A girl who survived a plane crash. Surviving falling from heaven: Three true stories of miraculous rescue after a plane crash. High Risk Situations

July 7 passenger plane airlines Air Canada, flying from Toronto, mistakenly headed not onto the runway, but onto the taxiway, where four other airliners were at that moment. The controllers managed to stop the pilot in time, give the command to go around, after which the plane landed safely on the correct runway.

According to the head of Aero Consulting Experts and former United Airlines pilot Ross Eimer, the incident threatened to become biggest disaster in the history of aviation: “Imagine a huge Airbus crashing into four passenger liners with full tanks."

Let's remember the most famous and unusual cases of survival in plane crashes.
Boeing 777 crash in San Francisco

On July 6, 2013, a Boeing 777 crashed in San Francisco. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-28EER was flying OZ-214 on the Seoul-San Francisco route, but when landing at San Francisco airport, it crashed into an embankment in front of the runway and collapsed.

The NTSB commission blamed the cause of the crash on the erroneous actions of the crew: the plane was descending too quickly. The pilots noticed that the rate of descent and airspeed were not adequate when the aircraft was 60 meters from the ground, but did not take action for a missed approach. More precisely, 1.5 seconds before the collision the crew decided to go around, but there was no longer an opportunity for this.

The impact tore off the plane's tail and left engine; the fuselage slid along the runway for about 600 meters and described an almost complete circle - it was turned 330 degrees.

Of the 307 people on board (291 passengers and 16 crew members), 3 schoolgirls died (two at the scene of the disaster, one died in the hospital), 187 people were injured. “Only three people” - it’s hard to believe when looking at the photographs of the wrecked liner.

This plane crash showed that serious damage to an aircraft does not mean large casualties. there is one more thing interesting circumstance: Contrary to the popular theory that the most safe places are in the back of the plane, all three crash victims were sitting there.

The cabin of flight 214 after the disaster:

Miracle in Toronto 2005

It was a high-profile case when all the people survived a completely destroyed liner.

On August 2, 2005, an Air France A340 aircraft, operating flight AFR358 on the Paris-Toronto route, crashed near Toronto International Airport. There were 12 crew members and 297 passengers on board.

The approach was carried out in difficult weather conditions with large thunderstorms over the airport in heavy rain and lightning flashes on the runway. The landing was carried out in manual mode with the autopilot and autothrottle disabled.

Having flown over the end of the runway significantly higher than set, the airliner landed more than a third from the beginning of the runway length. The pilots applied reverse, but were unable to stop within the runway, as a result of which the plane left the runway and rolled into a ravine. A fire broke out, which in a few minutes engulfed the airliner and destroyed it, but all 309 people on board were evacuated in time.

The evacuation of 309 people took less than 2 minutes, which many, including Canadian Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, later called a “miracle.”

Survive falling from 5 km height

Young student Larisa Savitskaya and her husband Vladimir were returning from honeymoon. On August 24, 1981, the An-24 plane on which the Savitsky spouses were flying collided with a Tu-16 military bomber at an altitude of 5220 m. After the collision, the crews of both aircraft died. As a result of the collision, the An-24 lost wings with fuel tanks and the top of the fuselage. The remaining part broke several times during the fall.

Passenger aircraft An-24:

At the time of the disaster, Larisa Savitskaya was sleeping in her seat at the rear of the plane. I woke up from a strong blow and a sudden burn (the temperature instantly dropped from 25 °C to? 30 °C). After another break in the fuselage, which passed right in front of her seat, Larisa was thrown into the aisle, waking up, she reached the nearest seat, climbed in and pressed herself into it, without having buckled herself in. Larisa herself subsequently claimed that at that moment she remembered an episode from the film “Miracles Still Happen,” where the heroine squeezed into a chair during a plane crash and survived.

Bomber Tu-16K:

Part of the plane's body landed on a birch grove, which softened the blow. According to subsequent studies, the entire fall of the plane fragment measuring 3 meters wide by 4 meters long, where Savitskaya ended up, took 8 minutes. Savitskaya was unconscious for several hours. Waking up on the ground, Larisa saw in front of her a chair with the body of her dead husband. She received a number of serious injuries, but could move independently.

Two days later, she was discovered by rescuers, who were very surprised when, after two days they came across only the bodies of the dead, they met a living person. She later learned that a grave had already been dug for both her and her husband. She was the only survivor of 38 people on board. The causes of the aircraft collision were unsatisfactory organization and management of flights in the area of the Zavitinsk airfield.

Larisa Savitskaya was twice included in the Russian edition of the Guinness Book of Records:

like a person who survived a fall from a maximum height,
as a person who received the minimum amount of compensation for physical damage - 75 rubles. According to Gosstrakh standards in the USSR, 300 rubles were required. compensation for damages for the dead and 75 rubles. for survivors of plane crashes.
Larisa Savitskaya with her son Georgy.

Survive falling from a height of 10 km without a parachute

The DC-9 crash over Hermsdorf was an aircraft accident that occurred on January 26, 1972. Airliner McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 of Yugoslav Airlines was operating flight JAT367 on the route Stockholm - Copenhagen - Zagreb - Belgrade, but 46 minutes after departure from Copenhagen the plane exploded in the air. According to some reports, a Croatian group of extremists left a bomb in the luggage compartment of the airliner.

JAT DC-9-32, identical to the one blown up:

The explosion of the airliner occurred over German city Hermsdorf, and the wreckage of the plane fell near the city of Ceska Kamenice (Czechoslovakia). Of the 28 people on board (23 passengers and 5 crew members), only one survived - 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulović, who fell without a parachute from a height of 10,160 meters. She is the holder of the world altitude record for surviving a free fall without a parachute, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Vesna was in a coma and received many injuries: fractures of the base of the skull, three vertebrae, both legs and the pelvis. The treatment took 16 months, of which for 10 months the girl’s lower body was paralyzed (from the waist to the legs).

Miracle on the Hudson: A320 Emergency Landing

This aircraft accident occurred on January 15, 2009. Airbus airliner US Airways A320-214 operated flight AWE 1549 from New York-Charlotte-Seattle, carrying 150 passengers and 5 crew members. 1.5 minutes after takeoff, the plane collided with a flock of birds and both engines failed. Commander Chesley Sullenberger, a former US Air Force pilot, decided that the only option to save the 155 people on board was to land on the Hudson River. The splashdown turned out to be successful.

The crew landed the plane safely on the waters of the Hudson River in New York. All 155 people on board survived, 83 people were injured - 5 seriously (one flight attendant was the most injured) and 78 minor.

In the media, the incident is known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” In total, 11 cases of controlled forced landings of passenger airliners on water are known; this case is the fourth without casualties.

By the way, yesterday, July 17, 2017 plane " Ural Airlines"(flight U6-2932 Simferopol - Yekaterinburg) collided with a flock of birds, as a result of which the nose cone was damaged. It would seem like such a colossus and some birds, but... the plane ended up being repaired for 12 hours.

Here's what a bird strike looks like from the pilot's seat and from outside:

Tu-124 landing on the Neva

This splashdown occurred in Soviet aviation in the sky over Leningrad on August 21, 1963. As a result of a combination of circumstances, passenger plane The engines of the Tu-124 failed, and the plane began to glide from a height of half a kilometer above the city center. The crew had no choice but to try to splash down on the surface of the Neva. All 52 people on board survived.

