Sucked out from the airplane and falling 2,987 meters (9,800ft) from the sky, Juliane Koepcke miraculously survived her freefall from her disintegrating plane crash. Spending 11 days in the Amazon rainforest, at 17 years old, she had to remain mentally strong gathering all of her strength and her will to survive.
A true story, Juliane only had 1 shoe and 1 eye to see out of. Being separated from the entire plane wreckage, she knew she had to find her way out if she wanted to survive. The thick Amazon rainforest made it difficult for rescues to find the plane, let alone her! She tried so desperately to find her mother, but in her fragile state, she had to worry about herself first. Not knowing if she would ever be found, she took a chance and followed a river hoping it would be her shot at finding people. Her gamble paid off when she managed to find a resting post where the next day, people found her and quickly transported her to a hospital.
Out of 91 passengers, she is the only survivor of the Lansa Flight 508. She not only survived a plane crash but survived it falling nearly 3 1/2 Burj Khalifa’s (tallest building in the world) without any life-threatening injuries and survived 11 days on her own in the Amazon rainforest. Showing the will to survive, her story shows us how strong, resilient, and determined someone can be when faced with the most difficult challenges.
