In an extraordinary tale of survival, flight attendant Vesna Vulović made headlines after surviving a 33,000-foot fall from an exploding plane in 1972—without a parachute. Her miraculous survival earned her a Guinness World Record, and her story continues to astound people to this day.
On January 26, 1972, Vesna, just 23 years old, was working aboard JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367, which was en route from Copenhagen, Denmark to Belgrade, Serbia. However, Vesna wasn’t initially scheduled for the flight. Due to a mix-up, she was mistakenly assigned to the plane, a decision that would forever change her life.
Mid-flight, the aircraft exploded over the village of Srbska Kamenice, then part of Czechoslovakia. The explosion caused significant pressure changes that resulted in many passengers being sucked out of the plane and tragically perishing instantly. Vesna, however, remained onboard. She was trapped by a food cart, wedged inside the plane’s damaged fuselage as the aircraft plummeted from the sky.
The plane crashed in a remote, snow-covered area, which, combined with the wreckage’s position, played a significant role in saving Vesna’s life. Remarkably, she has no memory of the explosion or the fall itself. Her injuries were severe—she fractured her skull, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, and legs—but she survived against all odds.
Vesna was discovered alive amid the wreckage by Bruno Honke, a former World War II medic, who immediately rushed to her aid, providing life-saving first aid. After falling into a coma, Vesna woke with no memory of the incident and suffered amnesia from the hour before the crash until a month later. The first thing she remembered was seeing her parents at the hospital, asking why they were with her in Slovenia. She had confused her location, as she had recently been in Ljubljana.
Despite being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, Vesna eventually regained the ability to walk after 10 months of rehabilitation. The explosion, believed to have been caused by a bomb in the baggage compartment, left no clear suspects, though the Croatian terrorist group Ustashe was suspected of orchestrating the attack. Vesna was the sole survivor of the crash, which claimed the lives of 27 other passengers and crew members.
Vesna’s incredible survival of a 33,000-foot fall without a parachute still holds the record for the longest fall survived, securing her place in the Guinness World Records. However, when asked if she considered herself fortunate, Vesna offered a more reflective perspective: “If I were lucky, I would never have had this accident, and my parents would still be alive.” Though she passed away in 2016 at the age of 66, her extraordinary story continues to inspire as a testament to resilience and the will to survive
