Remember how you felt after finishing school?
Yes, the torture is over and you can start making plans to achieve all your goals; nothing
can stop you now!
That's probably how Juliane Koepcke felt too after celebrating her school graduation on
December 23 in 1971.
But she had no idea what was waiting for her the next day.
So when 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke finished her school in Lima, Peru, she went along with
her mother to join her father at a research station in the Amazon rainforest.
The girl and her mother were really eager to leave Lima as soon as possible and fly
to Pucallpa, which was the nearest city to that station, but almost all the flights were
booked because of the holiday season.
Their only option was airline LANSA, which already had a bad reputation with two crashes
on their record.
However, they booked the only empty seats for flight 508, not worried, considering the
short one-hour duration of the flight.
But after purchasing the tickets they still had to wait for 7 hours because the flight
was delayed due to bad weather.
Finally, the plane took off in the afternoon on December 24.
At first, it was a smooth ride, but soon the clouds started getting darker and darker and
the turbulence got worse.
Naturally, Koepcke began to feel anxious and nervous just like all the other passengers,
including her mother.
Something was definitely wrong.
After crossing the Andes at about 21,000 feet, the plane got caught in the middle of a big
storm with constant thunder and lightning.
Suddenly the plane started jumping up and down, parcels and luggage were falling from
the lockers and flying around the cabin.
Terrified and helpless, Koepcke grabbed her mother's hand and closed her eyes.
But a few minutes later, her eyes were jolted open when a bolt of lightning struck the plane.
Now the fuel tank was ignited and moments later, one of the plane's wings was torn off.
Before Juliane could understand what was happening, the airliner went into a nose-dive and the
cabin began tearing apart into pieces.
Still strapped to her seat and hanging head-over-heels she went into a 10,000 feet free-fall from
the sky!
The only noise she could hear was the whispering of the wind, and she only saw the canopy of
the jungle spinning toward her.
The girl didn't remember anything about the impact, but most likely the seat she was attached
to and jungle foliage cushioned her plummet.
Unbelievably, she survived the air crash.
Now that's a real miracle!
For the next 24 hours, Juliane faded in and out of consciousness.
After that, she finally managed to stay conscious and started shouting out for her mother.
However, she soon realized she was all alone in the middle of the jungle.
As if surviving the fall wasn't enough of an ordeal, now she had to figure out how to
make her way through the rainforest to find help.
In addition to that, Juliane’s collarbone was broken and she had several deep cuts on
her arms and legs.
Despite those injuries, she started moving, promising herself to get through this nightmare
at all cost.
While searching for food, she heard the hum of a circling aircraft above her head.
The plane crash prompted the biggest search in Peru’s history, but the forest was so
dense that aircrafts couldn’t spot the wreckage from the crash, let alone a single person.
After some time she stopped hearing the humming, knowing for sure that no one was going to
rescue her.
Luckily, she found a bag of candies at the crash site, which would be her only food for
the next 10 days.
But then she heard another sound that lifted her spirit a bit – the dripping of running
water.
Now it's time to mention that Juliane was actually pretty familiar with the jungle,
because her father was a biologist who studied Amazon wildlife.
She spent quite a lot of time with him at his research station and he taught her a lot
of things about rainforest nature.
Now she remembered when her father told her that tracking downstream should eventually
lead to civilization.
Besides, she had water to quench her thirst.
And so Juliane set out on her trek following a tiny stream.
As you can guess, it was anything but easy.
The Amazon rainforest is full of dangers.
Its home to hungry jaguars, black caimans with their sharp teeth, and many poisonous
snakes who are camouflaged to look like dry leaves.
To avoid stepping on one of them accidentally, Juliane would test the area in front of her
by throwing her only shoe ahead, then moving forward to pick it up, and tossing it again.
Also, she had to climb over huge logs and masses of gnarled roots in her way.
But the girl just kept walking, despite scorching heat and hunger.
It was rainy season in the Amazon, meaning that there was no fruit to pick.
And since she had no knife, she couldn’t cut the palm hearts from the palm tree stems.
Despite blistering sun at day, Juliane got really cold during the chilly nights.
Finally, after a few days of roaming in the rainforest, she arrived at the bank of a large
river.
But there was no sign of anyone.
It was disheartening for her, but she knew she had to move on.
Juliane walked through the shallow waters at the edge of the river very carefully, knowing
that stingrays liked to nest in these shallow waters.
She was going so slow at this pace, she decided to swim out to the middle of the river instead.
She knew stingrays stayed away from the deeper water and only hoped she wouldn’t meet piranhas
or alligators on her way.
So she swam in the river at day and went back to the shore at night to rest.
But sleeping at night was no easy feat because insects kept biting her, making her injuries
even more painful.
On the 10th day of her exhausting journey, she finally saw something that made her think
she was hallucinating – a big boat!
Juliane couldn’t believe her eyes and even touched it to make sure it wasn’t a mirage.
There was no one near the boat, but the girl noticed a beaten path the led up the riverbank.
She followed it until she saw a hut with a palm leaf roof.
The hut was empty, but Juliane found an outboard motor and a canister of gasoline there.
She had a really deep wound on her arm, and it was seriously infected to the point that
there were maggots.
The girl knew she had to get rid of them.
Juliane remembered that once her father had removed maggots from the family dog using
diesel fuel to force them to the surface.
So she poured some gasoline on her wound.
Right away she felt intense pain because the maggots tried to get further into her flesh.
But she managed to pull them out.
Completely exhausted, Juliane decided to spend the night in the hut where she could finally
get semi-decent sleep.
The next day she woke to the sound of voices.
There were several men outside.
Again, she thought she was hallucinating but the voices grew louder and eventually, the
men entered the hut.
Imagine how shocked Juliane was when she saw them!
They were startled too, however, because at first they thought she was a kind of water
goddess - a figure from a local legend who is a hybrid of a water dolphin and a blonde,
white-skinned woman.
Juliane explained to three lumberjacks who she was and what happened to her.
They treated her wounds and gave her something to eat.
The next morning, they helped her get into a canoe and took a ride downriver to a lumber
station.
After they reached the destination, a local pilot flew the girl to the hospital where
she finally got professional medical help.
Soon her father arrived, and they were finally reunited.
While staying at the hospital, Juliane gave information to the researchers that helped
them locate the wreck.
Sadly, she was the only one who survived the crash.
But this story is still an amazing example that a person’s will to live is always stronger
than the most terrible circumstances.
What would you do if you got stuck in the jungle for 11 days?
Let everybody know in the comments below!
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