She recalled that she should not have been there; another flight attendant, also named Vesna, was supposed to be on the roster. [3] Vulovi's parents had to sell both of their cars to pay for her treatment. She was the sole survivor after an explosion tore through the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbsk Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. Fortunately, Bruno Honke, the villager who discovered her, had been a medic during World War II and was able to keep her alive until rescuers arrived. [4], Vulovi told reporters that she did not think of her fall every day, but admitted to struggling with survivor's guilt. [25], In December 2016, Vulovi's friends became concerned for her well-being after she abruptly stopped answering telephone calls. Vulovic was rescued by a woodsman who followed her screams in the dark forest. Amazingly, Vesna was able to walk again after ten months, albeit with a permanent limp due to the twisting of her spine. "Nobody ever expected me to live this long.". Ms. Vulovic disagreed that luck played any part in helping her to survive the 33,000-foot fall. She was fired from her job at the airline in 1990 after taking part in protests against President Slobodan Milosevic but avoided arrest. [3] She later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party and advocated for Serbia's entry into the European Union, which she believed would bring economic prosperity. Ukraine matters, but so did Bosnia 30 years ago. She suffered a skull fracture and broke her legs. Her name was Vesna Vulovi and she was a flight attendant on JAT Yugoslave Airlines Flight 367, en route from Stockholm to Belgrade on the 26th of January in 1972. Thehorrors of Mariupol should remind us of a new danger to Sarajevo, Russians using Serbian loophole to avoid EU flights ban, Russia may pressure Serbia to undermine western Balkans, leaders warn, Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy review belonging and betrayal, Illegal extradition of Bahraini dissident from Serbia calls Interpols role into question. She was trapped in the cone of the tail and landed on a slope after plunging 10,160m from the DC-9 aircraft. retrieved. 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. The aircraft broke apart in mid-air before falling 33,330 feet down to the ground in Srbsk Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. She was 66. She was 66. Where was the outcry then? Vulovi underwent treatment in a Prague hospital until 12 March 1972, after which she was flown to Belgrade. Read about our approach to external linking. Though no arrests were ever made, Yugoslav authorities suspected that a Croatian ultranationalist terrorist group, the Ustashe, were behind both bombings. 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. The comments below have not been moderated. 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). Ms. Vulovic was working as a Yugoslav Airlines flight attendant on Jan. 26, 1972, when the Douglas DC-9 airliner she was aboard blew up high above the snowy mountain ranges of Czechoslovakia. In 2008, Ms. Vulovic campaigned for the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic. If I were lucky I would never had this accident and my mother and father would be alive. The stewardess was temporarily paralysed from the waist down by the fall but in time she made a near-full recovery and returned to work for the airline in a desk job. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. A catering trolley was pinned against my spine and kept me in the plane.". One man seemed terribly annoyed. In Belgrade, Vulovi's hospital room was placed under 24-hour police protection because authorities feared that the perpetrators of the bombing would wish to kill her. Maybe it was a bad place., Vesna Vulovic, Flight Attendant Who Survived Jetliner Blast, Dies at 66, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/vesna-vulovic-died-flight-attendant-in-plunge.html. [4] Honke had been a medic during the Second World War and was able to keep Vulovi alive until rescuers arrived. [3] In 1985, The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Vulovi as the world record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 metres (33,330ft; 6.31mi). The same type of aircraft that Vesna Vulovi was on before her fall. As fate would have it, Vesna was not actually scheduled to be working on Flight 367, as she revealed in a 2002 interview with Green Light. [3] The last thing that Vulovi could remember from before the crash was greeting passengers as they boarded. A verification email has been sent to you. Vesna Vulovi was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, Serbian state television reported. Her physicians believe her low blood pressure kept her heart from bursting on impact with the mountainside. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, They seemed to know that they would die. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Her final years were spent in seclusion, and she struggled with survivor guilt. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. From the crash, Vulovi had sustained two broken legs, three broken vertebrae, a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, and a fractured skull. [2] Driven by her love of the Beatles, Vulovi travelled to the United Kingdom after completing her first year of university, hoping to improve her English-language skills. What science tells us about the afterlife. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who was the only one of 28 people to survive a jetliner blast over Czechoslovakia in 1972. Part of HuffPost Women. Vesna Vulovic survived the highest ever fall without a parachute by a human being after her plane exploded on January 26, 1972 . Eight months into her flight attendant career, Vesna Vulovi was told to join the crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from Stockholm to Belgrade with a stopover in Copenhagen. [19] Vulovi continued taking part in anti-government demonstrations throughout the 1990s. Vesna Vulovic, when she worked as a stewardess. 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. 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. [13][23] Vulovi said that she was aware of the journalists' claims, but stated that because she had no memory of the event, she could not confirm or deny the allegations. Vesna Vulovi (Abjad Kiril Serbia: ; diucapkan [esna ulit]; 3 Januari 1950 - 23 Desember 2016) adalah seorang pramugari asal Serbia.Ia memecahkan rekor dunia Guinness karena berhasil selamat dari terjun tanpa parasut dengan ketinggian 10.160 meter. Unlike the other 27 passengers and crew, Vulovic survived, likely in part because the section of fuselage where she was trapped landed on a snowy, tree-covered hillside, the BBC reports. The cause of death was not immediately known. Air safety investigators believe that Vulovis position within the aircraft at the time of the explosion helped her survive the fall. Vesna Vulovic is believed to have been born on Jan. 3, 1950, in Belgrade. Although she passed away in December 2016 at the age of 66, Vesna Vulovi will live on forever as an anti-nationalist heroine. While Vulovi had been hoping to go sightseeing, the rest of the group seemed focused on shopping and sitting in the hotel. [8] Yugoslav authorities suspected that they were to blame for bringing down Flight 367. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The first thing I remember is seeing my parents in the hospital, she said in 2002 in an online interview with Green Light Limited, a security training firm. The Czech authorities concluded that explosives in a suitcase had detonated and tore the jet apart. 2023 BBC. All 28 passengers and crew aboard perished, apart fromVulovic, who would enter the Guinness Book of Records for 'the highest fall survived without a parachute'. She had wanted her old job back and disagreed with the airline that she was not healthy enough to resume it. [13] "Nobody ever expected me to live this long," she recounted in 2008. Vesna Vulovic, who survived a midair explosion in 1972, has died at the age of 66. [10] No arrests were ever made. Vulovic was working as a Yugoslav Airlines flight attendant on Jan. 26, 1972, when the Douglas DC-9 airliner she was aboard blew up high above the snowy mountain ranges of Czechoslovakia. YouTubeThe wreckage of the JAT Flight 367 crash. I thought I was in Slovenia, as I had just visited Ljubljana the capital city before going to Copenhagen., In less than a year, she recovered well enough to walk, but with a limp. I looked up to the sky and saw bodies, suitcases, chunks of the plane falling down.. She was in the rear of the plane with a food cart when the fuselage broke apart. But it was no easy feat. After being taken to a hospital in Prague, Vesna Vulovi spent several days in a coma recovering. [4], Vulovi's parents both died within a few years of the crash. landed on a snowy, tree-covered hillside, claiming that documents showed the aircraft may have been mistakenly shot down. [11] The Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority later attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, landed at Copenhagen Airport at 2:30p.m., whereupon Vulovi and her colleagues boarded the plane. 1 reference. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. All 28 passengers and crew aboard perished, apart from Vulovic (left), who would enter the Guinness Book of Records for her fall (pictured right with David Frost). She had no memory of the flight or her descent. [4] By the time she had reached her sixties, Vulovi's deteriorating health prevented her from taking part in annual commemorations at Srbsk Kamenice, which she had previously attended for many years. Vesna, a Belgrade native, entered the Guinness World Records book after surviving the highest ever fall without a parachute. "If you can survive what I survived," she said, "you can survive anything. According to the official accident report, an explosion tore the DC-9 she was working . Vulovic was the only survivor of the 26 January, 1972 bomb blast over the Czech town of Srbska Kamenice which killed 23 passengers and five crew. Vesna Vulovic died in Belgrade in December 2016, at the age of 66. On January 1972, Vesna Vulovic, who was working as a flight attendant for Jugoslavenski Aerotransport, was . I was broken and the doctors put me back together again, she told The New York Times in 2008. Credit: Alamy. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian flight attendant who survived a 10,000-meter plunge after her plane exploded mid-air in 1972, has died at the age of 66. . [22] Hornung-Andersen conceded that the pair's evidence was only circumstantial. 