Self-confidence and a bag of chocolates helped a girl stay alive after a plane crash (8 photos)

Life tests people for strength in different ways. To the share of this a fragile girl had such tests that not everyone can handle strong trained man.





On that ordinary day, December 24, 1971, none of the 92 passengers boarding an aircraft at Callao Airport (Peru) thought about the bad. Only an hour will pass, and everyone will go on their own affairs. 17-year-old Juliana and her mother were waiting for a festive family dinner in Iquitose.



Juliana with her parents

But the plans were not destined to come true: the plane got into a thunderstorm front. Experienced pilots who also wanted to get home for Christmas, did not change direction or return. Lightning struck the wing fuel tank caught fire. And L-188 collapsed from a height of more than 6 thousand meters. The last thing the girl remembered before plunging into darkness was her mother's cry: "This is the end!"

Fight for life





The schoolgirl woke up the next day. Injuries turned out painful, though not fatal: fracture of the collarbone, torn ligaments knee, loss of vision in one eye, concussion, due to which Julian was constantly sick.

An attempt to find other survivors was unsuccessful: all died. The girl's parents were zoologists. So she's something knew about nature, animal behavior and orienteering. young Koepke remembered from her father's stories that one should go down the river or stream. The pond will definitely lead to housing.



The girl found the stream by bird chirping. And went on her way stock up on a bag of candy. For 10 days they were the only food that was wrecked. Juliana lost her glasses hindered progress. Knowing about the large number of snakes in the jungle, all suspicious clusters of foliage and branches she preliminarily poked stick.

During the day, the girl suffered from heat, and at night from cold. endured insect bites. The shoulder hurt unbearably, in the cut on which they managed to set aside fly larvae. The wound hurt and festered. Besides, I had to go to one sandal: the second she lost in the fall.



A few years later, the woman returned to the crash site.

The stream widened considerably. On the 9th day, Koepke went to tied boat. A small hut protected the motor and the canister from the rain. gasoline. The girl saw how the father poured a festering abscess of the dog kerosene. And repeated the experience on myself. After treating the shoulder with gasoline from wounds managed to extract a dozen three worms. Exhausted girl plunged into oblivion.



After the rescue

And in the morning Juliana was awakened by voices that seemed to her singing angels. Local lumberjacks fed the unfortunate woman, treated the wound and The girl was taken by boat to the hospital. The next day she met with a father who thought his daughter was dead. For the first few minutes they are silent. hugged each other without finding words.



"Miracles still happen" 1974

Information received from Juliana helped locate the location crash. During the examination, it turned out that in addition to the girl, the fall 14 more people survived, including Maria Koepke. But everything they died of their wounds within days of the crash.



Julian today

The girl recovered from her wounds. Together with their father, they moved to Germany, where Juliana graduated from the university, got married and in 2000 succeeded as head of the Panguana research station in the forests of Peru my father.

About the miraculous rescue of a girl in 1974, the film "Miracles Still Happen" was shot.