Initially, the commission investigating the circumstances of the accident placed responsibility for the emergency on the crew. But later it was decided not to punish the pilots.

Il-12 splashdown in Kazan

And 10 years earlier, on April 30, 1953, an Il-12 P aircraft from Aeroflot operated flight 35 on the route Moscow - Kazan - Novosibirsk. There were 18 passengers and 5 crew members on board. At 21:37, at the moment when the airliner, preparing to land in Kazan, was flying over the Volga, a very strong impact occurred. The crew members recalled that their vision darkened. Both engines lost power and flames appeared from the exhaust pipes.

Aeroflot IL-12:

The ship's commander decided to make an emergency splashdown. Il-12 splashed down near Kazansky river port, after which the car began to rapidly fill with river water. the evacuation could not be carried out in time. The crew told passengers that the plane splashed down in shallow water, causing many to worry about taking personal belongings. In fact, the depth of the river in this place reached about 20 meters. As a result, people who had put on outerwear ended up in the water and began to drown. Of the 22 people, one passenger drowned. The investigation commission found that the cause of the emergency was a collision between the plane and a flock of ducks.

Miracle in the Andes

On October 13, 1972, an FH-227 plane crash occurred, which was called the “Miracle in the Andes.” A Fairchild FH-227D airliner of the Uruguayan Air Force performed chartered flight FAU 571 on the route Montevideo-Mendoza-Santiago, and on board were 5 crew members and 40 passengers (members of the Old Cristians rugby team, their relatives and sponsors). While approaching Santiago, the airliner was caught in a cyclone, crashed into a rock and crashed at the foot of the mountain.

Aircraft Fairchild FH-227D board T-571:

The survivors had minimal food supplies and no heat sources necessary to survive in the harsh cold climate at an altitude of 3,600 meters. Desperate from hunger and a radio message that “all efforts to find the missing plane are being stopped,” people began to eat the frozen bodies of their dead comrades. Rescuers learned about the survivors only after 72 days...

12 passengers died when they fell and collided with a rock, another 5 died later from wounds and cold. Then, of the remaining 28 survivors, 8 more died in an avalanche that covered their “home” from the fuselage of the plane, and later three more died from their wounds.

Boeing 737 accident over Kahului

This accident occurred on April 28, 1988. The Boeing 737-297 airliner of Aloha Airlines was performing domestic flight AQ 243 on the Hilo-Honolulu route, and on board there were 6 crew members and 89 passengers. But 23 minutes after takeoff, a significant part of the fuselage structure in the nose section of the plane was suddenly torn off. According to the report, the causes of the accident were metal corrosion, poor epoxy bonding of fuselage parts, and rivet fatigue.

94 out of 95 people survived. Senior flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing died - at the moment a part of the fuselage was torn off, she was in the middle of the plane, and she was thrown out by the air flow. Search teams could not find her body, as well as the torn off fragment of the fuselage, about 5.4 meters long.

Today we decided to remember incredible incidents, list of air accidents that occurred with multi-seat aircraft, as a result of which, of all those on board, only one person survived.

On June 14, 1943, a plane carrying American soldiers on leave crashed in Australia. In conditions of poor visibility due to fog, the plane touched the tops of trees and crashed. Only Foy Kenneth Roberts survived (there were a total of 41 soldiers on board ), who received severe traumatic brain injuries. Doctors managed to save Roberts and he lived until 2004. However, as a result of his injuries, he forgot everything about the accident itself and lost the ability to speak.

Julianna Dealer Kopke survived a plane crash after falling from a height of 3 km

On December 23, 1971, 500 kilometers from the capital of Peru, Lima, as a result of being caught in a vast thunderstorm area, a passenger plane actually disintegrated in the air at an altitude of more than three kilometers.

“Suddenly an amazing silence reigned around me. The plane disappeared. I must have been unconscious and then came to. I was flying, spinning in the air, and could see the forest rapidly approaching below me.”

Seventeen-year-old girl Julianna Diller Kopke was the only survivor - she was fastened with a belt to a row of chairs and fell into the dense jungle. In the fall, she broke her collarbone, injured her arm and received a moderate head injury.For 9 days, Juliana wandered through the jungle, trying not to leave the stream, believing that sooner or later it would lead her to civilization. The stream also provided the girl with water. Nine days later, Juliana found a canoe and a shelter in which she hid and waited. Soon she was found in this shelter by lumberjacks.

On January 26, 1972, Croatian terrorists blew up a McDonnell Douglas DC-9−32 passenger plane belonging to JAT Yugoslav Airlines over the Czech town of Serbska Kamenice. The plane was traveling from Copenhagen to Zagreb, with 28 people on board. A bomb planted in the luggage compartment detonated at an altitude of 10,160 m. 27 passengers and crew members were killed, but 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulovich remained alive after falling from a height of more than 10 km.

Vesna Vulovich

Vesna Vulovich fell from a height of 10,160 m after a plane crash and survived

When falling from a height of 10160 meters (the case is a record for survivors of a fall from high altitude ) received severe injuries to the spine and skull, and was unconscious when she was discovered. After that, she was in a coma for almost a month, the total duration of treatment was about one and a half years. After recovery, she was transferred to ground work at an airline; in Yugoslavia she was considered a national heroine.

Larisa Savitskaya

On August 24, 1981, passenger and military aircraft collided over the territory of the USSR. The only survivor was passenger Larisa Savitskaya, who ended up in the wreckage of the plane, where there were seats in which she took refuge. When falling from a height of more than five kilometers, Savitskaya received serious spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and lost almost all her teeth. For three days she waited for rescuers, as the debris fell in the taiga. Unlike Vesna, Vulovich did not receive special support from the state: the fact of the disaster was hidden, the injuries she received individually did not allow her to register for disability and receive support from the state, she was paid a lump sum of 75 rubles as a survivor of the plane crash.

Larisa Savitskaya spent three days in the taiga after the plane crash

On January 13, 1995, a plane crashed in Colombia. forced landing in a swampy area. The landing was unsuccessful; when it hit the ground, the ship broke into pieces and exploded. The only survivor was a nine-year-old girl, Erica Delgado, who was thrown out of the plane by her mother as it began to fall apart. Erica fell into a pile of seaweed, but could not get out. According to her recollections, one of the local residents tore off her gold necklace and disappeared, ignoring requests for help ( the bodies of the victims were also robbed). After some time, the girl was found by her cries for help and pulled out of the swamp by a local farmer.

On August 27, 2006, a passenger plane crashed during takeoff in Kentucky, USA. The crash was caused by the captain mistakenly selecting a runway that was too short for this type of aircraft; as a result, only the co-pilot, James Polehink, survived, and as a result of numerous injuries ( severe concussion, many fractures, lung punctured by ribs) lost his memory and did not remember anything related to the plane crash.

4-year-old Cecilia Sichan managed to survive a plane crash in 1989

On August 16, 1989, a regular flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9−82 of Northwest Airlines, began taking off from Detroit Airport. There were 157 people on board, including a 4-year-old girl, Cecilia Sichan. Her parents and six-year-old brother were flying with her.

