Juliane Koepcke, the Sole Survivor of a Plane Crash who Lived in the Jungle for 11 Days
The story of Juliane Koepcke’s survival is the stuff of miracles and legends. After a tragic crash on Christmas Eve of , she was the only survivor out of the 91 passengers aboard LANSA Flight Koepcke was only 17 at the time, yet managed to survive on her own in the Peruvian rainforest for 11 days before being rescued.
The question on everyone’s mind is always the same: how? Though a definitive answer may exceed our grasp of luck and circumstance, it is worth looking into both Koepcke’s upbringing, and the flight itself.
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Juliane and her mother Maria were traveling back from a graduation ceremony to Panguana, a research area from which her mother worked. Due to the time of year, most flights were already booked, leaving Maria with a few spare flights to choose from offered by Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. (LANSA). Hans-Wilhelm, her husband, had warned her not to book a flight with LANSA, an airline known for being less than stellar.
Everything was normal and routine as the plane took off. However, about a half hour into the flight, the aircraft
On December 24, , a scheduled domestic passenger plane, LANSA Flight or registered as the OB-R, crashed in a thunderstorm while en route from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru. This tragic accident is considered the worst lightning strike disaster in history.
The terrible air crash claimed 91 lives including of all 6 crew members and 85 of its 86 passengers on board. The sole survivor was a year-old high school student named Juliane Koepcke, who fell 10, feet ( kilometres) to the ground still strapped to her chair and lived miraculously. She was then able to walk through the jungle for 10 days until being rescued by local lumbermen.
Juliane Koepcke was studying in Lima, intending to become a zoologist. That day she was travelling with her mother Maria Koepcke from Lima back to their home at Panguana. Unfortunately, the accident took everyone&#;s life on board including her mother&#;s. Juliane said of the crash:
&#;I heard the incredibly loud motor and people screaming and then the plane fell extremely steeply. And then it was calm-incredibly calm compared with the noise before that. I could only hear the wind in my ears. I was still attached to my seat. My mother and the
Alone in the Jungle: The Remarkable Juliane Koepcke
Surviving a plane crash is lucky. Being the sole survivor of a plane crash is a miracle. But imagine crashing into one of the largest, densest, and deadliest rainforests in the world, the Amazon rainforest.
How long do you think you could survive alone in the jungle without supplies, a flashlight, weapons, or a map? This is a crazy scenario, but this was precisely what happened to year-old Juliane Koepcke in
LANSA Flight
Juliane Kopecke grew up surrounded by animals. Her parents, Maria and Hans-Wilhelm Koepecke, were well-known zoologists working at the Museum of Natural History in Lima, Peru. When Juliane was 14 years old, she and her parents left Lima to establish what became the Panguana biological research station in the Amazon rainforest.
Juliane learned survival skills and that the jungle was not the “green hell” most people believed it to be. Although her parents home-schooled her at Panguana, she was required to return to school for exams. On December 23, , Juliane graduated from the Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt at the age of
Juliane Koepcke’s mother wanted to return to Panguana after she finishe
Imagine you’re excitedly flying home to see your family after being away for a long time when an unexpected accident occurs. The same goes with the girl in the story below.
She was on a flight with her mother to reunite with her father for Christmas when a bolt of lightning struck the airplane. She found herself plummeting from the sky into one of the world’s most dangerous rainforests.
This might sound like the beginning of an intense survival movie, but for year-old Juliane Koepcke, it was a horrifying reality.
On December 24, , Juliane became the sole survivor of LANSA Flight , and her story of survival in the Amazon jungle is nothing short of miraculous.
The unexpected turn of events on LANSA Flight
Juliane Koepcke’s life before that tragic day was closely connected to the Amazon rainforest. Born on October 10, , in Lima, Peru, she was the only child of German zoologists Maria and Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke.
Her parents had moved to Peru to follow their passions for zoology and environmental studies. They eventually set up the Panguana biological research station deep in the Amazon.
From a young age, Juliane was surrounded by the wilderness, where she learned surviva
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