Some photos freeze a moment in time, others capture the calm just before everything changes. These haunting images, taken seconds before disaster struck, offer a chilling glimpse into fate’s split-second cruelty and the fragile line between ordinary life and disaster.
Gladys Ricart as she glimpses her ex partner, Agustin Garcia, just seconds before he took life with a gun on her wedding day to James Preston Jr. in 1999.
In 2017, Anne Faber snapped this selfie for her boyfriend while biking alone in the rain, just moments before she was abducted and lost her life at the hands of a criminal.
Melissa Lourdes Lopez posing for a picture just seconds before losing her life after being shot at a memorial for a victim of gun violence.
In June 2020, 21-year-old Annika Ferry took this photo of her posing on a WWII bunker. Unfortunately, seconds later, it collapsed and claimed her life.
Photo of an unknown man just moments before the 2004 tsunami hit.
Last photo of Casey Rivara on May 18, 2023, in Rocklin, California. Moments after helping a family of ducks across the road, Casey was fatally struck by a vehicle.
Photograph from August 22, 2015, of a Hawker Hunter jet just l seconds before crashing into traffic on the A27 in Shoreham, West Sussex, UK. 11 people passed away, the pilot survived.
Last photo of sisters Norma and Liz Ortiz Diaz, they were on top of a tractor taking selfies, when suddenly one of them fell and the other, trying to help her, fell after her, resulting in both being ran over. Neither survived.
Cabin photo taken by a passenger on board Japan Airlines Flight 123 not long before the Boeing 747 crashed into Osutaka Ridge. 4 people miraculously survived the crash, but 520 lives were lost, including Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto.
The final selfie of a family an hour before boarding MH17. All 298 passengers and crew lost their lives that day.
This is one of the last high-quality photos of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, taken at Lemmon Avenue just minutes before his motorcade reached downtown Dallas.
This is the last photo taken of flight MH370 shortly before it disappeared with 239 lives in 2014.
In 2000, Russian diving instructor Yuri Lipski tragically died in the Blue Hole of the Red Sea after an uncontrolled descent. He had a video camera with him, capturing his final dive down to the seafloor at 115 meters. These are some of the final images he captured.
Chilling photo of JAL 123 landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in 1985, shortly before it crashed, claiming the lives of 520 people.
Photo captures newlyweds Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson just moments before their vehicle was hit by drunk driver Jamie Komoroski as they left their wedding venue. The bride didn’t survive.
Photo from August 4, 2021, shows Luis Fernando Cevallos and Alexis Rodriguez after being pulled over for reckless driving. It was their first and only date. Just 15 minutes later, they collided with a tractor-trailer and lost their lives instantly.
Flight 175 on September 11th 2001, Seconds before the plane hit the South Tower.
Photo taken just before a huge wave hit the shore during the devastating 2004 tsunami. In some places, the tsunami waves reached 100ft high.
Photograph of MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli just seconds before the crash that led to his passing.
United Airlines Flight 232 on approach to Sioux City Airport, minutes before it crashed and 111 people lost their lives.
Kubra Dogan moments before she fell 160 feet to her demise from a rooftop in Turkey while attempting to capture a sunset selfie.
Gilles Leclerc and Marianne Labanane took a selfie at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in 2015. Moments later, gunfire started, Gilles lost his life, but Marianne survived.
The last known photo Helios flight 522. The 737 crashed on August 14th, 2005 near Grammatiko, Greece after a loss of cabin pressurization incapacitated the crew and passengers. The unresponsive aircraft flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. All 121 perished.
A tourist named Colleen Burns was visiting the Grand Canyon with friends in 2016. She moved to the side of a trail to allow another hiker to pass, she slipped, and plummeted 400 feet to her death. Burns had posted this photo to Instagram just before the accident.
A hot air balloon that struck a power line in Caterton, New Zealand. The incident took the lives of 11 people.
A B-52 crash at Fairchild Air Force Base, 1994. Nobody survived.
Photo snapped seconds before the red car exploded, taking the lives of 29 people, including the photographer. The camera was found afterward in the rubble. The man and child in the photo both survived.
Photo of British base jumper Nathy Odinson just seconds before he jumped off a 29 story apartment building in Thailand. Sadly, his parachute failed and he fell to his demise.
On January 13, 2005, the bodies of John and Jackie Knill, a Canadian couple, were found on a beach in Thailand. Weeks later, a relief worker from Seattle discovered their camera. This picture was taken just moments before they were swept away by the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004.