The airliner began to sway already on takeoff; its left wing touched the lighting mast, part of the wing broke off and caught fire. The plane then pitched to the right and the other wing crashed through the roof of a car rental office. The plane crashed onto the highway, broke into pieces, and caught fire. Debris and victims' bodies were scattered over an area of more than half a mile.

Firefighter John Tied, who was working at the crash site, heard a thin squeak and saw a child's hand among the wreckage. A 4-year-old girl, who suffered a fractured skull, a broken leg and collarbone and third-degree burns, was the only one who managed to survive the disaster. She underwent four skin graft surgeries but managed to make a full recovery.

Cecilia was raised by her aunt and uncle. When the girl grew up, she got a tattoo on her wrist in the shape of an airplane, in memory of that day.

Baia Bakari

On June 30, 2009, a Yemeni airline plane crashed off the coast of the Comoros Islands, falling directly into the ocean. Of the 153 passengers, only thirteen-year-old Baya Bakari, a French woman flying to the Comoros from Marseille with her mother, survived. When the girl was thrown out of the plane during its collision with water, she received multiple bruises and broke her collarbone. She managed to get out of the water onto one of the wreckage of the plane, on which she remained for 14 hours, until she was discovered by the crew of a passing ship, who took the girl, who was suffering primarily from hypothermia, to the hospital.

In January 2010, Bakari published her autobiography, Survivor, with journalist Omar Guendouz.. In May of the same year the newspaperAOL Newspublished information that Steven Spielberg Bakari offered to purchase the film rights to her book, but she refused.

The article provides information about civilian plane crashes aircraft(Sun) and aircraft(aircraft) of the Air Force, in which only 1 (one) person survived out of all passengers and crew. Date of publication: 07/29/2011 (updated 11/03/2015).

Plane crash leading to the largest number of the victims included in this list occurred on August 16, 1987 in the United States. Of the 155 people on board the DC-9-82 Only 4-year-old Cecilia Sichan survived, having lost her family during the emergency.

1936

The first recorded case of a sole survivor of a plane crash was on September 5, 1936. During a sightseeing flight over Pittsburgh International Airport, USA, a Pittsburgh Skyways aircraft crashed - aircraft type unknown. Ten people died, one survivor was a 17-year-old girl, a passenger on the plane. Linda McDonald(Linda McDonald).

1941

On October 30, 1941, near the American city of Moorhead, Minnesota, a Northwest Airlines mail plane fell from a height of 200-300 meters due to icing on the wing. Of the 15 people on board, only the pilot survived. Clarence Bates(Clarence Bates).

In the photo: Short S.25 Sunderland aircraft

1942

Under mysterious circumstances, on August 25, 1942, a Short S.25 Sunderland, a Royal Air Force flying boat, crashed in Scotland. Among the 14 dead was a member of the royal family, Duke of Kent George, which became the basis for the version of the terrorist attack. The only survivor is a 24-year-old lieutenant Andrew Jack(Andrew Jack), who was a passenger on the plane.

1943

John Howard(John Alfred Howard) - 26-year-old passenger of Panagra Flight 9, the only survivor of the plane crash on January 22, 1943. The Douglas DC-3 plane collided with a mountain in the province of Caraveli, Peru, at an altitude of about 4 thousand meters. Six people died due to insufficient training of dispatchers.

A US Air Force Boeing B-17C "Flying Fortress" crashed on June 14, 1943, near Mackay, Australia. The plane took off during morning fog and after a short flight low altitude fell on the ground. The causes of the disaster, during which 40 people died, have not been established. The only survivor is a 22-year-old passenger Foy Roberts(Foye Kenneth Roberts).

Czech pilot, 32 years old Eduard Prchal(Eduard Prchal) On July 4, 1943, he was the only survivor of a crash over Gibraltar when a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator II (tail number AL 523) crashed 16 seconds after takeoff. There were 16 people in the disaster, including the commander of the Polish forces and the prime minister of the Polish government in exile, General Wladyslaw Sikorski, his daughter, as well as the chief of staff, General Tadeusz Klimecki. During the investigation, Prchal was unable to clearly explain why he was wearing a life jacket on this flight, although he usually did not resort to such a precaution, and who was the second person who was seen on the wing of the crashed plane.

1946

On September 5, 1946, while approaching the destination airfield, a Douglas DC-3, operated by Trans-Luxury Airlines, collided with the ground. 20 people died. The probable cause of the crash in Elko County, Nevada, was pilot spatial awareness error in heavy fog. Only a two-year-old boy survived Peter Link(Peter Link), who was sitting in his mother's arms.

1947

Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-3 Flight 665 crashed into a hill near Galax, USA, on January 12, 1947. Of the 19 people on board the plane, only the 25-year-old survived. William Keys Jr.(William Ellis Keyes, Jr.). The cause of the crash has not been established; it is believed to have been pilot error.

On January 28, in China, near the city of Wuhan, a Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando plane crashed 30 minutes after takeoff. 25 people died, only a 15-year-old survived Paul Wick(Paul Ashton Vick). The reasons for the plane crash are probably hidden and have not been officially established.

In the photo: Air France Douglas DC-3

On February 1, 1947, for unknown reasons, an Air France Douglas DC-3 fell and crashed. The disaster occurred in Portugal, near Lisbon. The only survivor is a 38-year-old Eugene Leonard(Eugene Leonard). 15 passengers and crew members were killed.

1948

March 10, 1948, Chicago, Delta Air Lines Flight 705 Douglas DC-4 crash. Soon after takeoff (heading for Miami), at an altitude of 60-100 meters, the plane began to sharply lift its nose until it was in an almost vertical position. Then, having gained a height of up to 250 meters, it went into a stall on the right wing and eventually crashed into the ground with its nose. The exact reasons for the loss of longitudinal control of the aircraft have not been established. 12 people died, a 33-year-old passenger survived Tripolina Meo(Tripolina Meo).

Ireland, near Shannon International Airport, April 15, 1948. At night, the Lockheed L-049 Constellation aircraft, PanAm flight 1-10, descended before the runway edge, touched the landing gear of a stone fence and collapsed. As a result of the disaster, 30 people died, the only survivor was Mark Worst(Mark Worst).

Pictured: Douglas DC-4 in Congo

On May 12, 1948, a Douglas DC-4 of a Belgian state company in the Democratic Republic of Congo at an altitude of about 220 meters fell into the center of a thunderstorm front, sharply lost altitude and crashed into the forest, killing 31 people. Survivor - passenger named Mutafish(Moutafis).

Huang Yu(in Cantonese - Wong Yu) was the only 24-year-old survivor of the Cathay Pacific flight that crashed on July 17, 1948 at Macau Point. 25 people died.

1949

On November 20, 1949, due to difficult weather conditions in Norway, a Dutch Douglas DC-3 aircraft (Aero Holland company) fell into a forest and crashed. There were 10 adults and 26 children on board, of whom only the 12-year-old survived. Isaac Allal(Isaac Allal).

1950

10 year old Olga Rada(Olga Rada) is the only survivor of a plane crash on May 24, 1950, which occurred near the city of Pasto in Colombia with a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, LANSA airlines. The plane, for an unknown reason, crashed in the air near the Galeras volcano, killing 25 people.

