Descent from Disaster

Six celebrated Kiwis retrace some of the country's darkest days to reveal the stories, secrets and lessons learnt from our most famous disasters.

On July 3rd 1963, a National Airways Corporation DC3 slammed into a rocky ravine deep in the Kaimai Ranges. All 23 passengers and crew were killed. Simon Gault looks back at this tragic story.

West Coast's Leigh Hart revisits his old hometown of Runanga, where in 1967,it was one of several West Coast towns devastated by the Strongman Mine disaster.

135 people lost their lives when the S.S. Wairarapa steamed straight into rocks on Great Barrier Island. Andrew Fagan uncovers the stories of heroism and downright cowardice on that tragic night.

The Hawkes Bay Earthquake of 1931 is New Zealand's deadliest earthquake with over 250 people killed and hundreds more injured. Gary McCormick looks back at this tragic event.

In 1918, 8500 New Zealanders lost their lives in a influenza pandemic that swept the world, Judy Bailey investigates the affect it had on New Zealand.