- yesterday
When tragedy strikes, the world watches in real-time. Join us as we explore the most devastating moments broadcast live this century. From natural disasters to shocking accidents, these events unfolded before our eyes on television and livestreams, forever changing how we experience catastrophe. Which of these live broadcasts do you remember witnessing?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This place is in shock, as you might expect.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 20 tragedies of the 21st century that played out live.
00:09The astronauts' families were by the runway in Florida, poised for a great reunion.
00:13Instead, this was the picture that we all saw.
00:18Campfire.
00:18Welcome to tonight's press conference for the campfire.
00:22November 10th, 2018, 1800 hours.
00:25California has seen some devastating wildfires, but perhaps the worst of all came in 2018 with the legendary Campfire.
00:32This is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history, completely destroying the town of Paradise, toppling nearly 19,000 structures, and killing 85 people as it burned through 153,000 acres.
00:45The fire was also notable for the extensive footage that emerged, complete with live press conferences and major television networks providing real-time updates, often with stirring aerial footage and commentary.
00:57Dramatic personal footage was also streamed online, many showing parents comforting horrified children or panicked drivers navigating through hellish landscapes.
01:06It was the cataclysmic fire that captivated the nation.
01:09It was suffering, moving that slow.
01:13Like, I didn't understand why not everyone was flooring it.
01:17Like, we were all about to burn alive.
01:19Like, why is it everyone, like, full speed ahead?
01:22Like, why are we stuck?
01:24Like, why?
01:24Brian Wells.
01:26The story of Brian Wells has fascinated people since it occurred in 2003.
01:31Wells was a pizza delivery man who was placed in a metal bomb collar and instructed to rob a bank.
01:36He successfully took a local PNC bank of about $8,700, but police caught up with him in a parking lot shortly after.
01:44Unfortunately, the collar bomb started beeping while Wells spoke to the police, and then it detonated and killed Wells in full view of police and local news cameras.
01:53This horrifying scene was captured live by Erie's WJET-TV, but a technical issue occurred just before detonation, so Wells' death was never aired.
02:02However, the full tape was later handed over to the FBI and leaked onto the internet.
02:08Within about four blocks of our arrival at the scene, we received information over the radio that a bomb had exploded on this suspect.
02:15He had still been breathing up until a couple of, you know, really until a moment before we had arrived.
02:21DeMar Hamlin.
02:22To midfield and lowers the shoulder for 13.
02:29This is where Joe Burrow is so good.
02:33And now another Bills player is down.
02:35You never know what you're going to get with live sports.
02:38Unfortunately, sometimes that means horrific injuries and maybe even deaths.
02:43That was nearly the case with DeMar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills.
02:46On January 2, 2023, Hamlin tackled Bengal T. Higgins, with Higgins' shoulder driving into Hamlin's chest.
02:54It seemed like a routine tackle, until Hamlin collapsed to the ground.
02:58The injury and the immediate aftermath were broadcast live, with players and commentators showing enormous concern for Hamlin.
03:05He was rushed to the hospital, and it was later reported that he had suffered cardiac arrest after being hit in the chest.
03:11Luckily, Hamlin recovered, but most people will never forget seeing him wobble and fall.
03:15If you have traumatic trauma to the chest at a very specific moment, as that heart is repolarizing itself, you can go into a lethal ventricular arrhythmia.
03:28The Capitol attack.
03:29A Tennessee man who was pardoned by President Trump has been sentenced to life in prison for plotting to attack FBI agents and attempting to incite a civil war.
03:38The live aspect of the January 6th Capitol attack was unprecedented in American history.
03:43Not only for the event itself, but also for the way it was witnessed in real time.
03:47Major American networks were broadcasting live coverage of the congressional certification of the electoral college vote.
03:54But as the mob breached the Capitol perimeter, they shifted into breaking news mode.
03:58With that, live helicopter footage and on-the-ground reporting showed angry protesters scaling walls, smashing windows, and clashing with police.
04:05Many of the rioters also live-streamed their actions, providing live documentation from the perspective of the participants.
04:12It was a surreal viewing experience, with real-time images of rioters entering the Capitol rotunda, offices, and even the Senate chamber, smashing and grabbing along the way.
04:22I tried to call the president immediately, and I've tried a number of different ways to get him.
04:26I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution.
04:38The Boston Marathon attack.
04:40No matter how many times you see it, it is still just as terrifying.