Japan, 130 kilometers from Tokyo, July 27, 1950. 20 minutes after takeoff, a US Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain crashed into Pacific Ocean. The causes of the disaster have not been established; the debris sank to a depth of over 1,500 meters. Of the 26 people, only the passenger, 23-year-old sergeant, survived Haru Sazaki(Haru Sazaki).

Pictured: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

On August 30, 1950, another RAF Douglas C-47 Skytrain crashed near the Indonesian island of Jemaja. For an unknown reason, the Douglas fell into the South China Sea while en route from Singapore to Hong Kong, killing nine people. The only survivor is Major David Lowther(David Lowther).

1954

The village of Aldbrey, Hertfordshire, UK. Four minutes after takeoff on January 6, 1954, during a snowstorm, a Vickers Valetta T.3 of the Royal Air Force lost altitude and crashed into trees. 16 people died, sergeant survived PeeDee Cliff(P.D. Cliff). The causes of the disaster have not been definitively established.

In the photo: Vickers Valetta T.3 aircraft

Paul Olsen(Paul Olsen) received his second chance at life on March 28, 1954, when he was the only survivor of a plane crash off Bear Island, Spitsbergen. Eight people were killed when a Royal Norwegian Air Force mail plane crashed.

In the photo: passengers of the Li-2 aircraft of the Far Eastern branch of Aeroflot

On August 26, near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, an Aeroflot Li-2 aircraft (Far Eastern Territorial Administration of the Civil Air Fleet, Khabarovsk Air Group) crashed into a hill while landing in low cloudy conditions. As a result of the disaster, 26 people died, survived unknown lieutenant colonel of the Soviet army. A man about 40 years old was taken to hospital in serious condition.

1956

Concetta Finamore(Concetta Finamore) is the only survivor of Linee Aeree Italiane flight LAI Flight 451, which crashed on November 24, 1956. 34 people died.

Pictured: crash site presidential plane Philippines

1957

On March 17, 1957, the presidential plane Douglas C-47 Skytrain crashed in the Philippines, Cebu Island. As a result of insufficient climb due to electrical malfunction, the plane crashed into a mountain 40 minutes into the flight. 25 people were killed, including the 7th President of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay. The only survivor was a 31-year-old man in the back of the plane. Nestor Mata(Nestor Mata).

In the photo: Eagle Aviation Limited aircraft

On 1 May 1957, an Eagle Aviation Limited Vickers VC.1 Viking crashed near Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, killing 34 people, mostly military personnel and their families. After the fall, four people were found alive and sent to hospital, but only one passenger survived. whose name is not mentioned.

1959

Due to crew error, on October 30, 1959, Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, crashed into the 950-meter Bucks Elbow Mountain, White Hall, Virginia, 100 meters below its peak. Survivor Phil Bradley(Phil Bradley) during the impact was thrown out of the fuselage along with the seat on which he was waiting for rescuers, wearing a seat belt. The remaining 26 people on board died.

Pictured: Allegheny Airlines Martin 2-0-2

December 1, 1959, USA, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. While Martin 2-0-2, Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 was landing, the crew went off course and the plane crashed into a mountain. 25 people died, survived - Louis Matarazzo(Louis Matarazzo).

1967

Lieutenant Joseph Guinet(Joseph "Leo" Guenet), 29, crew member of a US Air Force Lockheed EC-121H Super Constellation - sole survivor of the April 25, 1967 crash. 8 minutes after the Lockheed took off, the crew reported a fire in the third engine and requested an emergency landing on Nantucket Island in Atlantic Ocean. However, the plane did not reach the runway, but fell into the water a few kilometers from the island. 15 people died.

1968

Unidentified conscript soldier was the only survivor of the Il-18 crash in the Chunsky region Irkutsk region February 29, 1968. For an unknown reason, Aeroflot flight 15 fell from an altitude of about 8,000 meters. At an altitude of 1000 m, the IL-18 collapsed due to extreme loads. As a result of the disaster, 83 people died.

1970

While on runway takeoff in Cusco, Peru, on August 9, 1970, LANSA Flight 502's Lockheed L-188 Electra stalled and caught fire. The Lockheed did take off, and the pilots requested an emergency landing. During the turn, the plane tilted, lost altitude, fell to the ground and caught fire. As a result of improper operation of the aircraft and erroneous actions of the crew, 101 people died (2 on the ground). The only survivor of this plane crash is a 26-year-old pilot. Juan Loo(Juan Loo).

1971

June 6, 1971 pilot, lieutenant Christopher Schiess(Christopher E. Schiess) was the only survivor of the collision between a US Navy aircraft and civilian Hughes Airwest Flight 706. 50 people died.

In the photo: Juliana Koepke at the scene of the plane crash

Peru, Arequipa, December 24, 1971, the tragedy of LANSA Flight 508, which became the basis for the film “Miracles Still Happen.” The Lockheed L-188 Electra encountered severe turbulence minutes after takeoff. Twenty minutes into the flight, Lockheed was struck by lightning. The plane began to disintegrate in the air at an altitude of 3.2 kilometers and fell deeper tropical forest. Having suffered a fractured collarbone, the only surviving passenger Juliana Koepke(Juliane Koepcke) came out to people on her own after 9 days.

1972

Vesna Vulovich(Vesna Vulović), a 22-year-old flight attendant, was the sole survivor of the DC-9-30 plane crash (JAT Flight 367) on January 26, 1972, near the village of Srbska Kamenice in Czechoslovakia. After the disaster, Vulovich was in a coma for 27 days, and then remained in the hospital for another 16 months. She continued to work for the airline, but in ground work (her skull, legs and three vertebrae were damaged).

Vesna Vulović holds a Guinness World Record for surviving a free fall without a parachute from a record height of 10,160 meters (33,316 feet).

1973

July 22, 1973, near the city of Papeete in Tahiti fell into the Pacific ocean Boeing Pan Am Flight 816 707-321B. During takeoff, the plane rose to a height of 100 meters, and then fell to the left and crashed into the water. 78 people died - all except Neil Campbell(Neil James Campbell). The Boeing 707 sank to a depth of about 700 meters, the flight recorders were not found, and the causes of the disaster have not been established.

On the picture: bow crashed Tu-134A

1979

March 22, USSR, Liepaja. Due to an error by the crew and air traffic control, which allowed the aircraft to become unbalanced, an Aeroflot Tu-134A cargo flight crashed. Four people died, the surviving crew member was a flight mechanic Yuri Dmitrievich Stepanov, who, unlike his comrades, was fastened during takeoff.

On May 30, 1979, DHC-6 (De Havilland Canada) Twin Otter Flight 46 of Downeast Airlines crashed. For an unknown reason, while landing at the airport in Rockland, Maine, USA, the plane hit trees and crashed. 17 people died; only a 16-year-old passenger survived from those on board the DHS. John McCafferty(John McCafferty).

1981

Savitskaya Larisa Vladimirovna, the only survivor of the An-24 plane crash (Aeroflot flight 811), which occurred on August 24, 1981 near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. A young 20-year-old girl was in the tail and survived after a mid-air collision: an AN-24 collided with a Tu-16 bomber at an altitude of 5220 m. 37 people died.

Larisa Savitskaya was included in the Russian edition of the Guinness Book of Records as having survived a fall from a height of more than 5,000 meters and received the minimum amount of compensation for physical damage (75 rubles in 1981–1982 money).

