A flight attendant remarkably survived a fall from 33,000 feet without a parachute, earning a Guinness World Record in the process after the plane exploded mid-air.
Some world records are astonishing, and Vesna Vulović’s story is no exception. Her incredible feat will undoubtedly leave you in awe.
On January 26, 1972, Vesna boarded JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367 in Copenhagen, Denmark, bound for Belgrade, Serbia.
At just 23 years old, the flight attendant was not even supposed to be on the plane. Due to a mix-up, the airline confused Vesna with another employee sharing the same name.
The JAT Yugoslav Airlines aircraft exploded over the village of Srbska Kamenice, which was part of Czechoslovakia at the time.
Many passengers were reportedly ejected from the plane due to the sudden change in air pressure, resulting in their immediate deaths.
Vesna, however, was pinned by the food cart, trapped within the plane’s shattered fuselage as it plummeted to the ground.
The crash site, a wooded area covered in thick snow, played a crucial role in preserving Vesna’s life. She has no recollection of the event.
Though Vesna suffered severe injuries such as a fractured skull, broken vertebrae and legs, multiple broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis, she miraculously survived.
Bruno Honke, a former World War Two medic, discovered Vesna screaming in the wreckage and was able to administer life-saving first aid.
Vesna slipped into a coma for several days and suffers from amnesia regarding the period from an hour before the incident until a month afterward.
In an interview with Green Light, she stated: “The first thing I remember is seeing my parents in the hospital. “I was talking to them asking them why they were with me in Slovenia. I thought I was in Slovenia because I was just in Ljubljana before going to Copenhagen.”
Despite initially being paralyzed from the waist down, Vesna regained her ability to walk after ten months.
The crash is believed to have been caused by a bomb hidden in a suitcase that detonated in the baggage compartment.
No one was ever apprehended in connection with the disaster, although the Croatian terrorist group the Ustashe was suspected of being responsible.
Vesna was the sole survivor out of the 28 passengers and crew members aboard the plane.
Due to her survival from such an extraordinary fall, Vesna attained a Guinness World Record for surviving the greatest fall without a parachute.
She passed away in 2016 at the age of 66. When questioned about feeling fortunate for surviving the 33,000 feet fall, she remarked: “If I were lucky, I would never had this accident, and my mother and father would be alive.
“The accident ruined their lives, too. Maybe I was born in the wrong place. Maybe it was a bad place.”