Haunting photographs and videos have for decades captured the chilling moments just before disaster strikes. 

While sometimes it is possible to spot the danger quite literally staring straight ahead, on other occasions it comes completely out of the blue. 

Either way these images serve as a terrifying reminder of how people’s lives can change in an instant. 

Just this week, a woman’s final moments were caught on camera as she was swept away by a giant wave while exercising on her yoga mat in Thailand. 

Harrowing footage shows Kamilla Belyatskaya, 24, swirling out to sea just seconds after filming herself exercising on a rock. 

Later her bright pink mat was seen in the violent seas off Koh Samui, one of Thailand’s most popular islands, but her body is yet to be found.

Here, MailOnline takes a look at a series of harrowing photographs taken right before tragedy strikes. 

Kamilla Belyatskaya, 24, was seen sitting on her yoga mat as the waves grew stronger and stronger

Kamilla Belyatskaya, an amateur actress, had travelled to the Thai spot to exercise

Smiling selfie before plane crash  

Travel blogger Elena Banduro, 33, uploaded this photo not long before she was involved in a horror plane crash in January last year

This is the smiling selfie a woman posted moments before she was killed in a devastating plane crash.

Travel blogger Elena Banduro, 33, uploaded the photo as she excitedly told her followers about her trip and captioned it ‘Go to Nepal’. 

She was among the 72 people killed when a Yeti airlines plane plummeted into a gorge and burst into flames in Pokhara, Nepal on January 15 last year. 

Elena, who was from Moscow, was named as ‘the brightest, kindest soul we knew’ in tributes posted on social media.

The doomed Yeti Airlines Flight 691 lasted just 27 minutes and was Nepal’s deadliest aviation accident in three decades.

It was determined the crash was caused by one of the pilots mistakenly changing the propeller angle instead of that of the wing flaps on the ATR-72 plane.

An expert said this would have caused the aircraft to sink rapidly towards the ground and have no thrust. 

Rescue teams work at the crash site of a Yeti Airlines ATR72 aircraft in Pokhara, central Nepal

Tightrope tragedy 

Karl Wallenda, 73, can be seen losing his balance before he fell 112ft to his death while performing a high wire stunt 

This is one of the final images captured of a high wire artist before he lost his balance and plummeted 112ft to his death. 

Karl Wallenda, 73, was attempting to walk between the two towers of the ten-storey Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico when he fell.

The tragic accident, which happened in 1978, was filmed and aired on television at the time. 

Mr Wallenda could be seen trying to steady himself before he ultimately fell to the ground in front of horrified onlookers. 

His body hit a taxi below and he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Wallenda’s death was blamed on high winds and an improperly secured tightrope wire. 

The German-American circus performer was no stranger to performing daredevil stunts. 

Wallenda was part of a circus family and first took to the stage at the age of just six years old.  

He later formed the Great Wallendas circus group that earned fame for their daredevil three-man-high pyramid on the high wire.

In 1962, two members of the acrobatic troupe were killed and a third was paralysed when the pyramid collapsed during a performance. 

Cave rescue horror 

Photo shows Saman Gunan just before he entered a cave complex in Thailand and never returned 

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This is the final photo taken of a former Thai navy SEAL diver who died while trying to deliver oxygen to 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave. 

Saman Gunan, had volunteered to help the save the football team who had spent nearly two weeks underground in the Tham Luang cave complex in June 2018. 

The 37-year-old was tasked with taking spare oxygen tanks down and leaving them in one of the chambers along the route. 

He delivered them and set off for the entrance, but he never made it back. His body was found floating in the murky water, with his mouthpiece detached. 

No one is sure what happened. Was his air tank contaminated? Had he over-exerted himself and a build-up of carbon dioxide put his brain to sleep?

The football team, aged 11 to 16 and their coach, had ventured into the cave two weeks earlier but became trapped following a sudden deluge of rain. 

The group were first discovered ten days after they disappeared by a team of British divers. They spotted them sitting on a rock shelf, around 4km from the entrance to the cave. 

