When an airplane ripped apart mid-air, all passengers onboard died instantly, except for one flight attendant, Vesna Vulović. She became a miracle who survived a bomb blast and a deadly fall, and lived for another four decades to tell the tale.
On Jan. 26, 1972, JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367 was on its way from Copenhagen to Belgrade when a briefcase bomb, planted by a Croatian separatist group, exploded. The DC-9 aircraft was over Czechoslovakia at the time (modern-day Czech Republic-Czechia), and was torn into pieces. All 27 passengers and crew on board were killed instantly, except for Vesna Vulović.
The 22-year-old flight attendant plummeted from 33,333 feet with no safety gear or parachute, and somehow survived. According to her 2002 interview, Vulović wasn’t originally supposed to be on the unfortunate flight and had switched by mistake. Another attendant with a similar first name was meant to board the plane, but a scheduling mix-up placed her on Flight 367 instead.
Just 45 minutes after takeoff, at 4:01 pm, the aircraft exploded, disintegrating the plane and scattering dead passengers across the Czech mountains.
How did Vesna Vulović survive?
Vulović was reportedly trapped inside a section of the tail at the time of the explosion and was pinned by a food trolley. The trolley turned out to be a god-sent gift for her. Vulović fell while still inside the tail, which absorbed much of the impact when it hurtled at the snow-covered trees and mountains. Yet, a local villager, Bruno Honke, found her barely alive, soaked in blood, with a faint but steady pulse.
Honke was, coincidentally, a World War 2 medic and administered first aid to Vulović. But her injuries weren’t a joke. She was found to have a fractured skull and pelvis, three crushed vertebrae, broken legs, several broken ribs, and was paralyzed below the waist. She was taken to a hospital in Prague, where doctors put her into a medically induced coma for 27 days.
Vesna Vulović’s recovery and Guinness World Record
When Vulović woke up, she couldn’t move her legs or remember the crash until after a month. But with continued care, she was able to walk again after ten months. Although she lived the rest of her life with a permanent limp due to the spine injuries. Inspiring millions with her strength, Vulović became a national hero in Yugoslavia, celebrated as the “woman who fell from the sky.”
Guinness World Records also officially recognized her as the survivor of the highest fall without a parachute and presented her with the certificate in 1985. She returned to work for the airline in a desk job after full recovery, and used her newfound fame to campaign for political causes.
Vulović died peacefully in her Belgrade home in 2016, at the age of 66. She never let the trauma define her and lived as proof that miracles truly happen.
