Vesna Vulovic was the lone survivor among 28 people aboard a Douglas DC-9 destroyed mid-flight by a suspected explosive planted during a Copenhagen stopover. The aircraft's severed tail section fell thousands of meters before slamming into a forested mountainside near Srbska Kamenice, where local woodsman Bruno Honke located her amid the wreckage. She suffered severe trauma, including a fractured skull, broken ribs, and crushed vertebrae, but ultimately walked again after enduring a multi-week coma and 16 months of hospitalization.
Key points
Vesna Vulovic holds the official Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall wit…: Vesna Vulovic holds the official Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.
Physical entrapment by a food cart inside the severed tail cone was critical to her unlik…: Physical entrapment by a food cart inside the severed tail cone was critical to her unlikely survival.
Following 16 months in the hospital, Vulovic recovered from temporary paralysis and resum…: Following 16 months in the hospital, Vulovic recovered from temporary paralysis and resumed working for Yugoslav Airlines.
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On 26 January 1972, a Yugoslav Airlines flight broke apart in the sky above Czechoslovakia after an explosion tore through the aircraft. Among the 28 people on board, only one person lived: 23-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulovic. According to
Guinness World Records, she fell from an altitude of 10,160 metres, or 33,333 feet, and survived without a parachute, a feat that still stands as the record for the highest fall survived.
The story sounds almost impossible, yet it is documented in official accident records, contemporary reporting and later accounts of her life. Vulovic was found amid wreckage on a snow-covered mountainside near Srbska Kamenice, injured so severely that doctors did not expect her to live. She spent years recovering, but eventually returned to work and became one of the most remarkable survivors in aviation history.
A routine flight becomes a disaster
Vulovic was working as a Jugoslavenski Aerotransport hostess aboard a Douglas DC-9 flying from Stockholm to Belgrade. The aircraft had stopped in Copenhagen before continuing its journey, and it was during this stopover that investigators suspected an explosive device…
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