September 2, 1981, Colombia, Paipa city. Due to the overload, it was unable to gain the required altitude and, while making a left turn, crashed into a hill, an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft belonging to Taxi Aereo el Venado. 21 people died, only a 26-year-old passenger survived Remberto Aparicio(Remberto Aparicio).

1983

30 year old Melissa Kelly(Melissa Kelly) is the sole survivor of the April 30, 1983 crash of a US Navy Convair CV-340 near Jacksonville, Florida. The crew decided to return to the departure airport when one of the plane's engines caught fire shortly after takeoff, but the Convair CV-340 fell into the water 125 meters before the start of the runway. 14 people died.

In the photo: Aeroflot Tu-154

On December 23, 1984, in the crash of a Tu-154 flying from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk, 110 people died. Sole survivor name in the crash of Aeroflot flight 3519, a 27-year-old man, not named.

1985

Shortly after the Lockheed L-188A Electra took off from Reno Airfield in Nevada, the aircraft began to vibrate violently due to an opening on the wing. The crew of Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 made a mistake: deciding that the detonation was caused by a malfunction of the turbines, the pilots reduced engine thrust, the plane lost speed and crashed in the campsite. The only surviving passenger, a 17-year-old George Lamson(George Lamson), along with the seat, was thrown out of the fuselage seconds before the explosion, in which 70 people died.

As we see, airplanes are becoming larger over the years, and accordingly the number of passengers is increasing...

1987

Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan, January 3, 1987. The Boeing 707 airliner, Varig flight 797, crashed while approaching emergency landing after engine failure. 50 people died, only one passenger, a professor, survived Neuba Yessokh(Neuba Yessoh).

On August 16, 1987, during takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Michigan, the crew did not extend the flaps and slats of Northwest Airlines Flight 255. As a result, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 airliner lost speed and crashed off the runway. The malfunction of the flight readiness warning system was caused by the deliberate disconnection of an electrical fuse by an unknown person. This disaster killed 156 people (two on the ground), the only survivor was a four-year-old girl named Cecilia Sichan(Cecelia Cichan).

In the photo: Cecilia Sichan a few years after the disaster

On December 8, 1987, football players and other members of the Alliance sports club, as well as fans of the team, returning to Lima, were killed. During a re-landing (due to landing gear malfunction) at George Chavez International Airport, a Peruvian Navy Fokker F27-400M aircraft dropped altitude too early, hit the ocean surface with its right wing, overturned and was destroyed. The plane crash in Peru killed 42 people. The only survivor is Lieutenant Edilberto Villar(Edilberto Villar), who was listed as a crew member, but strangely his role in the crew was not established.

1988

Unknown man was the only survivor of a plane crash on December 11, 1988, which occurred near Leninakan with an Il-76M aircraft of the USSR Air Force. This lucky guy was in the cockpit of a KamAZ truck loaded into a plane when it crashed into a mountain during landing. 77 people died.

1990

Turkmen USSR, Ashgabat region, near Bakhardok, November 19, 1990. Due to a manufacturing defect, the main gearbox of the main rotor of the Mi-8T, board USSR-22389, of the Aeroflot company, was destroyed. The helicopter fell from a height of 1200 m, collided with the ground and exploded. Aircraft commander A. Burmistrov survived due to the fact that he was thrown through the cockpit glazing during the explosion; the remaining 15 people on board died.

In the photo: Indonesian plane crash survivor Bambang Sumadi

1991

A Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Indonesian Air Force A-1324, was returning from Armed Forces Day celebrations on October 5, 1991. There were pilots on board taking part in official events. For an unknown (or hidden) reason, the plane lost control and crashed into the training center of the Ministry of Labor near Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta. As a result of the Lockheed crash, 135 people died (2 on the ground), survived - Bambang Sumadi(Bambang Sumadi).

1992

Libyan leader Yasser Arafat- the only survivor of a plane crash that occurred on April 7, 1992. The circumstances of the crash are little known: the plane was flying from Khartoum to Tripoli, got into a sandstorm and crashed in the desert. At least four people died.

In the photo: Annette Herfkens, a passenger on Vietnamese flight 474

On November 14, 1992, while landing in a tropical storm, it veered off course toward Cam Ranh International Airport and crashed into a peak. mountain range Yak-40 aircraft of Vietnam Airlines (flight 474). All crew members and passengers (30 people) were killed, except for the 31-year-old Annette Herfkens(Annette Herfkens). It took rescuers 8 days to reach the wreckage of the plane.

In the photo: Erica Delgado with relatives

1995

Nine year old Erica Delgado(Erika Delgado), a young passenger on Columbia Flight 256 international airlines, became the only survivor of the disaster McDonnell aircraft Douglas DC-9 near the city of Bolivar on January 11, 1995. For an unknown reason, the plane lost control and fell from a height of 3000 meters. 52 people died.

On September 24, 1995, 42 people died in the MIAT Mongolian Airlines plane crash, the only person who survived was a 27-year-old Ulzibayar Sanjaa(English Ulziibayar Sanjaa).

1997

Navigator Sergey Petrov, 37 years old, survived a plane crash near Sharjah airport, UAE. On that day, December 15, 1997, a Tu-154 aircraft, flight 3183 of Tajik Airlines, during landing due to a pilot error, fell below the required altitude, lost speed and crashed in a desert area. As a result of the crash of the liner, 85 people died.

In the photo: the wreckage of a crashed Boeing 737 in the desert

2003

Youssef Jillali(eng. Youcef Djillali), 28 years old, Algerian citizen, military man. On March 6, 2003, I flew from Tamanrasset to Ghardaia (Algeria). Due to an engine failure during takeoff, the Algerian Airlines Boeing 737-200 (Air Algérie Flight 6289) crashed in the Sahara Desert. There were 97 passengers and 6 crew members on board, all but one died.

Mohamed El Fateh Othman(eng. Mohammed el-Fateh Osman), 3 years old, citizen of Sudan. On July 8, 2003, I flew with my mother from Port Sudan to Khartoum. A Boeing 737-200 (tail number ST-AFK) of Sudan Airlines (flight 139) crashed in the Red Sea before reaching Khartoum airport. There were 117 passengers and crew on board, all but one were killed. The plane caught fire in the air. Eyewitnesses say the falling plane looked like a giant fireball. Rescuers found a little boy at the crash site.

In the photo: Lieutenant Farkas and his wife after the disaster

2006

Premature altitude loss and spatial orientation error led to the January 19, 2006 plane crash in Pristina, Serbia, involving Flight 5605 Air Force Slovakia. As a result of the crash of the An-24 plane, 42 people died. The only survivor is Lieutenant Martin Farkas(Martin Farkaš), a former passenger on the plane.

On August 27, 2006, while taking off from Lexington, Kentucky, Delta Connection pilots mistook the runway number and began taking off on a shorter runway. As a result, the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (flight 5191) did not have enough takeoff length, it rolled off the runway, rammed an iron fence, crashed into trees, collapsed and caught fire. The disaster claimed the lives of 49 people. The only survivor is a 44-year-old co-pilot. James Polehinke(James Polehinke).