04:43On April 15th, 2013, the Boston Marathon was infamously interrupted by two homemade bombs that exploded near the finish line.
04:51Three people died, and hundreds more were injured, many catastrophically.
04:56The explosions themselves were captured on camera, but most people tuned in to watch the chaotic aftermath,
05:01when major TV networks interrupted their programming to report on the bombing.
05:05Confused news anchors tried to make sense of the unfolding situation,
05:09and graphic footage showed victims being escorted away on stretchers or helped by overwhelmed paramedics.
05:16It quickly became one of the most viscerally shared terrorist events since 9-11,
05:20with the unfiltered footage helping prompt public outcry and national mourning.
05:25WBZ-TV and Newsradio 1030 would later win a Peabody Award for their coverage of the bombing.
05:31From our entire WBZ family to all of them, we say,
05:36thank you for trusting us to share your stories.
05:40Christian Eriksen
05:41A somber mood, but I don't think there's another mood after what we just saw in Copenhagen between Denmark and Finland.
05:47Europe had its own Damar Hamlin situation with Danish footballer Christian Eriksen.
05:52It happened on June 12, 2021, when Denmark was playing Finland during Euro 2020.
05:57Shortly before halftime, Eriksen was set to receive a throw-in when he stumbled forward and collapsed to the pitch face-first,
06:04the ball bouncing off his falling body.
06:06He was then given life-saving CPR and defibrillation in full view of live TV cameras, panicked fans watching in the stadium.
06:14It was later announced that Eriksen had suffered cardiac arrest, but he made a full recovery and returns to football just eight months later.
06:20But people were not happy with watching a man nearly die on live TV, and the BBC received over 6,000 complaints from angry viewers.
06:29In this day and age, we have the best medical people at these games, but I couldn't watch that.
06:38The West Freeway Church of Christ shooting.
06:40Cameras inside West Freeway Church of Christ were rolling.
06:44The concept of live TV is ever-changing, and many people now consider live streaming to be a new form for the 21st century.
06:51But the problem with live streaming is that anyone can do it, and there are very few regulatory practices in place to prevent the broadcasting of tragedies.
06:59This leads us to December 29th, 2019.
07:02The West Freeway Church of Christ of White Settlement, Texas, was live streaming its service, as it always did, when Keith Knoonan entered.
07:10With a sawed-off shotgun, he shot and killed two members of the church before being shot himself by security.
07:16In a span of just six seconds, viewers watching live saw three people get shot and die, and this footage was later shared throughout the internet at large.
07:25The Jacksonville landing shooting.
07:27Katie, Ken, those players were focused on the screen when gunshots erupted this afternoon.
07:32In those recordings, you can hear the terror in their voices as people frantically ran for cover.
07:38It was August 26, 2018, and the Good Luck Have Fun game bar on Jacksonville Landing was hosting a Madden tournament.
07:45About 150 people were attending the event, including David Katz, a 24-year-old professional Madden player with a history of mental illness.
07:53Participants claimed that Katz began acting weird after losing a few games and refused to shake hands with his opponents.
08:00Around 1.30 p.m., Katz entered the bar with a handgun and started shooting.
08:05He fired numerous shots, killing two and injuring ten before taking his own life.
08:09Audio and brief visuals of the shooting were broadcast live on the event's Twitch stream, much to the horrified viewers watching at home.
08:17Chaos erupted as employees and bystanders desperately searched for a safe place to hide.
08:23One gamer who was at the tournament the day before says it was a friendly game that unfortunately ended in tragedy.
08:29The Gaza War.
08:30Let's just have a look at exactly what happened last year.
08:34Hamas and Israel have been at war since October 7, 2023, and social media continued to follow the event with great interest.
08:41Major news outlets and TV networks have continued to air live specials from the region, including PBS NewsHour,
08:47which regularly provided live textual and video updates throughout October 2023, as the war began to unfold.
08:54Local media channels like Gaza Now have also provided first-hand accounts via satellite and telegram, including graphic front-line visuals and daily war updates.
09:04One of the most notable broadcasts was the explosion at Al-Ali Arab Hospital on October 17, 2023, with the flash and plume of spoke being widely circulated on social media.
09:15The aerial bombardment of Gaza is continuing for a fourth day now.
09:20We know that almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's response to Hamas's surprise attack on Saturday.
09:29What's your reaction to what we're witnessing in Gaza right now?
09:332008 Mumbai attacks.
