire, wouldn't it be better to reverse the train to get it out of the tunnel, then the smoke would have been less concentrated, giving a better survival chance.
The train was automatically stopped, there was nothing the conductor could've done.
The train was stopped cuz of its automatic safety system which stopped it, so it couldn’t have been reversed
"It's never happened before so it can never happen". Amazing logic.
I appreciate how these are done in in away that certainly describes the terrible results without appealing to gory details, disgusting language and the more ugly descriptions. I remember this case and it was noted that the few who escaped and ran DOWN the tunnel survived but those who ran UPWARD didn't make it as the thick toxic smoke was billowing upward. Now that i see this again, its almost as if an evil engineer thought of a way to mass-murder people in a death trap. the only thing missing was the vehicle routinely carried dynamite stores near the heater beside the flammable fluid inside the escape-proof sealed coffin-train.
"The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm."
Bhopal was kinda similar, the wind was blowing away from the plant, so it was safer to run toward it.
Hell of a coin flip to make in a stressful situation.
@@jaysea5939 I was just reading about the Nigerian Tug Boat Survivor, an utterly astonishing rescue of an unlikely lone survivor of a sinking ship. He just happened to be using the toilet when it started sinking and couldn't catch up to those leaving. Then that 'split second coin flip' and he goes back inside. Everyone else who tried to escape died. It's a helluva thing!
You can choose from a wide range of channels, fortunately for you, but please link any who you perceive as disrespectful.
@@DaveSCameron Hi David, I think you might have accidentally replied to the wrong comments. Just so ya know.
@@jkhowlingstories3660 Perhaps yes and apologies if so.
Shatter proof windows with emergency release latches makes me happy to exist at this time...yet also filled with dread because as far as we come, we still make deadly mistakes be it by carelessness, greed, or genuine ignorance.
@@ROB-cj4kq and now self driving cars which has and will lead to "problems."
@@ROB-cj4kq yeah and hacking and malfunctions x_x
@@ROB-cj4kq I'll drive myself, thanks. You can get on a jet with no pilot.
Or even better, openable (slide down) window on all windows just like Japanese metro train
Aaand now we have the Miami surfside building collapse disaster...all due to negligence, laziness, greed, with a strong dose of human-caused climate change thrown in...
It’s absolutely heartbreaking how often money is put before safety. People shouldn’t have to die for things to be done properly.
Money is put before literally everything else.
“Done properly” can be something of an illusive concept. If you watch these videos enough, you realise that even when safety measures are in place, they can just as easily be ignored or improperly implemented. People also don’t necessarily have an imagination for how things can go wrong, and therefore it doesn’t necessarily occur to people that there’s a potential problem.
@@OwenBudd1 Should use more women. Women are naturally paranoid due to wanting their kids and families safe. I can only think of one disaster caused by a woman, a small structural collapse. I don't think anyone was hurt or killed.
None of the major fires were managed by, owned by or had a female fire inspector. I could be wrong, but I can't think of one.
In fact, when a woman expressed concern about foam on the walls at the Station, she was dismissed and ignored.
"This tunnel was wide enough only to accommodate one train"
oh nooo, this is such a red flag
Many underground systems' tunnels are only wide enough to accommodate one train, like the original, London's Tube... and that hasn't resulted in any problem. In the stations, yes, but not in the tunnels. This video itself stated that the fire problems came about because of multiple reasons... tunnel width NOT being one of them. Jeez. 🙄
Aside from the fact that it is mechanically impossible for these vehicles to collide, it's much, much easier, cheaper, and even safer structurally to make tunnels narrower.
There actually appears to be space for a walking route provided to the side of the vehicle.
Hey, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your podcast, they are definitely my favourite and I recommend them to everyone. I respect and admire the wonderful way you present the stories on behalf of the victims., please continue with your channel, I am your number one Superfan from Australia💛💛💛
I'm from the local area and I still remember this tragedy clearly, it was all over the news for months. I was only 10 years old at the time and had nightmares for a long time after the disaster. I think my fear of tunnels and especially trains travelling through tunnels must have originated from this.
