The Grim Reaper will eventually come for each of us. We just don't know when... And while we often measure our lives in years, sometimes it takes a single step, a wrong decision, or mere seconds to end it all. One moment, you're going about your day as per usual. The next, you're convinced that you're inhaling your final breaths.
Someone asked, "What was your scariest 'A second later and I would've [passed away]' moment?" and many of the responses read like a suspenseful thriller. Among them: the person who narrowly avoided being swept up in the 2004 Thailand tsunami, and the lucky one who could have been in an elevator when it suddenly plummeted two floors down.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the most gripping survivor stories for you to scroll through when you need a reminder to live each moment as if it's your last. Don't forget to upvote your favorites, and feel free to share your own close calls in the comments section below.
#61
I'm a volunteer firefighter in Australia and I had a really close call just a couple of months ago.
Got called out to a massive running wheat field fire, flames 12+ feet high moving at about 15 mph was terrifying and a real adrenaline rush because we were doing a direct attack ( rush up along side the edge of the fire and hit it directly from the back of the truck with a hose) was hot as hell and there is very little cover on the back of the truck, the heat and smoke was blinding and hard to handle but everything was going well until we got to a barb wire fence.
We pulled up to the fence a safe distance away from the fire's edge and I jumped off the back of the truck with Bolt cutters to deal with the fence as I'm cutting it I hear the driver yell out trying to get my attention , what I see when I tern around to see whet he was telling about left me stunned, the wind had changed as I was cutting the fence and now just 10 feet away there's a wall of flames rushing towards me and starting to overwhelm the truck. I quickly jump on the back of the truck as it quickly reverses away from the flames , the flames lapping at the side of the truck as we spray water on our selves to manage the heat.
Later I watched the dash cam footage from the fire truck and it showed the fire engulfing the spot I was standing just seconds after I started running back to the truck for safety
Everyone was silent on the truck for a good ten minutes after that like we all collectively went "dang we nearly passed away".
Got called out to a massive running wheat field fire, flames 12+ feet high moving at about 15 mph was terrifying and a real adrenaline rush because we were doing a direct attack ( rush up along side the edge of the fire and hit it directly from the back of the truck with a hose) was hot as hell and there is very little cover on the back of the truck, the heat and smoke was blinding and hard to handle but everything was going well until we got to a barb wire fence.
We pulled up to the fence a safe distance away from the fire's edge and I jumped off the back of the truck with Bolt cutters to deal with the fence as I'm cutting it I hear the driver yell out trying to get my attention , what I see when I tern around to see whet he was telling about left me stunned, the wind had changed as I was cutting the fence and now just 10 feet away there's a wall of flames rushing towards me and starting to overwhelm the truck. I quickly jump on the back of the truck as it quickly reverses away from the flames , the flames lapping at the side of the truck as we spray water on our selves to manage the heat.
Later I watched the dash cam footage from the fire truck and it showed the fire engulfing the spot I was standing just seconds after I started running back to the truck for safety
Everyone was silent on the truck for a good ten minutes after that like we all collectively went "dang we nearly passed away".
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#62
Wasn’t me that could’ve been gone, but I had a car accident with a pedestrian several years ago - he was running across a busy road near (but not AT) a red light (where there was no crosswalk anyway) but I was driving up the turning lane to make a left so I was in motion. He was running between cars and came out of nowhere - hit my passenger side, bounced off the top right side and shattered that corner of my windshield. If I’d been a second or two behind, he could’ve been actually run over.
As it was, he begged my forgiveness and refused the ambulance (presumably no insurance)... and I had a two hour panic attack. Thankfully there was actually a cop car in the front of the line of oncoming traffic so they witnessed the whole thing, flipped their lights on and immediately took control of the scene, and vouched that there was nothing I could’ve done to avoid it. Scary stuff though, I hope that guy ended up ok.
As it was, he begged my forgiveness and refused the ambulance (presumably no insurance)... and I had a two hour panic attack. Thankfully there was actually a cop car in the front of the line of oncoming traffic so they witnessed the whole thing, flipped their lights on and immediately took control of the scene, and vouched that there was nothing I could’ve done to avoid it. Scary stuff though, I hope that guy ended up ok.
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