09:35Mumbai, India was hit by a series of coordinated terrorist attacks between November 26th and 29th, 2008.
09:42Ten Pakistani militants targeted several locations across the city over the course of approximately 60 hours,
09:49killing 166 people and injuring over 300.
09:53Numerous Indian news channels devoted themselves to covering the attack as it unfolded,
09:57often broadcasting hostage situations, explosions, gunfire, and commandos in action.
10:04Journalists also provided minute-by-minute updates, often standing directly outside conflict zones as violence erupted around them.
10:11Unfortunately, enforcement efforts were greatly hampered by these live updates,
10:16as both the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan reportedly watched the broadcasts and altered their tactics accordingly.
10:23As a result, India introduced delayed broadcast guidelines during terror operations to avoid giving away real-time information.
10:31The Columbia disaster.
10:32Good evening everybody, I'm Peter Jennings at ABC News headquarters.
10:35In the words of a flight director at NASA, it has been a bad day.
10:39On the morning of February 1st, 2003, Columbia was returning from a 16-day science mission, and was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
10:48Seven astronauts were on board, and NASA TV was broadcasting the landing, complete with a live feed of mission control.
10:54But the shuttle began experiencing problems as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
10:59And as communications were lost, and the scheduled landing time passed, viewers saw confusion and concern develop at mission control in real time.
11:07News outlets then began reporting shortly after, especially when reports of a loud boom and debris falling from the sky came in from witnesses in Texas.
11:16Indeed, at 8.59 a.m., Columbia disintegrated, becoming the second space shuttle mission to end in disaster.
11:23This is Mission Control Houston.
11:25Flight controllers here continue in a contingency, securing information and notes.
11:30Search and rescue teams have been mobilized to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
11:37The Boxing Day Tsunami
11:38News channels worldwide tuned in to Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, to cover what is now known as the Boxing Day Tsunami.
11:47The most powerful earthquake in recorded Asian history struck off the coast of Sumatra, resulting in enormous tsunamis that measured up to 100 feet high.
11:55Over the next few hours, the tsunami would crash over coastlines from Southeast Asia to East Africa.
12:02These tsunamis crashed into the surrounding coastal areas, killing over 220,000 people.
12:07Viewers watching from home were given devastating images of the tragedy, like entire villages destroyed and inundated with water.
12:15It was a big, biblical, almost like a CGI event from a film.
12:20The visuals also helped aid in the humanitarian response, with countries from around the world raising $14 billion to help aid in the recovery.
12:28On the first anniversary, ceremonies were held across the region.
12:32Shannon Stone
12:33The ballpark in Arlington opened in April 1994 and was immediately met with tragedy.
12:39During the very first game in the stadium, a fan fell over a railing in right field and broke numerous bones.
12:45It would be an ominous sign of things to come.
12:47Fast forward to July 7, 2011, with the Rangers playing the Athletics.
12:52A foul ball went into left field, and Josh Hamilton threw it to fan Shannon Stone, who was attending the game with his six-year-old son.
13:00Stone reached for the ball and flipped over the railing, falling 20 feet and landing head first on the concrete below.
13:07Our staff were very heavy-hearted about this, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
13:14While he was conscious following the fall, he died of blunt force trauma on the way to the hospital.
13:19He was a great father, and they were inseparable.
13:23The Phoenix News helicopter collision.
13:25Tragedy can strike at any time, even while covering a seemingly innocuous police pursuit.
13:31Phoenix stations KNXV-TV and KTVK were both covering the chase via helicopter and airing it live on their respective stations.
13:40During the chase, one reporter yells in surprise, while the camera turns to static, and a metallic screeching noise can be heard.
13:49The anchor back in the station looks at the camera in surprise and simply states,
13:53We don't know what has just happened right there.
13:56What happened was that both news helicopters collided in mid-air, sending both to the ground and killing all four people on board.
14:02Today, all English-language news stations in Phoenix share one helicopter to prevent further tragedies of this kind.
14:09The safety factor is that those are lives up there.
14:12The death of Dale Earnhardt.
14:14When someone is at the top of their game, it seems like they are invincible.
14:18I'm even stronger this year. I'm working out and staying in shape.
14:21Dale Earnhardt is a NASCAR legend, having won seven Cup Series championships.
14:25But his life came to an end on February 18th, 2001, when Earnhardt was racing in the Daytona 500.
14:32Dale Earnhardt has died from a crash suffered in Sunday's Daytona 500.