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. A young Vesna Vulovi in her flight attendant uniform. [1] Her reputation as a "Cold War heroine" also extended to the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. The day after these events, Swedish newspaper Kvllsposten received a phone call from a self-described Croatian nationalist, who took credit for bringing down Flight 367. Her recovery period was actually relatively short and incredibly successful a fact she attributes to a childhood diet that included chocolate, spinach, and fish oil.. An instant national heroine, she went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Milosevics rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. It is certain that the other passengers and crewmembers had similar horoscopes, as well. The fuselage tumbled through pine branches and into a thick coating of snow, softening the impact and cushioning its descent down the hill. Vulovic holds the Guinness World Record for highest fall without a parachute a miraculous 33,333-foot plunge to Earth. 0 references. In 1985 Vulovi entered the Guinness Book of Records for the highest fall survived without a parachute. Find a Grave memorial ID. Vesna Vulovic, an ex-air stewardess who survived a 10 kilometre fall to Earth, is seen in a 2008 file photo. [6] She received the recognition at a London gala from musician Paul McCartney. Oh yeah, except for the fact that she fell 33,000 fucking feet and lived to tell the tale. 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. Vulovic was 23 and working as a Yugoslav. She remained an avid flyer and died in 2016 at the age of 66. Vulovi?, 22 years old at the time, was a flight attendant on board. Ms Vulovic was working on board a Yugoslav Airlines flight that crashed in 1972. Upon returning to Belgrade, Vulovi decided to become a flight attendant after seeing one of her friends in a flight attendant's uniform. "The man who found me told me that I was in the middle part of the plane," she said. The cause of death was not immediately known. Air safety investigators attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. Market data provided by Factset. Some sources suggest that Vulovi's employment was terminated in 1990. Vesna Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, according to Serbian state TV. On the same day as the tragedy of Flight 367, another bomb was set off on a train between Vienna and Zagreb, injuring six people. Vesna Vulovi (Serbian Cyrillic: , pronounced[sna loit]; 3 January 1950 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160m (33,330ft; 6.31mi). [1] She was soon made an honorary citizen of Srbsk Kamenice. One part of my body with my leg was in the plane and my head was out of the plane. On the evening of January 26, 1972, Bruno Honke heard screaming coming from a hillside just outside of his village in Czechoslovakia. We'll use the information you provide us to contact you via email about our relevant content, products and services. Following the bombing, Vulovi spent days in a coma and was hospitalised for several months. The Douglas DC-9 went down on January 26 that year over the mountains . Authorities confirmed the "miracle" woman was found dead in her Belgrade, Serbia, home. 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. [1][a] Vulovi's physicians concluded that her history of low blood pressure caused her to pass out quickly after the cabin depressurized and kept her heart from bursting on impact. Putting names to archive photos, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, In photos: India's disappearing single-screen cinemas. Serbia's state TV reports Saturday Dec. 24, 2016, Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, aged 66. As the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were believed to have been sucked out of the plane into freezing temperatures, falling to their deaths. Vesna Vulovic has similar horoscope. On the basis of her conversations with Honke, Vulovi disputed the assertion that she was discovered in the rear section of the DC-9, as claimed in some reports. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Vesna Vulovi recovering in the hospital. She went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Miloevis rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. Legal Statement. JAT Flight 367 had two scheduled stopovers in between Stockholm and Belgrade. Though her injuries could have left her permanently paralyzed or even dead, within 10 months of her fall Vesna Vulovi was walking again. Published: 11:57 EST, 24 December 2016 | Updated: 08:47 EST, 25 December 2016. It was suspected that a bomb was planted inside the jet during a scheduled stopover in Copenhagen, Denmark, but no arrests were ever made. Serbia's state TV said Saturday Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade. The cause of death was not immediately known. Ms. Vulovic was the only one of 28 passengers and crew members to survive but just barely. [5] The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the Czechoslovak village of SrbskKamenice. I was talking to them and asking them why they were with me in Slovenia. Vulovi made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The first of his numerous near-death experiences began on a cold January day in 1962, when Selak was on a train to Dubrovnik: it suddenly derailed into an icy river, killing 17 passengers. