Vesna Vulović’s Remarkable Survival
Vesna Vulović holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.
On January 26, 1972, Vesna Vulović made headlines as the first individual to survive a fall from 33,000 feet. She was working as an air hostess for Yugoslav Airlines on a flight from Stockholm to Belgrade, which met with disaster when a bomb, allegedly planted by Croatian nationalists, detonated mid-flight above a village in the northern Czech Republic.
The explosion caused the aircraft to disintegrate into three parts, crashing near the village of Srbská Kamenice. While the majority of the crew and passengers tragically lost their lives in the explosion or impact, Vulović was discovered alive in the rear section of the aircraft, lying in the aisle.
At just 22 years old, she sustained severe injuries including a fractured skull, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. Despite spending several months in the hospital, she ultimately survived.
Vesna Vulović is one of only three individuals, aside from military pilots, known to have survived a crash where a plane fell from such a height.
Factors Contributing to Vulović’s Survival
While Vesna Vulović‘s story is remarkable, it is important to note that her survival was due to several fortunate circumstances. According to her entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, the explosion pinned her beneath a food trolley, which prevented her from being expelled from the aircraft.
Additionally, Vulović experienced low blood pressure, leading her to lose consciousness, which may have spared her from the shock of impact. The wreckage also landed in deep snow, providing a cushion during the crash. A local villager, an army medic from World War II, was the first to reach her and administered essential first aid.
It seems Vesna Vulović had either divine intervention or extraordinary luck, especially considering she was not scheduled to work that day.
Vulović’s Life After the Crash
After spending ten days in a coma and temporarily being paralyzed from the waist down, Vesna Vulović eventually regained her ability to walk, albeit with a limp due to a twisted spine. In a 2008 interview with the New York Times, she reflected, “I was broken, and the doctors put me back together again,” adding that no one anticipated she would live for so long.
Due to her head injuries, she suffered from amnesia and did not recall the crash, learning about the event from others. Vesna Vulović passed away at her home in December 2016, at the age of 66.
