Number 11 Tim Philfer In November of 2015, demolition worker Tim
Philfer walked away virtually unscathed after a century-old smokestack collapsed on top
of him. Philfer and his crew had been tasked with demolishing the towering chimney at the
former Avondale Mills smokehouse, in Alabama. They’d attempted to bring it down using
explosives but, when that didn’t work, Philfer decided to take a manual approach. He got
into an excavator and spent over an hour tearing into the tower. The massive structure eventually
started to buckle. The crowd that had gathered watched in horror as the chimney, instead
of falling into the open space, collapsed on top of Philfer’s excavator. In the incident’s
aftermath, the worker’s daughter ran towards the rubble, fearing the worst. Amazingly,
Philfer climbed out of the machinery, by his own power, and had only sustained a few scratches.
Number 10 Steve Ballas In December of 2016, an Australian man arrived
at his residence, in west Sydney, to find that his house was more than halfway through
being torn down. To avoid a confrontation with the workers, Steve Ballas opted to call
the police. The demolition crew told the authorities they’d been hired to bulldoze the house,
an operation for which Ballas had supposedly given permission. Yet, the man had never done
so and was shocked upon seeing that all which remained from the house was a single wall.
The confusion had stemmed from the fact that the street numbers didn’t reflect what had
been written on the title. For years, Ballas thought that he was living at number 200 Marion
Street, as indicated by the letterbox, but his home was actually on 198. It was his next
door neighbor, the real number 200, who’d actually contracted the demolition company.
The confusion was further exacerbated by the lack of furniture inside Ballas’ home. However,
that was because the man had planned to rent it out and not tear it down. Compensation
was offered and an investigation was launched but the matter was initially deemed to have
been an “honest mistake”. Number 9 Didcot Power Station Collapse
On February the 23rd of 2016, a disastrous collapse of a 10-story boiler house caused
the death of 4 workers, at a natural gas power plant in Oxfordshire, England. The massive
steel-framed building was being prepped for explosive demolition. A crew had been tasked
with cutting key points, inside and outside, in order to weaken the structure. In the months
leading up to the catastrophic collapse, some of the workers expressed concerns about the
instability of the site. They argued that the former boiler house was simply too heavy
and that it wouldn’t be safe to send men inside after weakening it. Then, as feared,
a large section of the steel frame collapsed. Demolition worker Mick Collins was killed
outright while three others were declared missing and presumed dead. Search efforts
were hampered by the debris pile, which was around 30 feet high, as well as by the instability
of the remaining structure. Since it had become too dangerous to send anyone inside, robots
were used to plant explosive charges. What was left of the boiler house was demolished,
in a controlled explosion, in July of 2016. The bodies of the three missing workers were
found in the months following the demolition, in spite of their families’ initial protest
of wanting them back “in one piece, not hundreds of pieces”.
Number 8 James Kay In June of 2011, a fire ravaged parts of a
plant, in Kirkby, England. The factory, operated by engineered wood products manufacturer Sonae
Industria, had earned a reputation of being cursed amongst the locals. Just a few months
prior to the fire, two workers had died in a gruesome accident after getting tangled
in a conveyor belt. Then, in August of 2011, a demolition team was contracted to tear down
parts of the building that the blaze had damaged. One member of the crew, 62-year-old James
Kay, was operating a cherry picker crane. At some point, Kay accidentally pushed the
crane into a metal beam. It’s believed that he’d leaned over the controls after being
dazzled by sunlight. Kay’s neck was crushed between the beam, which was behind him, and
the control panel of the machinery, which he was facing. He died at the scene as a result
of traumatic asphyxia. Number 7 Worker Survives Collapse
In October of 2013, a worker in downtown Dayton, Ohio, narrowly escaped being crushed to death
by the building he’d been helping demolish. The man, whose name wasn’t released, was
part of a crew tasked with tearing down the former Dayton Daily News newspaper building.
He was inside an excavator, gradually ripping off parts of the 6-story building. The structure
then suddenly collapsed on top of the machinery, while the worker was still inside. Amazingly,
the man survived in spite of the excavator having been struck by multiple tons of debris.