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who alone, and miraculously, survived the midair explosion of a jetliner over Czechoslovakia in 1972 after plummeting thousands of feet onto a snowy hill, was reported dead on Saturday in Belgrade. "[21] Vulovi lamented that her mother and father might not have died prematurely had she not been aboard Flight 367, stating that the incident not only ruined her life, but also those of her parents. [3] Vulovi's hospitalization lasted until June 1972, after which she travelled to Montenegro to recuperate at a seaside resort, where her doctors visited her every two or three days. Vesna Vulovi was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m . BELGRADE, Serbia Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian stewardess who miraculously survived a plunge from 33,000 feet after her plane exploded in midair in 1972, has died. The cause of death was not immediately known (pictured in 2008). Trapped in the plane's tail cone, she plummeted to earth in sub-freezing temperatures and landed on a steep, heavily wooded slope near a village. Serbian-born Vesna Vulovi was 22 years old and had been a flight attendant for only eight months before the fateful crash. At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Trump speaks at CPAC after winning straw poll, 3 children killed, 2 others wounded at Texas home, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Nikki Haley slams potential GOP contenders, and Trump and George W. 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Serbia's state TV said today Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade. A bomb exploded on board, causing the plane to split in half and violently spin out of control. Authorities confirmed the "miracle" woman was found dead in her Belgrade, Serbia, home. Vesna Vulovic, an air stewardess who survived the highest ever fall by a human being after her plane broke up at 33,000ft (10,000m), has died aged 66. According to Guinness World Records, 30 years after the crash, Vulovic said: Im not lucky. [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. Initially paralysed from the waist down, Vulovi eventually made almost a full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. Flight attendant Vesna Vulovi set record for highest fall survived without a parachute, said to be 10,000 metres. However, this claim was debunked by flight data obtained from the aircrafts black boxes, which provided exact data regarding the planes altitude, acceleration, direction and speed at the time of the explosion. In total, 128 terror attacks were carried out by Croatian nationalists against Yugoslavia between 1962 and 1982. Foi a nica a sobreviver, depois que uma bomba explodiu no compartimento de bagagem do voo JAT 367 em 26 de janeiro de 1972, causando um acidente prximo a Srbsk Kamenice, na Checoslovquia. Ms. Vulovic was rescued by a woodsman who followed her screams in the dark forest. 1 reference. Vesna Vulovic is pictured recovering in hospital after surviving a plunge from 33,000 feet after her plane exploded in mid-air, Vesna Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, according to Serbian state TV. Show more Show. When I told my parents I was living in the Swedish capital, they thought of the drugs and the sex and told me to come home at once." The Serbian flight attendant holds the Guinness record for highest fall survived without a parachute. The fuselage separated from the rest of the plane and hurtled towards the ground in a heavily wooded area near the Czechoslovak village of Srbsk Kamenice. Air safety investigators attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. Her remarkable survival half a century ago means that Flight 367 is always likely to attract study, although the precise. An instant national heroine, she went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Milosevic's rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. When Miloevi and his Socialist Party of Serbia were ousted in the Bulldozer Revolution of October 2000, Vulovi was among several celebrities who took to the balcony of Belgrade's city hall to make victory addresses. If I were lucky I would never have had this accident and my mother and father would be alive. I could go to London once a month'." She was an air stewardess who survived the highest ever fall by a human being after her plane broke up at 33,000 ft. Vulovic was working on a Yugoslav Airlines Douglas DC-9 on January 26, 1972 when a suspected bomb brought the plane down among mountains in Czechoslovakia. Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess back in the '70s working on a Serbian airline. She was 66. How She Stared Down Death: Except for surviving countless ass gropings during her time as a stewardess there was really nothing special about this lady. Initially paralyzed from the waist down, Vulovic eventually made a near-full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. An hour into the flight, the plane, a DC-9, blew up over the Czech village of Srbska Kamenice. How she managed this isn't entirely clear, but the . Find a Grave. After arriving in hospital, Vulovic fell into a coma for 10 days. On the 35th anniversary of the disaster, in 2007, Zdenko Kubik, a firefighter, recalled: I heard a sound like that of military jets landing. The cause of death was not known. It was not only me that noticed him either. [4] "I don't know what to say when people say I was lucky," she remarked. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Air crash sole survivors", "Kako je Vesna Vulovi preivela avionsku nesreu nad ehoslovakom '72: udo nije bila prava re", "Woman Who Fell to Earth: Was Air Crash Survivor's Record Just Propaganda? . She was in the rear of the plane with a food cart when the fuselage broke apart. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian air stewardess who miraculously survived a plunge from 33,000ft after her plane exploded in mid-air in 1972, has died aged 66.

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