14:37On the very last turn of the final lap, Earnhardt made contact with two other cars and crashed head-on into the retaining wall at 160 miles per hour.
14:47One of the racers that Earnhardt had hit rushed over to his car and, after looking inside, waved frantically for the paramedics.
14:53He knew immediately that Earnhardt was gone, but his death wasn't officially announced for another two hours.
14:59We've lost Dale Earnhardt.
15:00The shooting of Allison Parker and Adam Ward.
15:03On the early morning of August 26th, 2015, news reporter Allison Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner,
15:10the director of the local Chamber of Commerce, about upcoming activities at Smith Mountain Lake.
15:15Also in attendance was photojournalist Adam Ward, who was filming the segment for Roanoke's WDBJ.
15:21At exactly 6.46 a.m., gunshots rang out and Ward's camera dropped to the ground before footage switched back to the studio.
15:29This place is in shock, as you might expect.
15:33An ex-employee of WDBJ who was fired for volatile behavior committed the shooting, killing both Parker and Ward and injuring Gardner.
15:41I find my grief unbearable. Not hearing her voice again crushes my soul.
15:47A manhunt ensued, and the perpetrator eventually took his own life.
15:51A growing memorial at this station in shock.
15:55The Manila Hostage Crisis.
15:56Philippine National Police Officer Rolando Mendoza was fired in 2009.
16:01One year later, on August 23rd, 2010, Mendoza embarked on a tragically mis-aimed attempt to get his job back.
16:08A tourist bus is accosted by a man who at first makes out to be a policeman.
16:13He planned to hijack a bus and hold it hostage until he was given a chance to defend himself in court.
16:19The crisis lasted hours, and the negotiations between Mendoza and the police played out on live TV.
16:25But then Mendoza's brother Gregorio illegally crossed the exclusion zone to speak to Rolando, leading to his arrest.
16:33Enraged by his brother's arrest, which he saw occur through live news reports on the bus, Mendoza began executing hostages.
16:41Nine people were killed, including Mendoza, who was ultimately shot by a sniper.
16:45Hurricane Katrina. Natural disasters are fodder for live TV, as news stations try to keep viewers updated on any and all developments.
17:01The winds have really picked up here significantly over the last half hour.
17:05It happened with the Boxing Day Tsunami, and it happened with Hurricane Katrina.
17:09Occurring in late August of 2005, Katrina is widely known for hitting New Orleans, where the situation was made worse by fatal flaws in the city's levees.
17:18It's hitting bad right now, Miles. Wind's easily gusting to 100 miles an hour worth.
17:21Most of the city was destroyed and left underwater, and the visuals of such were widely shared in the media.
17:27When all was said and done, Katrina caused $190 billion in damage and killed thousands.
17:33Thousands make their way to the Superdome and Convention Center, in hopes of being evacuated.
17:39The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. Another natural disaster? More live destruction.
17:44This one occurred on March 11th, 2011, when a massive earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan.
17:50It was the most powerful earthquake in Japanese history, and caused waves that measured up to 130 feet, and traveled almost 430 miles per hour.
17:59It was the largest quake ever known in Japan, and one of the five largest recorded in the world.
18:05The destruction killed nearly 20,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more were injured and displaced.
18:10It also directly caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, which was also extensively covered in the news, and which also displaced thousands.
18:18The tsunami remains the costliest natural disaster in human history, causing upwards of $300 billion in damage.
18:26It's been over an hour and a half, and we're still seeing large tsunamis moving and hitting the area.
18:34Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
18:40You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
18:44If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
18:479-11. September 11th, 2001 is a day that will live in infamy.
18:55We believe that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.
18:59It's one of those days that people will never forget, where they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they learned about it.
19:06Virtually everything about 9-11 was aired live on TV, immediately following the first plane crash and proceeding throughout the following days and weeks.
19:14The scope of this disaster is impossible to comprehend.
19:18Scheduled shows and programs were halted to cover the news, and viewers watching at home witnessed things like the second plane hitting the South Tower, and both towers collapsing in real time.
19:29These are indelible images that will forever remain burned into memory.
19:33Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.
19:38Do you remember seeing these as they happened? Let us know in the comments below.
19:42It's not something I would expect us as a newscaster to ever have to say on air.
Recommended
1:10
|
Up next
22:11
18:49
33:10
13:50
16:55
52:19
12:24
28:18
14:43
12:27