According to one of his fellow workers, he’d escaped with his life by following the protocol
which, in such a scenario, dictated he remain inside his cage. Once the dust cleared, he
simply walked away from the excavator. Number 6 Demolition in Denmark
In April of 2018, a demolition operation in Vordingborg, Denmark, ended with a giant silo
collapsing in the wrong direction. The obsolete concrete silo stood at roughly 173 feet, meaning
it was nearly as tall as Disney World’s Cinderella Castle. A demolition plan had been
put together for roughly 6 months and several onlookers had gathered at the city’s harbour
to watch what was meant to be a controlled explosion. It’s still unclear why the operation
went wrong. A large hole had been cut into a side of the concrete silo to ensure that
it would fall away from the buildings nearby. The charges were detonated and, initially,
the giant structure seemed to be falling according to plan. Yet, as more of it crumbled, the
silo switched direction. It landed on a library, partially destroying it. The blasting manager
took full responsibility for the failed demolition in which, fortunately, no one was hurt.
Number 5 Philadelphia Demolition Disaster In June of 2013, a building demolition went
horribly wrong in Philadelphia, causing the death of 6 people. A 4-story building that
was being dismantled on Market Street collapsed on top of an adjacent, 1-story, Salvation
Army Thrift store. The smaller building was virtually obliterated. Rescuers used buckets
and their bare hands to dig through the rubble, looking for survivors, until the following
morning. Among the fatalities were a young art student, a woman who’d recently gotten
engaged and a mother of nine. 14 other people were injured. They included a 61-year-old
woman who was trapped for 13 hours and who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
An investigation revealed several of the disaster’s contributing factors. The crane operator working
on the demolition job was found with marijuana, codeine and Percocet in his system. He was
ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter as was the contractor, who’d allegedly opted
to remove several supporting structures early in the demolition, thus compromising stability.
The same month as the incident, the building inspector who’d cleared the demolition site
for operation, was found dead in his truck. Presumably consumed by the guilt experienced
in the tragedy’s aftermath, he’d committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.
Number 4 Worker Crushed by Roof In November of 2014, an unnamed worker at
a State Island demolition site, in New York City, died following a brutal accident. The
building being torn down was a former car dealership, which had been replaced by a new
one built next door. At around 8:15 am, a portion of the building’s concrete roof
unexpectedly crumbled. The demolition worker was buried under an amalgam of debris. He
sustained critical crushing injuries and was later pronounced dead at Richmond University
Medical Center. Three other workers were reportedly inside the building as the roof had come crashing
down, but they survived. Number 3 Shannon Brasier
In August of 2020, a demolition worker in the UK was left battling for her life after
accidentally being struck by a crane. 20-year-old Shannon Brasier worked for Ace Demolition,
at a site on Southchurch Boulevard, London. The young woman, described as the sole provider
for her family, was hit on the head by the heavy machinery. While the details of the
accident weren’t released, it was reported that a 55-year-old worker was being investigated
on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. Brasier was taken to the emergency room and then placed
on life support, at Royal London Hospital. She’d suffered a severe brain injury as
well as a broken back and multiple facial fractures. A fundraiser was started in her
name, and, according to the latest update offered by Brasier’s family, the young woman
emerged from her coma and started physical therapy. She also underwent major facial surgery
to mend the severe damage to her lip, septum, eye and jaws.
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Number 2 Man Struck by Debris In the summer of 2013, onlookers had gathered
behind a 1,000-foot perimeter to watch an old power plant as it was about to be demolished,
in Bakersfield, California. The explosive charges had been arranged in a predetermined
pattern, to ensure that the implosion wouldn’t affect the surrounding area. Yet, moments
after the structure was brought down, a police officer patrolling the event heard screaming
nearby. A piece of metal debris ejected by the blast had struck an unnamed, 43-year-old
man, causing brutal injuries. A part of his leg was severed and the man was airlifted
to a hospital in Fresno, where doctors had to amputate his limb to manage the damage.
At least two other onlookers had suffered minor lacerations from the flying debris while
several parked cars on the street were struck as well.
Number 1 Eugene Titov In 2013, a passerby was killed after stopping
to film the demolition of an old home, in western Russia’s Lipetsk Oblast. 29-year-old
Eugene Titov, who was working nearby, started recording but accidentally got too close to
the demolition site. A digger was pulling down a wall by using chains that had been
connected to the structure. A large section from the top of the wall broke apart as it
came down, with a loud thud, and sent a cloud of debris flying towards Titov. The man was
brought down by the force of the impact and would later be pronounced dead in a local
hospital. Thanks for watching! Would you rather be trapped
in a building as it’s about to be demolished OR spend a month in Black Dolphin, Russia's
most dangerous prison? Let us know in the comments section below!