Teams of Thai divers then continued to go in to supply them with food, drink and oxygen.

The final four boys and their coach were finally pulled out of the cave system 18 days after they became trapped in the cave. 

While Gunan was the only person to perish during the operation, another rescue diver and Thai Navy SEAL, Beirut Pakbara died the following year.

He suffered a septic shock from a blood infection he contracted during the operation. 

Tractor stuntman crushed 

Nishu Deshwal, 22, who was a father of one, was completely crushed between the two chunks of metal and died at the scene

This is the final moments of a YouTuber well known for doing stunts with tractors before he was crushed to death while attempting a wheelie in India.

The tragic accident happened on a river bank in Panipat district, Haryana in March this year. 

Nishu Deshwal, 22, who had over 1.5m subscribers on YouTube lifted the front wheels of the heavy vehicle into the air, but as the back wheels sunk into the soft ground, the tractor collapsed on top of him.

The stuntman had spent the previous three years keeping viewers entertained with stunts with the massive vehicles, often on incredibly soft and unstable terrain.

His YouTube channel had over 300m views, with his most-watched video receiving 25m views alone.

Fans speculated about what could have caused the tractor to fold in on itself. 

One wrote: ‘This is an old tractor and it didn’t have proper roll bars.

‘The homemade roll bar collapsed as soon as the tractor flipped, crushing him.’

Another added: ‘It appears that the rear part of the seat was the part that failed.

‘It presumably wasn’t designed to support the weight of something like 40 per cent of the tractor.

‘It appears that the ‘seat’ just broke and let the tractor ‘naturally’ fall on the poor guy.’

Wingsuit flyer plunges to her death 

The final moments of a female wingsuit flyer in China were captured by a cameraman who jumped out of the helicopter with her 

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Female wingsuit flyer’s last moments show her cameraman desperately trying to warn her she was going to crash before she fatally hit trees below

This footage shows the final moments of a wingsuit flyer’s life as she plunged 8,202 feet to her death after jumping out of a helicopter. 

The haunting images were captured by the woman’s jump partner who tried to wave to warn her she was off course. 

Her body was found in a dense wood inside Tianmen Mountain National Park in southern China, seven days after she first went missing in May 2020. 

It is believed she crashed into some trees below after her parachute failed to open correctly. 

According to reports, the cameraman tried to indicate she should open her parachute, but she deviated from their agreed flight path and then disappeared from sight.

Local authorities said helicopters, drones and an extensive search party were sent into the vast mountains.

Reports said the wingsuit pilot was well-trained and experienced, having done ‘hundreds’ of wingsuit flights before the accident.

She was taking part in a short documentary about female extreme sports athletes when she went missing.

Elephant tramples man after selfie attempt 

Ashok Bharti, 50, had reportedly been drinking alcohol before he approached the lone elephant near Kuanrmunda, Odisha state, eastern India in 2017

This image shows the moment just before an Indian man is tramped to death by a wild elephant after he tried to pose for a photo with it. 

Ashok Bharti, 50, had reportedly been drinking alcohol before he approached the lone elephant near Kuanrmunda, Odisha state, eastern India in 2017. 

However, as he tried to take a selfie with the elephant, the animal charged at him, leaving Mr Bharti running for his life. 

The incident was caught on video, filmed by onlookers from a safe distance, and sees Mr Bharti tripping as he tries to flee the elephant.

The elephant then trampled over Mr Bharti, from Rourkela, Odisha, and injured him severely.

An ambulance was called to the scene, but Mr Bharti died on the way to hospital, local news reported at the time. 

Philip Sahu, assistant conservator of forests, said: ‘Forest officials were trying to chase the elephant back to the herd when Bharti came too close to the animal to take a selfie.

‘The animal was nervous as it had strayed away from his family and when the man came too close to it, the elephant in its rescue attacked him.’

Since July this year, a herd of elephants that is raiding the villages near Rourkela, has killed at least three people including a woman and her son.