In the photo: former pilot James Polehinke and his wife

2007

Iraq, Balad city, January 9, 2007. Abdulkadir Akyz(Abdülkadir Akyüz) remained the only surviving passenger of the An-26 (board ER-26068) of the Moldovan airline AerianTur-M. The plane crashed while landing at the airport, killing 34 people. There are several versions of the causes of the disaster, including bad ones weather and a terrorist attack (there is reason to believe that the Moldovan An-26 was shot down by a missile).

In the photo: rescuers evacuate Francesca Lewis, which took about 4 hours, to a place accessible by helicopter

12 year old Francesca Lewis(Francesca Lewis) is the only survivor of the Cessna 172 plane crash that crashed into the side of the Baru volcano in Panama on December 23, 2007. The tragedy killed everyone on board, including multimillionaire Michael Caine and his 13-year-old daughter Talia. Francesca was found two days after the Cessna crashed in a remote mountainous area.

2008

In conditions of poor visibility on October 8, 2008 in the area of the airport. Tenzing and Hillary in Lukla, Nepal, the pilot went off course and Yeti Airlines' De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (Flight 103) crashed into a mountain. As a result of the disaster, the lives of 18 people were lost. The only survivor is the crew commander Surendra Kunwar(English: Surendra Kunwar).

year 2009

Canada, Newfoundland, March 12. The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter serving oil deposit Hybernia, fell into the ocean while flying to an oil platform. Only the 28-year-old survived Robert Decker(Robert Decker), 17 people died.

Pictured: Baya Bakari on a hospital bed in July 2009

Baia Bakari(English: Bahia Bakari), 14 years old, French citizen. On June 30, 2009, I flew with my mother from Marseille to the Comoros Islands. An Airbus A-310-300 Yemen Airlines flight IY 626 crashed in Indian Ocean near the Comoros Islands. There were 153 passengers on board, all but a teenage girl died. Baya did not suffer any physical injuries in the disaster, suffering only from hypothermia after being in the water for 14 hours. In 2010, she published her autobiography, Survivor.

In the photo: 9-year-old Ruben van Assouw in the hospital after surgery

2010

Ruben van Assouw(Ruben van Assouw), 9 years old, Dutch citizen. On May 12, 2010, I flew with my parents from Johannesburg to Tripoli. The Airbus A330-200 of the Libyan company Afriqiyah Airways (flight 771) crashed while landing at Tripoli Airport due to pilot error. There were 93 passengers and 11 crew members on board, all but one died. The child was found conscious among the rubble. The boy's legs were broken, but his vital signs were normal.

On August 25, 2010, while approaching the Bandundu airfield in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Filair flight 9Q-CCN, a Let L-420UVP aircraft, crashed into a house. Due to lack of fuel or technical malfunction 20 people died. Unfortunately, no data on sole survivor in this disaster.

2011

April 4 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic Congo, a Georgian pilot of Georgian Airways, transporting cargo and passengers for the UN, failed to control the Bombardier CRJ 100 in difficult weather conditions. As a result of the impact with the DGG, the plane split into two parts and caught fire. 32 people died. The only survivor is Francis Muamba(Francis Mwamba).

Alexander Sizov, 42 years old, aviation and radio maintenance engineer for the Yak-42 aircraft (flight AKY-9633), which crashed on September 7 on the Yaroslavl - Minsk route. The plane crashed during takeoff from Tunoshna airport due to a crew error. The plane skidded off the runway, did not have time to gain altitude, collided with a radio beacon, crashed into the ground and exploded. 44 people died, including players of the Lokomotiv hockey club.

In the photo: Yak-42 five years before the disaster

year 2014

On February 11, 2014, a Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules military transport aircraft crashed while flying from Tamanrasset to Constantine, Algeria's Umm el-Bawaki province. Before reaching its destination, the plane crashed in a mountainous area, killing 77 people. 21-year-old escaped Nimer Jellul(eng. Nimer Djelloul).

2015

An An-2 aircraft of the Kazakhmys company, flying on January 20 from Balkhash to Shatyrkol, Shu district of the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan, crashed on approach to its destination. Six people died, survived Asem Shayakhmetova.

Based on materials from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Aircraft passenger safety

In 2008, specialists from the University of Greenwich (London) conducted a study, the data for which was taken from an analysis of the circumstances of the death of 105 people in plane crashes. Almost 2 thousand people who survived plane crashes were also interviewed.

The results showed that aisle seats, no more than five rows from an emergency exit, are the safest.

According to a number of experts, flight attendant seats are safer than passenger seats, since they are located backwards. It was even proposed to turn the passenger seats around, but the innovation was not implemented due to the reluctance of passengers to fly backwards. In addition, when the aircraft is flying in cruising mode with a positive angle of attack, passengers sitting facing the flight will “slide” out of their seats, since in this position of the aircraft the seat cushion is at a negative angle to the horizon.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Vesna Vulovich, Juliana Margaret Köpke, Lyudmila Savitskaya - these women from different countries united by one incredible circumstance. All of them miraculously survived plane crashes that occurred over the years. The stories of these three women inevitably make you believe in miracles or fate.

Vesna Vulovich

Vesna Vulovich was a flight attendant on a plane that flew on January 26, 1972 on the route Stockholm - Copenhagen - Zagreb - Belgrade. At the time of the disaster I was in passenger compartment and instantly lost consciousness, and then for many years she remembered only the moment when she got on board.

The wreckage of the plane was scattered no more than a kilometer near the village of Serbska Kamenice in Czechoslovakia (now the territory of the Czech Republic). Later, experts will assume that the plane crashed as a result of a terrorist attack, but the culprits will never be found.

Vesna was in a coma when local resident Bruno found her. He checked her pulse and immediately went for rescuers. It was clear: the girl’s spine was damaged and it was absolutely forbidden to touch her. The flight attendant received multiple serious injuries that almost cost her life.

She was in a coma for 27 days, and then there was a long recovery period, she spent as much as 16 months in the hospital. Doctors were sure that she would remain disabled for life. But Vesna, contrary to all forecasts, got back on her feet, after four and a half years she was already walking normally and even returned to work at her airline. True, she was denied the right to fly and was given a position in the office. But she remembered the moment of the plane crash 25 years later.

It is believed that loss of consciousness and low blood pressure saved her in the air. Vesna Vulović is a Guinness World Record holder who survived a fall from 10,120 meters.

Juliana Margaret Koepke

On December 24, 1971, 17-year-old Juliana and her mother flew from Lima Jorge Chavez Airport to Iquitos. The plane was supposed to make an intermediate landing in Pucallpa and continue along the route. There were 92 people on board the LANSA plane. Juliana was looking forward to the Christmas holidays, which she would spend with her father organizing cards. different types insects

They were at the rear of the plane, admiring the wonderful views from the window. The plane began to enter a thunderstorm front and began to shake violently. In an amicable way, as soon as danger appeared, they should have returned to Lima, but both passengers and crew members were in a hurry to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones. The pilot made the mistaken decision to continue the flight, hoping to safely pass the danger zone.

Juliana was watching the propeller in action when lightning struck that part of the plane. She remembered everything that happened later like a slow motion movie: the plane breaks into pieces, and she, fastened with a seat belt to the seat, begins her endless fall down. She remembered how she was spinning in the air, how the ground was rapidly approaching, and how the thick green crowns of trees on the ground swallowed her along with the debris. And only at the moment of contact with the ground the girl lost consciousness.

