Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Only one survived! A "Christmas Miracle"...
On December 24, 1971, a Lockheed L-188 Electra passenger plane operated by the Peruvian airline "Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A." (LANSA) crashed...
...during a severe thunderstorm over the Peruvian rainforest after being struck by lightning and broken apart by severe turbulence in the air...:
91 inmates are killed, only one person survives.
The survivor is 17-year-old German Juliane Koepke, and her survival borders on a miracle!
When the "Lockheed" breaks up in the air, Juliane Koepke - strapped into her seat - is thrown out of the machine, at an altitude of around 3,000 meters it is actually certain death!
Presumably due to strong updrafts within the storm and the impact-reducing effect of the leaves of the jungle plants, the impact was absorbed to such an extent that she survived the impact on the ground with relatively minor injuries - a concussion, a broken collarbone, a cruciate ligament tear and only a few wounds !
Her mother, who was on board and with whom she wanted to visit her father, who works as a scientist in Peru, dies in the crash.
Juliane Koepke knows the rainforest (where her father works in a research facility) relatively well - so she sets off in search of a larger river because that is where the likelihood of finding human settlement and thus help is most likely.
Despite her injuries, Juliane Koepcke hikes and swims through the rainforest for ten days until she discovers a boat and a shelter used by forest workers on a river bank.
They find the completely exhausted girl in the evening of the following day, treat her wounds and bring her to the nearest settlement called Tournavista, where she receives medical care...:
From here, Juliane Koepcke is flown to an infirmary near Pucallpa, where she meets her father again.
The story of the 17-year-old resulted in enormous media coverage for the time (a "Christmas miracle") - in Germany, the illustrated publication "Stern" from Juliane Koepke bought the exclusive rights.
Her story was filmed twice - the first time in 1988 by Werner Herzog under the original title "Wings Of Hope" (German title "Julian's fall into the jungle", alternatively "wings of hope")...
...returned to the crash site for the Duke with Juliane Koepcke and confronted them with, among other things, wreckage of the Lockheed "Electra" scattered in the jungle...:
The other film adaptation took place in 1974 as a US-Italian co-production entitled "I miracoli accadono ancora" (literally meaning "miracles still happen", German title "Ein Mädchen kämpft sich durch die grüne Hölle")...
...a rather lurid strip full of snakes...:
In 2011 Juliane Köpke - now married Juliane Diller - wrote the book "Als ich vom Himmel fiel" ("When I fell from the sky"); it was awarded the audience prize of the "Corine Literature Prize" in 2011.
Juliane Diller, née Koepke, works today as a biologist, has worked scientifically in the rainforest herself and is director of the library and at the same time deputy director of the Zoological State Collection in Munich.
In April 2019 she was awarded the second highest order of the Republic of Peru (Orden al Mérito por Servicios Distinguidos) for her commitment to the Peruvian Amazon forest...:
On December 24, 1971, a Lockheed L-188 Electra passenger plane operated by the Peruvian airline "Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A." (LANSA) crashed...
...during a severe thunderstorm over the Peruvian rainforest after being struck by lightning and broken apart by severe turbulence in the air...:
91 inmates are killed, only one person survives.
The survivor is 17-year-old German Juliane Koepke, and her survival borders on a miracle!
When the "Lockheed" breaks up in the air, Juliane Koepke - strapped into her seat - is thrown out of the machine, at an altitude of around 3,000 meters it is actually certain death!
Presumably due to strong updrafts within the storm and the impact-reducing effect of the leaves of the jungle plants, the impact was absorbed to such an extent that she survived the impact on the ground with relatively minor injuries - a concussion, a broken collarbone, a cruciate ligament tear and only a few wounds !
Her mother, who was on board and with whom she wanted to visit her father, who works as a scientist in Peru, dies in the crash.
Juliane Koepke knows the rainforest (where her father works in a research facility) relatively well - so she sets off in search of a larger river because that is where the likelihood of finding human settlement and thus help is most likely.
Despite her injuries, Juliane Koepcke hikes and swims through the rainforest for ten days until she discovers a boat and a shelter used by forest workers on a river bank.
They find the completely exhausted girl in the evening of the following day, treat her wounds and bring her to the nearest settlement called Tournavista, where she receives medical care...:
From here, Juliane Koepcke is flown to an infirmary near Pucallpa, where she meets her father again.
The story of the 17-year-old resulted in enormous media coverage for the time (a "Christmas miracle") - in Germany, the illustrated publication "Stern" from Juliane Koepke bought the exclusive rights.
Her story was filmed twice - the first time in 1988 by Werner Herzog under the original title "Wings Of Hope" (German title "Julian's fall into the jungle", alternatively "wings of hope")...
...returned to the crash site for the Duke with Juliane Koepcke and confronted them with, among other things, wreckage of the Lockheed "Electra" scattered in the jungle...:
The other film adaptation took place in 1974 as a US-Italian co-production entitled "I miracoli accadono ancora" (literally meaning "miracles still happen", German title "Ein Mädchen kämpft sich durch die grüne Hölle")...
...a rather lurid strip full of snakes...:
In 2011 Juliane Köpke - now married Juliane Diller - wrote the book "Als ich vom Himmel fiel" ("When I fell from the sky"); it was awarded the audience prize of the "Corine Literature Prize" in 2011.
Juliane Diller, née Koepke, works today as a biologist, has worked scientifically in the rainforest herself and is director of the library and at the same time deputy director of the Zoological State Collection in Munich.
In April 2019 she was awarded the second highest order of the Republic of Peru (Orden al Mérito por Servicios Distinguidos) for her commitment to the Peruvian Amazon forest...:
