#7 - The 2019 White Island Eruption The active stratovolcano known as White Island,
located in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand, erupted on December the 9th of 2019.
A total of 22 people were killed, either in the explosion itself or from injuries sustained as a
result of it. Long known for its regular activity, the volcano is a popular tourist destination.
According to a report by BBC News, there were 47 people present on the island at the time of
the eruption. 38 of them had been passengers on a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship called
Ovation of the Seas, which had taken a 12-day trip around New Zealand before anchoring at the
Port of Tauranga, on the morning of December the 9th. Just after 1 pm, the volcano erupted. Three
commercial helicopter pilots reportedly noticed the explosion from the mainland and immediately
launched a rescue operation. In all, they saved 12 individuals who’d been trapped on the island.
It was also reported that various tour vessels were used to rescue 23 more people in the midst
of the falling ash generated by the explosion. The death toll steadily rose in the days following the
incident, as bodies were gradually recovered from the island and several burn victims
succumbed to their injuries. The total of lives lost in the disaster was officially established
at 22 when a German man passed away, on July the 2nd of 2020. All but three of the survivors were
afflicted with severe injuries as many of them had been left badly burned by White Island’s blast.
In the large-scale investigation launched in the eruption’s aftermath, multiple tour operators,
governmental, and scientific institutions were criminally charged in connection to their failure
to ensure the safety of their workers and others. It was subsequently reported that
White Island had been showing signs of unrest for several weeks prior to its eventual explosion.
Royal Caribbean officials were said to have ignored the myriad of warning signs regarding
the dangers posed by the active volcano, and had allowed the cruise ship to travel to White Island,
even though an eruption seemed imminent. #6 - Darrin Spivey and Dillon Sanchez
A 35-year-old man and his teenage son both died while cave diving at Eagle’s Nest Sink,
on Christmas Day of 2013. The cave, located just north of Tampa, in Hernando County,
Florida, is widely considered to be among the most dangerous dives in the world. The two victims,
Darrin Spivey and his son, Dillon Sanchez, had reportedly gone to the perilous natural attraction
at about 11 am in order to test out the new diving equipment that they’d received as presents earlier
in the morning. When the pair hadn’t returned home by late afternoon, Spivey’s fiancee,
Holly King, contacted the authorities. Law enforcement officials arrived at the sinkhole,
later that night, and found that Spivey’s car was still parked in the lot. Divers were sent in to
look for the missing father and son at around 8:30 pm. The two bodies were reportedly found
at different depths inside the cave. Spivey was located roughly 120 feet below the surface with
his breathing apparatus out of his mouth, which investigators interpreted as him having attempted
to lend some of his oxygen to his son. Sanchez was found floating 67 feet below the surface. It
was proposed that the teenager had panicked, after running out of air, and frantically tried to swim
back to the surface. An investigation conducted by the county sheriff’s office established that
although Spivey was a highly experienced scuba diver, he hadn’t earned his full cave
certification prior to descending into Eagle’s Nest Sink. The National Association for Cave
Diving recommended that those planning to explore the treacherous sinkhole first receive their cave
certification, Trimix certification, and acquire a significant amount of deep cave diving experience.
#5 - Jessica and Jake Woodruff On March the 25th of 2021,
a married couple was killed after a redwood tree fell on top of their car, during a scenic drive
along the Northern California coast. The victims were identified as Yreka residents Jessica and
Jake Woodruff, who were on a weekend getaway to celebrate the former’s 45th birthday. According
to a report by the California Highway Patrol, the parents-of-five were driving through the
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, located roughly 9 miles east of Crescent City. At some
point during the drive, a tree measuring roughly 175 feet in height crashed down on their vehicle,
killing both of them instantly. During the ensuing investigation, officials claimed that their deaths
were the result of a freak accident. There were reportedly little to no winds on the day, thus
greatly diminishing the odds of a tree falling directly on top of a moving car in such a manner.
A GoFundMe campaign was created by family friends, in the aftermath of the harrowing accident,
with an expressed purpose of supporting the couple’s four daughters and one son.
#4 - Lenny Joyner In July of 2012, a New York City
paramedic plummeted to his death while climbing down a notoriously dangerous peak in Colorado’s
Rocky Mountains. According to the Pitkin County sheriff’s office, 31-year-old Lenny Joyner had
flown to Colorado in order to attempt an ascent of the infamous Maroon Bells Mountains. The peaks
are also known as the “Deadly Bells” due to the high number of mountaineers that perish on them
each year. At approximately 10 am, on July the 19th, the medic posted his final online message,
notifying his social media following that he’d reached the summit of the South Maroon Peak.