One of the last known photos of Floyd Collins, who died in 1925 after becoming trapped in Sand Cave. A loose rock pinned his ankle, leaving him buried up to his waist in debris. Despite rescue efforts, he perished before help could reach him. His body was later put on display in the cave but was eventually stolen.
Photo of 19-year-old Keiko Washino, posing just before boarding the doomed Japan Air Lines Flight 123 on August 12, 1985. She did not survive the crash. Out of the 524 occupants, all but four people lost their lives.
Daniel Shedd, front left, texted his Mom this photo before leaving the airport with his college friends. The inexperienced pilot was doing dips in the airplane when its wings came off and the plane plummeted to the ground, claiming the lives of all on board.
In September 2014, 22-year-old Rutgers University student Darsh Patel was hiking with four friends in New Jersey’s Apshawa Preserve when they came across a 300-pound black bear. After stopping to photograph it and then turning away, the bear began to chase them. Patel was unable to get away and was mauled by the bear.
In 1978, Pacific Southwest Flight 182 crashed into a small private plane and fell out of the sky. This photo is of the plane just before it hit the ground.
In 2019, Steven Weber swam to his girlfriend who was inside their underwater hotel room while on vacation in Tanzania, and proposed to her with a note and a ring seen here. He passed before he could resurface from the water in this picture.
In October 2015, Tatiana Gromova shared a photo of her 10-month-old daughter Darina as they waited to board a flight from St. Petersburg to Sharm El Sheikh, on Instagram. They later flew home on Metrojet Flight 9268, which was blown out of the sky. All 224 people lost their lives.
In this photo, Ayano Tokumasu, a Japanese student, can be seen in the background (wearing red), standing and gazing at Niagara Falls. However, moments later, she lost her footing and fell. She didn’t survive.
Photo of Jeff Rader taken just minutes before he lost his life in the 2003 Station Nightclub fire that claimed the lives of 100 people. The fire started after a pyrotechnics display ignited acoustic foam.
American Airlines Flight 191 moments before it crashed. All 271 people passed away.
In October 2011, seconds after taking this selfie, three teenage girls, Essa Ricker, Kelsea Webster, and Savannah Webster, were hit by the train in the background. Non survived.
The very last photo of Chester Bennington (Linkin Park’s lead singer) taken by his wife just one day before he took his own life.
Crew members of Space Shuttle Challenger walking to board the spacecraft. 73 seconds into its launch Challenger exploded and broke apart claiming the lives of all 7 occupants.
Photo from November 13, 2013, captures the moment Paul Walker entered the vehicle that, shortly thereafter, collided with a tree and erupted in flames, claiming the lives of both Walker and Roger Rodas.
One of the last known photos of the Titanic in 1912.
This photo of James Dean at a gas station was taken shortly before he passed away in the car crash the same day in 1955.
Joseph Avery, the sole survivor of a boat crash, clinging onto a log in the Niagara River in New York waiting to be saved.
16-year-old Kristen Fonseca enjoying a jet ski ride during her vacation in Hawaii. Moments after this photograph was taken, another jet skier collided with her watercraft while he was distracted, posing for his girlfriend’s camera. The impact led to Kristen sustaining a brain injury, from which she did not recover.
Dave Hally took this photo of his wife and 4-year-old daughter before takeoff for their dream vacation aboard MH17 in 2014. The flight was shot down.
Dash cam captured the moments leading up to the crash of TransAsia Flight 235 into the Keelung River in Taiwan. Out of the 58 people aboard the aircraft, only 15 survived.
This image captures Hendra Gunawan Sawal and his three friends aboard AirAsia flight QZ8501, moments before its departure. The plane, which crashed into the Java Sea on December 28, 2014, during a storm, claimed the lives of all 162 passengers and crew members.
In August 1943, an accident occurred shortly after takeoff when the right wing of a glider carrying William Becker, Mayor of St. Louis, and nine other dignitaries broke off. This resulted in the loss of all ten individuals on board.
At approximately 8:30 am on September 11, 2001, a David Monderer captured this image of the NYC skyline. Just minutes later the events of 9/11 would unfold.
Marco Siffredi, pictured just before he embarked on his daring descent down Mount Everest in 2002. He vanished.
American Airlines 77 passengers boarding the plane before it was crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
While it appears to be a normal family portrait, this snapshot was taken shortly before Charlie Lawson (the man standing second from the right) took the lives of everyone pictured here on Christmas Day 1929. Only 16-year-old Arthur (top left) managed to escape.
