how did vesna vulovic survive the fall
Two investigative journalists, Peter Hornung-Andersen and Pavel Theiner, published a shocking expos of the report, saying that the aircraft was not the victim of a terrorist attack at all but was shot down by Czechoslovakian Mig fighter jet at low level. Even while suffering from a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis, Vesna miraculously recovered after spending a few months in the hospital. Twenty-two year old, Vesna Vulovic, was a flight attendant on Yugoslav Airlines DC-9 enroute from Stockholm to Belgrade. [1] Her reputation as a "Cold War heroine" also extended to the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. Talking about the same, Craig Glenday, Editor and Chief, Guinness World Records said, Vesna Vulovis story, for me, is one of the most incredible survival stories if, in fact, not the most impressive that we have here at Guinness World Records. The JAT Flight 367 was bound from Stockholm to Belgrade through Copenhagen and Zagreb. But, there was confusion over their names, the GWR revealed. According to investigators, Vesna was trapped by a food cart in the planes tail when the bomb exploded. The 22-year old Serbian flight attendant Vesna Vulovic was part of the secondary cabin crew who boarded the airplane in Copenhagen, where the flight made a brief stopover en route to Belgrade. Physics questions and answers. [10] The Czech Civil Aviation Authority dismissed the journalists' claim, calling it a conspiracy theory. However, many conspiracy theorists have claimed that the aircraft was flying at a much lower altitude than stated in the official accident report. If you found this post interesting, youll probably like Why Planes Crash, available now for just $3.99. On This Day in 1918: The tallest man ever is born, Prizes dont come any bigger: World's tallest man Sultan Kosen visits British school after competition win, The tragic death of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever, How to set or break a Guinness World Records title. [18] Although she was advised by physicians that her injuries would not have an adverse effect on her reproductive function, Vulovi experienced an ectopic pregnancy that nearly proved fatal and was never able to have children. All rights reserved. The first thing she did upon waking was ask for a cigarette. Fifty years ago today, air stewardess Vesna Vulovic plunged more than 33,000 feet from an exploding airliner, landed in aCzechoslovak mountain range, and survived. Vulovi later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party, advocating for Serbia's entry into the European Union. The plane was flying from Stockholm in Sweden to Belgrade in Serbia with two stopovers one being in Copenhagen. [13], In the last years of her life, Vulovi lived on a pension of 300 per month in her Belgrade apartment. We had an amusing round of guesses (She fell into jungle canopy which broke her fall in stages? She landed in very soft powdery snow?) and when I got home, I looked it up. Vulovi wished to go sightseeing but her colleagues insisted that they go shopping. Alerted to the situation, the East Germans continued to track the plane after it crossed into Czechoslovak airspace before the radar contact suddenly became more prominent and then disappeared. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant for JAT Yugoslav Airlines in 1972, set a Guinness world record when she fell some 33,000 feet and lived.Vulovic's odds-defying plunge, which happened following an explosion of the DC-9 she was flying in, is one of the most remarkable accident-survival stories of all time, and made her a national hero in Yugoslavia. She told interviewers that she was not scheduled to be on the flight that day but her schedule was mixed up with another stewardess named Vesna and she was pleased to take the chance to fly to Denmark. I like it. She never regained memory of the accident or her rescue. [3][4] Nevertheless, Vulovi said that she was excited to travel to Denmark because it was her first time visiting the country. Solved Vesna Vulovic survived the longest fall on record - Chegg [3][6], Air safety investigators attributed Vulovi's survival to her being trapped by a food cart in the DC-9's fuselage as it broke away from the rest of the aircraft and plummeted towards the ground. [8] Yugoslav authorities suspected that they were to blame for bringing down Flight 367. "I thought, 'Why shouldn't I be an air hostess? Vesna Vulovic, Flight Attendant Who Survived Jetliner Blast, Dies at 66 However, in 2009 two investigative journalists in Prague claimed the plane had probably been mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot down by the Czechoslovakian air force, causing it to fall and break up at a much lower height than previously believed. [6] Since the whole story appears to have been entirely made up, based on false or misleading facts, Stockholm may as well lie in the Bahamas. Vesna Vulovic's miraculously survived a fall of 10,058 metres without a parachute a world record and fearlessly flew afterward, having no memory of the event Author of the article: The . They seemed to know that they would die. I felt for them. A Serbian woman who survived what was said to be a 10,000-metre (33,000ft) fall after a plane exploded in mid-air in 1972 has died aged 66. Amid the wreckage was a woman wearing a bloodstained turquoise flight attendants uniform and no shoes. Vesna Vulovic: The Flight Attendant Who Fell 6 Miles And Lived At 1:30 PM on January 26, 1972, the crew met Flight 367 at the Copenhagen Airport and watched as the passengers and previous crew deplaned. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. Next, the fuselage separated from the rest of the plane and hurtled towards the ground in a heavily wooded area. Vesna Vulovic died in her Belgrade apartment in 2016. When she arrived, however, she found a downtrodden crew. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways (JAT) gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity. After recovering from her injuries, Vesna continued working for JAT Airlines in a desk-based role, but she was fired in the early 1990s for participating in anti-government protests opposing Slobodan Miloevi, president of Serbia within Yugoslavia at the time. [b] She also suffered two broken legs and three broken vertebrae, one of which was crushed completely. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh asked why the protest at Jantar Mantra has not ended even though an FIR has been registered on demand of wrestlers and alleged that the protest is "paid". Her story won her fame and a celebrity status in Serbia, which she channelled into political campaigning. Vesna Vulovic, flight attendant who survived highest ever fall from She was thus officially acknowledged as having surpassed the records of other fall survivors, such as Alan Magee, Juliane Koepcke, Nicholas Alkemade, and Ivan Chisov. Everyone except Vesna, who survived a fall of 33,333 feet (10,160 metres; 6.31 miles). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The investigation said it was because she was away from the blast in the back, but Vulovi and eyewitnesses deny this. She told reporters that the last thing she remembered before waking up in hospital was greeting passengers as they boarded the plane. All Rights Reserved. [12], Following the crash, Vulovi spent days in a coma, having fractured her skull and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. After learning about Vesna Vulovi and her record-breaking fall from the sky, check out Juliane Koepcke, who survived an extreme fall and then an 11-day trek through the jungle. Though it wasnt the fall that caused her life-threatening injuries, it was her contact with the ground after the fall that almost took her life. Scan of the English Translation of the Official Report. It was suspected that a bomb had been planted inside the jet during a stopover in Copenhagen. Vulovi has said in interview that she does not believe the conspiracy theory but added that as she does not recall the crash, she cant shed any light on the matter. A woman who survived 33,300 foot fall still faces questions over her ordeal 40 years to the day after a mysterious mid-air explosion sent her tumbling through the air on her record-breaking plunge. [4] "I don't know what to say when people say I was lucky," she remarked. Yugoslav air stewardess Vesna Vulovic survived a fall of 33,000 feet from an exploding airliner. The last thing I remember is boarding the plane by the rear door and seeing a few women cleaning the plane.. Incredibly, Vulovic was found alive, trapped by a food cart in either the center section or the tail section of the jet, depending on sources. Some sources suggest that Vulovi's employment was terminated in 1990. She fainted upon being shown a newspaper headline by her doctor and had to be tranquilized. A German man, upon arriving at the crash site, found all of the planes passengers dead, save one. [18] Vulovi continued to fly regularly, stating that other passengers were surprised to see her on flights and wanted to sit next to her. Vesna was found screaming inside the wreckage by Bruno Honke, a local villager and former World War 2 medic who was able to administer vital first aid before rescuers arrived. Brad was reportedly thrown around so violently that his tightly-laced shoe came flying off. This claim was debunked by flight data obtained from the aircrafts black boxes. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. In her home country of Yugoslavia, Vesna Vulovi became a national icon, honoured by the President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. Thanks, [4][20] In response to her activism, pro-Miloevi tabloids launched a smear campaign against her, claiming that Flight 367 had been shot down by a Czechoslovak surface-to-air missile and that she had fallen from a lesser height than previously believed. While many other passengers were sucked out of the plane after the explosion, Vulovi became pinned by the cart. Both boxes were analyzed by specialists from Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands, who confirmed that the plane had truly fallen from the stated height of 33,333 ft (10,160 m). Experts weigh in on this 'natural hair dye' to cover greys, prevent hair International Workers Day 2020: Wishes, Images, Quotes, Messages, Status, 'Curvy' mermaid statue causes stir in Southern Italy. First was Copenhagen in Denmark, which is where the secondary cabin crew - including Vesna - boarded the plane. 