He then traversed to the top of its 14,000 foot counterpart, North Maroon Peak, where he signed
into the summit’s log book. On his way back down the mountain, Joyner made the decision
to forego the safer route, along the South Peak, in favor of the far more treacherous slope of the
North Peak. At the time of his descent, the Maroon Bells were reportedly traversed by a violent
lightning storm with powerful winds of more than 70 miles per hour. Joyner was ultimately reported
missing after he’d failed to show up to his shift for the Fire Department of New York, the following
Sunday, and after he’d stopped responding to his parents’ text messages. A helicopter rescue crew
recovered the man’s body, which they'd located roughly 3,000 feet below the North Peak’s summit,
near the ski resort town of Aspen. It was established that Joyner had fatally fallen
1,000 feet during his trek down the mountain. #3 - Bethany Farrell
A British tourist drowned at the Great Barrier Reef, during her first ever scuba dive,
in February of 2015. The victim was identified as 23-year-old Bethany Farrell,
who’d taken a trip to Queensland after graduating from the University of Southampton. The ill-fated
dive reportedly took place on February the 17th, nearly a week after the backpacker’s arrival in
Australia. According to an inquest launched in the incident’s wake, Farrell had gotten separated from
her diving instructor, Fiona McTavish, while they were swimming roughly 16 feet below the surface.
McTavish later claimed to have taken the group she was supervising on a different route than
normal so as to avoid encountering another diving party. The instructor looked away from the group
momentarily and, when she looked back, Farrell had already disappeared. Court records indicated that
water visibility was extremely low on the day of the incident, with divers unable to see farther
than 10 feet in front of them. Investigators learned that the vacationer had panicked after
realizing that she’d lost sight of the others in her group. She reportedly swam to the surface and
attempted to call for help, for about 40 seconds, after which she was unable to stay afloat and
consequently drowned. Farrell’s body was found 35 feet below the surface on the seabed
of Blue Pearl Bay. During the police investigation that followed, it was established that the victim
had been given inadequate training prior to the scuba dive that resulted in her death.
A Queensland coroner identified serious shortcomings in how the dive had been conducted,
and also recommended that instructors stay within arms-length of their divers at all times.
#2 - Colin Scott
On June the 7th of 2016, an Oregon man suffered an agonizing death after falling into a highly acidic
hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. According to the park’s deputy chief ranger, the man,
identified as 23-year-old Colin Scott, had been searching for an area of the grounds that would
allow him and his sister to “hot pot”. The phrase is commonly used in reference to the unlawful
practice of swimming in one of the hydrothermal features located throughout Yellowstone.
In the moments leading up to Scott’s demise, his sister, Sable, was recording him. She captured
him as he purposely walked off the boardwalk, constructed near the Norris Geyser Basin, which
had been labeled as the hottest geothermal area in the entire national park. Scott lost his footing,
as Sable continued to film his antics, and fell directly into the hot spring. Sable had reportedly
lost all cell phone service at the basin, making it impossible for her to contact emergency
responders from that location. She, instead, rushed to a nearby museum to seek help, having no
choice but to leave her brother to suffer in the spring’s blisteringly hot water. Park officials
stated, in the resulting incident report, that portions of Scott’s head, upper torso and hands
were visible in the water when rescuers arrived at the scene. The man was quickly determined to
be deceased due to his lack of movement, the extreme temperature of the water, and the
indication of thermal burns on his body. Rescuers were unable to immediately extricate Scott’s body
as a consequence of the “volatile” nature of the thermal area in addition to the threat of an
impending lightning storm. When officials returned to the location, the following day, the man’s body
was no longer visible. The recovery team theorized that his remains had been dissolved by the water,
which had reportedly begun to boil after reaching a temperature of roughly 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
#1 - Angela Tramonte The body of 31-year-old Angela Tramonte was found
at the base of Camelback Mountain, on July the 30th of 2021. The woman was unresponsive
when emergency responders reached her, and she was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene. Tramonte,
a resident of Saugus, Massachusetts, had reportedly traveled to Arizona to see a man
whom she’d met on Instagram, a couple of months prior. According to a report by CBS Boston,
the man in question was Dario Dizdar, a 14-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department.
Tramonte had arrived in the southwestern state on July the 29th. The following morning, she and
Dizdar took a hiking trip to Camelback Mountain, so named because of its shape, which resembles
that of a kneeling camel. As the pair were hiking the Echo Canyon Trail, Tramonte told her companion
that she wasn’t feeling well as a result of the high temperatures, which had reportedly surpassed
100 degrees Fahrenheit that day. The woman decided to turn back, while Dizdar allegedly continued on
the hike without her. When he returned to the parking lot, later that afternoon, Tramonte was
nowhere to be found. The off-duty police officer subsequently called 9-1-1 and Technical Rescue
Teams were dispatched to comb the mountain in search of the lost woman. At about 4:40 pm,
rescuers located Tramonte’s body in the backyard of a house at the base of Camelback Mountain. The
Maricopa County Medical Examiner ruled her death an accident caused by environmental heat exposure.
In the aftermath of the fatal incident, some of Tramonte’s close friends questioned why Dizdar,
who claimed to have had ample experience hiking Camelback Mountain, agreed to let her descend the
mountain by herself, without water, after she’d already indicated that she was feeling unwell.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather go deep sea diving blindfolded or climb to
the top of a mountain with no shoes? Let us know in the comments section below!