I've always felt that your research and reporting on these topics is fantastic, so it didn't surprise me to see you cover something I'm so intimately familiar with in such an accurate and respectful way. Keep up the great work!
I remember this - it hit the country hard and we felt it all as a nation. I was 16 years old when this happened. This video hit literally close to home.
This one gave me the chills. Cannot imagine the terror those people went through before they died.
If it’s any consolation, smoke inhalation will overcome a human respiratory system with great speed. This is in fact how most people perish in fires.
I remember training in Kaprun for my snowboard instructor license a year or 2 after this. We had to take the skilift towards the glacier and I remember looking at the tracks going through the mountain and wondering why I never saw anything go up them. Came home and stumbled across a documentary about it a few months later.
That "don't run upwards" is something worth knowing about. Telling that the 12 who survived were led by a firefighter.
A guy I went to school with was part of an 8-person fire-fighting team that got surrounded and trapped by a bushfire.
The team leader said "the highway's only 100m up this hill, follow me".
The other guy said, "We have to run downhill - there are houses about 400m down this way, we can get help there".
The 4 who ran for the highway all died.
The 4 who ran the much longer distance downhill all survived (horribly burned, but they lived).
Yet another well researched and presented episode of ' FASCINATING HORROR ' . Well done and many thanks for consistently high quality and interesting content! I live in the French Alps, ChamonixMont Blanc where we have a similar Mountain Train... luckily it's mostly open air! 👍❤️
Just go to Wikipedia, it's all there. Nearly word for word. Here is a better, more in depth video. th-cam.com/video/GGYTAQxwHy8/w-d-xo.html
It’s 4:22am , was gonna call it a night ...but first this ...
Thanks for considering my suggestion, i knew this incident was going to make it on here. Really the casualties in this one exceeds 100, the most out of all the incidents you covered so far.
The fact that I live only a few kilometers away from Kaprun and even less from where the disaster occurred.
The “seconds from disaster” episode on this tragedy was a really good one. A few big reasons they highlighted for why this fire was so deadly was this:
The tunnel slanted upwards meaning that the smoke from the fire near the back of the train rose and filled to whole tunnel in the upwards direction
The fire started near the back of the train, but ironically going back down the tunnel towards the station was the only way to safety and the few survivors that escaped battled their way past the flames and headed down where there was no smoke rather than away from the flames and further up where the smoke was collecting. Like was mentioned, the twelve people who followed the volunteer fire fighter’s advice and fled downwards past the flames would be the only survivors .
Areas of refuge in the tunnel were located too far apart, were difficult to see, confusing to open and get inside of and not lit by any kind of emergency lights
Stopping in the middle of the tunnel meant that either way one escaped, the distance was very very far to walk out of the tunnel. Due to the above reasons, a majority of people escaped upwards away from the flames but the distance was too far to make it to the exit in time and most deaths resulted not from burning but smoke inhalation as people ran out of oxygen during the long climb up to the station at the top of the tunnel.
seconds from disaster is a great show
I knew there was something familiar about this story. It wasn't until the Narrator stated that a firefighter managed to take others down with him and descend did I remember it was from Seconds From Disaster.
I remember seeing this first on Seconds from disaster when i was a kid, the footage of the burnt out cabin terrified me.
Sadly no one is ever held accountable in these tragedies.
Thank you for your fascinating presentations.
Was just about to fall asleep... this shows up and I can't help myself lol 😄
Likewise lol
Sweet dreams.
Thank you for the awareness your videos bring to so many-I am personally more conscious when entering any type of transit, new surroundings and those that are around me.
One of the disadvantages of business models that have been around for a long time is the belief that "we've always done it that way, so it must be the right way." Systems that are reluctant to or refuse to innovate often lull people into a sense of safety and routine- until disaster strikes. I feel that every company or system should be inspected by "fresh eyes" fairly often, and management should encourage suggestions for improvement.