# Critical Situation

Critical Situation (also known as Situation Critical in the UK) is an American documentary television series. Produced in conjunction with the National Geographic Channel, the series examined various disasters or violent incidents. It replaced Seconds From Disaster, a similar program with a more forensic approach. The main tagline of the show reads, "This is Situation Critical," or some variation thereof. As of November 2007, 13 episodes have been aired.

## Episodes

| Ep# | Episode title | Situation | Date of situation | Nature of situation |
| 1 | North Hollywood Shootout | North Hollywood shootout | February 28, 1997 | Bank robbery, gunfight |
| When two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department noticed two criminals robbing a branch of the Bank of America in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, they called the local police department for support. A gun battle lasting almost 45 minutes ensued; one criminal committed suicide, the other was killed by the S.W.A.T. team. |||||
| 2 | Taliban Uprising | Battle of Qala-i-Jangi | November 25 – December 1, 2001 | Prison revolt |
| Hundreds of inmates tried to shoot their way out of a makeshift prison for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan with television reporters trapped in the crossfire. |||||
| 3 | Operation Certain Death | Operation Barras | August 25 – September 10, 2000 | Hostage crisis |
| Twelve soldiers carrying out a patrol through a jungle in Sierra Leone were taken hostage by a group of rebels. They were eventually rescued. |||||
| 4 | Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 | April 11–April 17, 1970 | Oxygen tank explosion, emergency landing |
| An explosion aboard Apollo 13 in space resulted in the lunar mission being aborted and a subsequent emergency landing. |||||
| 5 | Downed Pilot | Rescue of Scott O'Grady | June 2, 1995 | Shootdown, manhunt and rescue |
| Bosnian Serb and United States military forces hunt for a pilot after he is shot down while flying over Bosnia and Herzegovina in an F-16 Fighting Falcon. |||||
| 6 | Hell on High Water | 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race | December 26, 1998 | Thunderstorm |
| A severe storm disrupts the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and destroys several yachts. |||||
| 7 | Killing Pablo | Capture of Pablo Escobar | December 2, 1993 | Manhunt, criminal capture |
| Wanted drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed while trying to evade capture. |||||
| 8 | Moscow Siege | Moscow theatre hostage crisis | October 23–26, 2002 | Hostage crisis |
| 40 armed members of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment took 850 theatre goers hostage at the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow, culminating in a rescue operation that resulted in the deaths of the terrorists, but also of many of the hostages due to the gaseous substance used during the counterattack to subdue the terrorists. |||||
| 9 | Assault On Entebbe | Air France Flight 139 | June 27 – July 4, 1976 | Aircraft hijacking, hostage rescue |
| Air France Flight 139, originating from Tel Aviv, takes off from Athens. Minutes later, it is hijacked by two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two Germans from the German "Revolutionary Cells". The hostages were eventually rescued from the old terminal of Entebbe International Airport in Uganda by Israel Defense Forces special forces troops. |||||
| 10 | Running Out of Air | AS-28 training accident | August 4–7, 2005 | Submarine entanglement, undersea rescue |
| 10 | Priz AS-28, a miniature submarine of the Russian Navy, becomes entangled in sunken fishing nets and the cables of a hydrophone array at a depth of 190 m in Berezovaya Bay off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. 2 days later, the submarine was successfully freed with no loss of life, thanks to the aid of a British remotely operated vehicle. |
| 11 | Al Qaeda Ambush | Battle of Takur Ghar | March 3, 2002 | Meeting engagement |
| Members of United States Navy SEALs are ambushed by Al-Qaeda forces. During the initial ambush and subsequent battle, three Chinook helicopters were lost before the SEALs and reinforcements consisting of units of the 75th Ranger Regiment brought the engagement to a conclusion. |||||
| 12 | Coal Mine Disaster | Quecreek mine rescue | July 24–28, 2002 | Mine shaft flooding |
| At the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, coal miners accidentally dug into the poorly documented Saxman Mine, causing 500 million tonnes of underground water to flood the Quecreek mine. All nine miners trapped by the water were eventually rescued. |||||
| 13 | Nightmare on Mt. Hood | 2002 climbing accident | May 30, 2002 | Climbing accident, fall into crevasse, helicopter crash |
| Seven climbers trying to scale the slopes of Mount Hood fall into a crevasse called The Bergschrund on the mountain, resulting in the deaths of three of the climbers. A Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk of the USAF rescues the three climbers, but then crashes and rolls during its attempt to fly clear of the mountain, additionally injuring the five crew members on board. Both the crew and the surviving climbers make it out of the crash alive. |||||

## Reception

Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media wrote, "Suspenseful and well crafted, Critical Situation is an addiction waiting to happen for adults, but be wary about sharing it with kids, since it's full of graphic, violent re-enactments of gun battles and vehicular crashes. Rocky Mountain News's Mike Pearson had a positive review of the documentary about Pablo Escobar, stating, "Killing Pablo plays like a real-life thriller: violent, unpredictable and filled with high-tech gadgets."
Writing in The Age, Brad Newsome said, "Pick any episode of Situation Critical and you'll get an amazing story told clearly and concisely by people who were there." Another The Age review stated, "The Israeli special forces' daring rescue of the passengers of a hijacked airliner in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 is an amazing tale. It's also a fairly complicated one that could have become a muddle in the hands of lesser documentary makers. The folks behind Situation Critical, however, excel at weaving classy dramatisations, fine computer graphics and interviews with key players into clear, compelling narratives."