Juliana Köpke: a girl who survived a terrible plane crash (9 photos)

Juliana Köpke is called "the one who fell into hell" and is considered a heroine. In 1971, a 17-year-old girl miraculously survived a plane crash that proved fatal to everyone else on board. She fell from a height of more than 2 kilometers into a jungle teeming with dangers, and for a long time was on the verge of life and death.





An airline with a bad reputation



Let's start with the background surrounding the airline. In the late 1960s and 70s, planes operated by the Peruvian national airline Líneas Aéreas Nacionales (LANSA) suffered several crashes that resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people. In 1966, Flight 501 crashed into a mountain, killing all 49 people on board. And less than four years later, Flight 502 suffered a similar fate: out of 100 people on board, only one survived. Even though LANSA's reputation was deteriorating, the airline continued to operate until 1971 as it was still the fastest and safest way to travel from one Peruvian city to another.

Fatal flight December 24, 1971



On December 24, 1971, LANSA Flight 508 was scheduled to fly from Lima to Pucallpa, central Peru. There were six crew members and 86 passengers on board, including Maria Koepke and her 17-year-old daughter Juliana. The latter flew to Pucallpa to meet Maria's husband and Juliana's father, Hans-Wilhelm Kepke, a zoologist who conducted research in the Amazon basin. Just 40 minutes after takeoff, the Lockheed L-188A Electra was caught in a severe thunderstorm. His right wing was struck by lightning and caused a fire in the fuel tank. Everyone on board understood: disaster was inevitable. The plane quickly lost altitude, falling apart as it approached the ground, and crashed in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

Juliana was injured but survived



Juliana Köpke was the only survivor. The girl came to her senses the next day, having spent almost the whole day unconscious. She suffered a broken collarbone, deep cuts to her leg and shoulder, and suffered a severe concussion. In addition, the girl had poor vision - she was nearsighted and lost her glasses during the fall. As it turned out later, when the plane fell apart, she was still fastened to her seat, and fell from a height of more than 2 kilometers - the tropical forest partly softened her fall. As the daughter of a zoologist who lived for 1.5 years at a research station in the rainforest, Juliana did not give up.



She spent four days at the scene of the disaster. During this time, her only food was candy found among the wreckage of the plane. Bodfly larvae appeared in the wound on Juliana's shoulder, and the sun burned her skin every day. She also tried to find her mother, but after finding many corpses, she realized that attempts were useless. The girl remembered the advice of her zoologist father that she needed to follow the stream - sooner or later it would lead to people’s homes - and went in search of help. She walked slowly and could not really sleep because of the pain. All this time, a search team was already looking for the plane - but it is extremely difficult to detect such crashes due to the dense crowns of trees.

The girl survived in the jungle for 10 days



On the tenth day, Juliana, having almost lost hope, saw a boat moored off the shore with a can of gasoline nearby. Here she again remembered her father’s advice - and poured gasoline into her wound on her shoulder, pulling out three dozen worms from it. The next day the owners of the boat came. They were so frightened by Juliana's condition that they initially thought she was a water spirit from local folk tales. The girl knew enough Spanish to explain to the men what had happened. They gave her first aid and took her to the nearest village, from where Juliana was flown to a hospital in Pucallpa. There she met her father and began the path to recovery.

Already in the hospital she was attacked by the media



News of the sole survivor of the plane crash making it through the jungle spread quickly. Journalists from all over the world rushed for the exclusive. While Yuliana was in the hospital, reporters literally attacked her - some of them even pretended to be medical staff in order to getto obtain permission to enter her room.



Still from the film "Miracles Still Happen" (1974). Susan Penhaligon as Juliane Koepke

Life after the disaster



After recovery, Juliana helped find the crash site and recover the bodies of the dead passengers. It turned out that 13 more people survived after the plane crashed, but they all died from injuries without waiting for help. Köpke then moved to Germany and became a biologist, like her father. After completing her PhD in mammalogy, she returned to Peru, where she conducted research on bat populations in the Amazon. According to Juliana, even many years later she is still recovering from her experience:

“For years I had nightmares and, of course, I grieved the death of my mother and other people. The thought of why I was the only survivor haunts me. It will always be like this,” said Juliana.