It took her a long time to come to her senses, the whole day. And then, being in shock, I didn’t even feel pain from the serious injuries I received. She had multiple cuts, she broke her collarbone, she had a torn popliteal ligament, all the signs of a concussion. She lost her glasses and could not see normally even in one eye, while the other was completely swollen due to a severe bruise on her face.

But having recovered a little and gathered her strength, Juliana realized that there was no point in waiting for help; the wreckage at the crash site was not visible to search planes because of the dense greenery. She remembered the survival lessons her father had given her, and went downstream of the stream she had discovered in order to follow it to the river and to the people. Later, an examination will establish that at least 15 more passengers remained alive at the time of the fall, but, unfortunately, they did not wait for the help of rescuers.

Juliana arrived at the empty logger's hut 10 days after the disaster. A day later she was found under a shed local residents. They even mistook her for the goddess of water who had descended from heaven. She was given first aid, fed and warmed, some of the fly larvae were removed from her wounds and floated down the river to the town of Turnavista, where she was given antibiotic injections and the wounds were completely cleared of the worms that had settled there. From Turnavista, Juliana was transported to the Pulkapi hospital, where she finally met her father.

In 1974, the feature film “Miracles Still Happen” about her will be released. This picture will help Larisa Savitskaya survive the plane crash.

Larisa Savitskaya

20-year-old Larisa was returning with her husband from a honeymoon to Blagoveshchensk on August 24, 1981. They sat at the back of the plane, Larisa dozed off in her seat, then felt a very strong shock, and immediately after it there was simply unbearable cold. She flew a meter away from her chair, and before her eyes appeared frames of a film that she had watched not so long ago. The heroine survived the plane crash. Larisa took this memory as a guide to action. She reached the chair by the window, grabbed onto it with all her might and flew down with him. It was this chair that ultimately saved her life. The crash occurred as a result of a collision with a military aircraft.

Her fall lasted 8 minutes. The blow was softened by the crowns of birches. Larisa was found on August 27 with serious injuries and in a state of deep shock. She survived, learned to walk, and was even able to give birth to a son in 1986.

She received minimal damage compensation – only 75 rubles. The very fact of this disaster was kept secret for many years. The girl’s parents and Larisa herself were ordered not to tell anyone about what happened. Only twenty years later the details of the terrible crash were made public, and Larisa Savitskaya was able to talk about that terrible day.

The film that helped Larisa Savitskaya survive - “Miracles Still Happen”

These three girls can be called almost lucky, they managed to survive. They are still trying to unravel the mystery of the death of a young peacekeeper in a plane crash.

December 23, 1971 A LANSA Lockheed L-188A aircraft with 92 passengers on board took off from the capital of Peru, Lima, and headed for the city of Pucallpa. 500 km northeast of the country's capital, the airliner fell into a vast thunderstorm area, broke up in the air and fell into the jungle. Only 17-year-old Juliana Diler Kopka, who was thrown out of the plane, managed to survive the terrible crash.

Juliana Dealer Kopke

“Suddenly an amazing silence reigned around me. The plane disappeared. I must have been unconscious and then came to. I flew, spinning in the air, and could see the forest rapidly approaching below me.” Then the girl, falling, lost consciousness again. When falling from a height of about 3 km. she
she broke her collarbone, injured her right arm, and her right eye was covered with swelling from the impact.
“I probably survived because I was strapped into a row of seats,” she says. “I was spinning like a helicopter, which may have slowed my fall. In addition, the place where I landed was densely covered with vegetation, which reduced the force of the impact."
For 9 days, Juliana wandered through the jungle, trying not to leave the stream, believing that sooner or later it would lead her to civilization. The stream also provided the girl with water. Nine days later, Juliana found a canoe and a shelter in which she hid and waited. Soon she was found in this shelter by lumberjacks.

January 26, 1972 Croatian terrorists blew up a passenger plane over the Czech town of Serbska Kamenice McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, owned by JAT Yugoslav Airlines. The plane was traveling from Copenhagen to Zagreb, with 28 people on board. A bomb planted in the luggage compartment detonated at an altitude of 10,160 m. 27 passengers and crew members were killed, but 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulovich remained alive after falling from a height of more than 10 km.

Vesna Vulovich

The plane crashed into snow-covered trees, and a few hours after the tragedy, a qualified physician turned up at the scene of the disaster and recognized Vesna’s signs of life. Her skull was fractured, both legs and three vertebrae were broken, leaving her lower body paralyzed. Quick help saved the girl's life. She was in a coma for 27 days, and after another 16 months she was in the hospital. After leaving it, Vulovich continued to work for her airline, but on the ground. The miraculous rescue of Vesna Vulović is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest altitude jump without a parachute.

October 13, 1972 year, an FH-227D/LCD plane crashed in the Andes. 29 people out of 45 on board were killed. Survivors were not found until December 22, 1972.

On October 13, 1972, a team of rugby players from Montevideo went to compete in the capital of Chile, Santiago. In addition to them, on the Fairchild-Hiller FH-227D/LCD plane of the Uruguayan airline Tamu there were also passengers and 5 crew members - a total of 45 people. Along the way, they had to make an intermediate landing in Buenos Aires.

However, the T-571 “board” found itself in a strong turbulent zone. In conditions of heavy fog, the pilot made a navigation error: the plane, flying at an altitude of 500 m, headed straight towards one of the mountain peaks Argentine Andes.

The crew reacted too late to the mistake. A few moments later, the “board” hit the rocks, puncturing the steel skin of the aircraft. The fuselage collapsed; from the terrible impact, several seats were torn off the floor and thrown out together with the passengers. Seventeen of the 45 people died instantly when the Fairchild Hiller crashed into the snow.

As a result of the plane crash, people spent two months in a snowy hell - at an altitude of 4 thousand meters, at a temperature of minus 40 degrees. They were discovered only on December 22!

“After the disaster, 28 people survived, but after an avalanche and long grueling weeks of starvation, only sixteen remained.

Days and weeks passed, and people, without warm clothes, continued to live in forty-degree frost. The food that was stored on board the crashed plane did not last long. Meager supplies had to be divided up bit by bit in order to stretch them out over a longer period of time. In the end, all that was left was chocolate and a thimble's worth of wine. But now they are over. For the survivors, hunger took its toll: on the tenth day they began to eat corpses."

August 24, 1981 on Far East at an altitude of 5 km. passenger plane collided An-24 of Aeroflot airlines and bomber Tu-16 USSR Air Force.

Among the 32 people, only a 20-year-old woman survived Larisa Savitskaya, returning with her husband from a honeymoon.

Larisa with her husband

At the time of the disaster, Larisa Savitskaya was sleeping in her seat at the rear of the plane. I woke up from a strong blow and a sudden burn (the temperature instantly dropped from 25 C to −30 C). After another break in the fuselage, which passed right in front of her seat, Larisa was thrown into the aisle, waking up, she reached the nearest seat, climbed in and pressed herself into it, without having buckled herself in. Larisa herself subsequently claimed that at that moment she remembered an episode from the film “Miracles Still Happen,” where the heroine squeezed into a chair during a plane crash and survived.

Part of the plane's body landed on a birch grove, which softened the blow. According to subsequent studies, the entire fall of the plane fragment measuring 3 meters wide by 4 meters long, where Savitskaya ended up, took 8 minutes. Savitskaya was unconscious for several hours. Waking up on the ground, Larisa saw in front of her a chair with the body of her dead husband. She received a number of serious injuries, but could move independently.

Two days later, she was discovered by rescuers, who were very surprised when, after two days they came across only the bodies of the dead, they met a living person. Larisa was covered in paint flying off the fuselage, and her hair was very tangled in the wind. While waiting for rescuers, she built herself a temporary shelter from the wreckage of the plane, keeping warm with seat covers and covering herself from mosquitoes with a plastic bag. It rained all these days. When it ended, she waved to rescue planes flying past, but they, not expecting to find survivors, mistook her for a geologist from a nearby camp. Larisa, the bodies of her husband and two other passengers were discovered as the last of all the victims of the disaster.
Doctors determined she had a concussion, spinal injuries in five places, and broken arms and ribs. She also lost almost all her teeth.

Larisa Savitskaya

From Larisa's interview:

- How did this really happen?

The planes collided tangentially. The wings of the An-24 were torn off along with the gas tanks and roof. In a fraction of a second the plane turned into a “boat”. At that moment I was sleeping. I remember a terrible blow, a burn - the temperature instantly dropped from plus 25 to minus 30. Terrible screams and whistling air. My husband died immediately - at that moment my life ended. I didn't even scream. Because of grief, I didn’t have time to realize the fear.

- Did you fall in this “boat”?

No. Then it broke in two. The rift passed right in front of our chairs. I ended up in the tail section. I was thrown into the passage, straight onto the bulkheads. At first I lost consciousness, and when I came to my senses, I lay there and thought - but not about death, but about pain. I don't want it to hurt when I fall. And then I remembered one Italian film - “Miracles Still Occur.” Just one episode: how the heroine escapes from a plane crash, huddled in a chair. Somehow I got to it...

- And did you buckle up?

I didn't even think about it. Actions were ahead of consciousness. I started looking out the window to “catch the ground.” It was necessary to depreciate in time. I didn’t hope to be saved, I just wanted to die without pain. There was very low cloudiness, then a green flash and a blow. Fell into the taiga, on a birch forest - lucky again.

- Don’t say that you didn’t receive a single injury.

Concussion, spinal injury in five places, broken arm, rib, leg. Almost all of the teeth were knocked out. But they never gave me disability. The doctors said: “We understand that you are collectively disabled. But we can’t do anything - each injury individually does not qualify as a disability. Now, if there was only one, but a serious one, then please.”

- How much time did you spend in the taiga?

Three days. When I woke up, my husband’s body was lying right in front of me. The state of shock was such that I did not feel pain. I could even walk. When the rescuers found me, they couldn’t say anything except “moo-moo.” I understand them. Three days of removing pieces of bodies from trees, and then suddenly seeing a living person. Yes, and I still had the same view. I was all the color of prunes with a silver tint - the paint from the fuselage turned out to be extremely sticky, my mother spent a month picking it out. And the wind turned my hair into a large piece of glass wool. Surprisingly, as soon as I saw the rescuers, I could no longer walk. Relaxed. Then, in Zavitinsk, I found out that a grave had already been dug for me. They were dug according to lists.

August 12, 1985 Boeing 747SR-46 Japanese airline Japan Airlines crashed near Mount Takamagahara, 100 km from Tokyo in the mountain area (Gunma Prefecture). Of the 520 people, only four women managed to survive: 24-year-old Japan Airline employee Hiroko Yoshizaki, 34-year-old plane passenger and her eight-year-old daughter Mikiko, and 12-year-old Keiko Kawakami, who was found sitting in a tree.

All four lucky ones were sitting in the center row of seats at the very rear of the plane. For the remaining 520 passengers and crew members, this flight was the last. In terms of the number of victims, the crash of the Japanese Boeing 747 is second only to the disaster in Tenerife in 1977, when two Boeings collided. Never before have so many people died on any liner.

August 16, 1987 McDonnell Douglas MD-82, while taking off from Metro airport, the plane lost control and first hit power lines with its left wing, located 800 meters from runway, then onto the roof of a car rental shop before crashing to the ground.

There were 155 people on board. 4-year-old Cecelia Sichan was found by rescuers in her chair, a few meters from the bodies of her parents and 6-year-old brother. Until now, not a single specialist can explain how, and with the help of what miracle, she was able to survive. The possible cause of this plane crash is considered to be the negligence of the pilot and crew in following the takeoff trajectory.

July 28, 2002. crashed at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport immediately after takeoff IL 86, which carried 16 people: four pilots, 10 flight attendants and two engineers. 200 m after the plane took off from the ground, there was a loss of engine power, the plane fell onto the left wing and crashed, after which an explosion occurred.

Only two flight attendants managed to survive: Tatyana Moiseeva and Arina Vinogradova. Vinogradova, some time after being discharged from the hospital and completing a rehabilitation course, returned to work, and Moiseeva decided not to tempt fate and stay on earth.

June 30, 2009 A plane crashed off the coast of the Comoros Islands A310 Yemen airline Yemenia, making a flight from the capital of Yemen, Sana'a, to the capital of Comoros, Moroni. There were 153 people on board the A310.

The only surviving passenger on the crashed plane was a twelve-year-old girl. Bahia Bakari, having French citizenship. When she hit the water, she was literally thrown out of the plane. For several hours, the girl, who practically could not swim, without a life jacket and in complete darkness, tried to hold on to the wreckage of the plane so as not to drown. At first she tried to navigate by the voices of other passengers, but they soon died down. When dawn broke, she realized that she was completely alone in the center of an oil puddle on the surface of the water. Fortunately, she managed to climb onto a large piece of debris and fall asleep, despite being overtired and thirsty. At some point, she saw a ship on the horizon, but it sailed too far and she was not noticed. The crew of the private ship Sima Com 2 discovered Bakari only 13 hours after the plane crash. Another 7 hours later she found herself on land, where she was sent to the hospital. The girl received numerous bruises, her collarbone was broken and her knees were burned.

May 12, 2010 Airbus-330 Libyan airline Afriqiyah Airways, arriving from Johannesburg (South Africa), crashed while landing in international airport Tripoli. In foggy conditions, the crew decided to go for the 2nd circle, but did not have time. There were 104 people on board. Among the wreckage, the only survivor found was an eight-year-old boy with fractures in both legs. He was pushed back by the chair, which may have absorbed the blow.

September 6, 2011 In Bolivia, a private airline plane crashed in the Amazon jungle. As a result, it was initially believed that all 9 people on board were killed. After 3 days of searching, a miraculously surviving passenger was found - 35-year-old Bolivian cosmetics seller Minor Vidal. He escaped with head bruises and broken ribs. Minor Vidallo said that he was under the wreckage of the plane for more than 15 hours, and when he managed to get out, he went deep into the forest in search of people.

A plane crash survivor was found several kilometers from the crash site. “We saw a man on the river bank giving us signals,” said Captain David Bustos, who led the rescue operation. “As we got closer, he knelt down and began to thank God.”

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