7 Vesna survived. How did Vesna Vulovic survive? No. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. But this post is written to imply that Vesna fell 33,000 feet. Anti-aircraft missiles would have been seen on radar and furthermore, it would have been impossible, she said, to hide the evidence of the missiles in the wreckage of the crash. The video added, At 4:01 pm, 46 minutes after take off, an explosion in the luggage compartment tore the aircraft into three pieces. So, she joined JAT in 1971. [3][d] She attributed the divorce to her chain smoking, which her husband disapproved of. She said in 2008 that she could only recall greeting passengers before takeoff from the airport in Denmark, and then waking up in hospital with her mother at her side. Its in the title.. Vesna didnt fall 33,000 feet anymore than somebody who flew from New York to Denver fell 33,000 feet. Vulovi was fired from JAT in the early 1990s after taking part in anti-government protests during the breakup of Yugoslavia, but avoided arrest as the government was concerned about the negative publicity that her imprisonment would bring. Fear She was, he said, offered a million dollar contract for a Hollywood movie and many other offers to sell her story, but she said no to all of them. The cause of death was not immediately known. Guinness World Records Kids (opens in a new window), GWR Merchandise Store (opens in a new window), Corporate Social Responsibility activities & fundraising ideas, Community engagement & tourism marketing activities. She never regained any memory of the accident or of her rescue, she said, and she continued to fly as a passenger. Years after the disaster, a Czech aerospace magazine published an article that raised the possibility of Flight 367 having been shot down in error by Czechoslovak air defenses. Serbian-born Vesna Vulovi was 22 years old and had been a flight attendant for only eight months before the fateful crash. FacebookTwitterYouTubeInstagramLinkedInSnapchatPinterestTiktok, Registered Office: Ground Floor, The Rookery, 2 Dyott Street, London, WC1A 1DE, United Kingdom, Otto - Longest human tunnel travelled through by a skateboarding dog, Ashrita Furman - Most Guinness World Records titles held. The post states, directly, that she actually fell about 2,600 feet (at the point where the aircraft disintegrated) and that she does not hold any record for the longest survived fall or anything like it. Later, her doctors revealed that her low blood pressure caused her to quickly pass out when the cabin depressurised and that prevented her heart from bursting upon impact. Its actually not at all clear how she survived the fall. He told theHerald Sun: We were shaking so much, it was like we were in a blender.. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Its still unclear how Vulovic survived the impact. There was another odd anomaly: officials explained that Vulovi survived because she was in the rear of the aircraft but she stated in interviews that she was discovered in the middle part of the plane. It was not only me that noticed him either. As her death-defying tale continues to fascinate people around the world, she will also live on as a symbol of survival against all odds. Vesna Vulovi: The Woman Who Fell From Heaven - Culture Trip This brought the aircraft close to a sensitive military area, where it was perceived as a threat and shot down by Czech aircraft. Last year, exactly 40 years after the incident, Czech magazine Technet wrote about the incident and referred to the report as a conspiracy theory. The rest of the 28 crew and passengers flew to their deaths when the cabin depressurized but she was trapped by the food cart. [7] Vulovi said that she was aware of her low blood pressure before applying to become a flight attendant and knew that it would result in her failing her medical examination, but she drank an excessive amount of coffee beforehand and was accepted. Your email address will not be published. Ukraine matters, but so did Bosnia 30 years ago. On January 26, 1972, Vulovi was working as a flight. Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. Vulovic later recalled: I saw all the passengers and crew deplane [at Copenhagen Airport]. "She looked so nice and had just been to London for the day," Vulovi recalled. In Yugoslavia she was celebrated as a national hero. The first thing she did upon waking was asked for a cigarette. Although Vulovic sustained a fractured skull, two crushed vertebrae, a broken pelvis, two broken legs, and several broken ribs, she was still conscious and her cries for help had been heard in the dark by a woodsman who was among the rescue team.
