The Miraculous Survival Story Of The Teen Who Fell 10,000ft In An Amazon Plane Crash
Thousands of feet above the thick canopy of the Amazon jungle, a passenger plane hits trouble in stormy skies. Then, after lightning strikes the wing, the craft’s fuselage disintegrates, sending 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke hurtling down toward the ground below. She’s still strapped into her seat as she goes into a tailspin. The teenager sees the Amazon coming up to greet her — before, perhaps gratefully, she loses all consciousness.
The start of a terrifying tale
We don’t know if Juliane’s life flashed before her eyes, but she must surely have felt that her time on Earth was done. She was born on October 10, 1954, in Lima, Peru. Her German parents, Maria and Hans-Wilhelm, were both zoologists employed by the Javier Prado Museum of Natural History, and Juliane developed a passion for nature from a young age. She had no idea she would soon be closer to nature than she ever bargained for.
A fateful move
Then, when she was just 14 years old, the family relocated to the depths of the Amazon rainforest. There, Maria and Hans-Wilhelm established a research station known as Panguana, where Juliane spent her days being homeschooled and exploring her jungle home. In March 1970, she was sent back to Lima to complete her high school education. And by December of 1971, she was ready to graduate.
It could have been avoided
According to Juliane, Maria — who had also been in Lima for work — was keen to fly back to Panguana in plenty of time for Christmas. However, Juliane was desperate to attend her school’s graduation ball on December 22. Like many teenagers, she got her way. And two days after she posed for photographs in her formal gown, Juliane and Maria finally boarded a plane home.
Tragedy struck before touch down
At around 11:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve, Juliane and Maria settled into their seats on Lansa Flight 508, bound for Pucallpa in eastern Peru. But just 15 minutes before it was meant to touch down, the plane flew into a heavy storm. And for ten minutes, the cabin was a scene of panic as turbulence sent drinks and baggage flying across the aisles.
