2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Vulovic entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1985 for "the highest fall survived without a parachute.". At 1:30 PM on January 26, 1972, the crew met Flight 367 at the Copenhagen Airport and watched as the passengers and previous crew deplaned. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian woman who in 1972 survived a reported six-mile fall after the plane she was on exploded over Czechoslovakia, died last week at age 66, according to several media reports. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Amid the wreckage was a woman wearing a bloodstained turquoise flight attendants uniform and no shoes. [7] Vulovi said that she was aware of her low blood pressure before applying to become a flight attendant and knew that it would result in her failing her medical examination, but she drank an excessive amount of coffee beforehand and was accepted. In Yugoslavia she was celebrated as a national hero. The spectacular survival story won Vulovic celebrity status in Serbia, where she channelled her fame into campaigning for political causes. An instant national heroine, she went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting Slobodan Milosevics rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. December 24, 2016, 2:49 AM BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian stewardess who miraculously survived a plunge from 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) after her plane exploded in mid-air in. "People always want to sit next to me on the plane," she said. She told the AP in an interview in 2008 that she could only recall greeting passengers before takeoff from the airport in Denmark - and then waking up in the hospital with her mother at her side. A Serbian woman who survived what was said to be a 10,000-metre (33,000ft) fall after a plane exploded in mid-air in 1972 has died aged 66. Serbia's state TV said Saturday Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade. It is extremely probable that the aircraft was shot down by mistake by the Czechoslovak air force and in order to cover it up the secret police conceived the record plunge, Hornung said. Initially paralysed from the waist down, Vulovi eventually made almost a full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. Vulovi was rescued by a woodsman who followed her screams in the dark forest. She now holds the Guinness world record for highest freefall without a parachute. She went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Miloevis rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. Because his parachute was destroyed by the fire, Alkemade opted to jump from the aircraft without one, preferring his death to be quick, rather than being burnt to death. Her recovery period was actually relatively short and incredibly successful a fact she attributes to a childhood diet that included chocolate, spinach, and fish oil.. She decided to become a flight attendant, she said, when she saw a friend in her Yugoslav Airlines uniform and thought, Why shouldnt I be an air hostess?. YouTubeThe same type of aircraft that Vesna Vulovi was on before her fall. She had a fractured skull, two crushed vertebrae and she had broken her pelvis, several ribs and both legs. BEOGRAD - Vesna Vulovi, stjuardesa nekadanjeg jugoslovenskog JAT za koju je uo itav svet poto je preivela avionsku nesreu i pad sa 10.000 metara, danas je sahranjena na Novom groblju u prisustvu brata i ezdesetak prijatelja i poznanika. [19] Vulovi continued taking part in anti-government demonstrations throughout the 1990s. It was suspected that a bomb was planted inside the jet during a scheduled stopover in Copenhagen, Denmark, but no arrests were ever made. The accident ruined their lives, too. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. When she arrived, however, she found a downtrodden crew. [3], Between 1962 and 1982, Croatian nationalists carried out 128 terrorist attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets. English Wikipedia. Fortunately, Bruno Honke, the villager who discovered her, had been a medic during World War II and was able to keep her alive until rescuers arrived. Vesna Vulovic is pictured recovering in hospital after surviving a plunge from 33,000 feet after her plane exploded in mid-air, Vesna Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, according to Serbian state TV. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. The accident ruined their lives too.. Vesna [] The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. No arrests were ever made. Vesna Vulovic, stewardess who survived 30,000ft fall, dies https://t.co/JbHMTGdeuM. [4] The next thing she remembered was seeing her parents in her hospital room about one month later.[3]. State TV in Vulovic's home country of. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Having divorced, Vulovi lived alone in her Belgrade apartment on a small pension until her death in 2016. Following the bombing, Vulovi spent days in a coma and was hospitalised for several months. 23 December 2016. [11] The Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority later attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. The Guinness Book of World Records says the plunge was from a height of 33,000 feet, the longest recorded fall without a parachute. Vulovi made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. All 28 passengers and crew aboard perished, apart fromVulovic, who would enter the Guinness Book of Records for 'the highest fall survived without a parachute'. Initially paralyzed from the waist down, Ms. Vulovic eventually made a near-full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. The cause of Flight 367s explosion and subsequent crash has been subject to several conspiracy theories over the years, the most popular of which suggested that the plane was mistakenly shot down by Czechoslovak anti-air missiles at a much lower altitude of 800 metres (2,600 ft). At 4:01 PM, there was an explosion in the baggage compartment. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. When the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were blown out of the aircraft and fell to their deaths. Vulovic holds the Guinness World Record for highest fall without a parachute a miraculous 33,333-foot plunge to Earth. Vesna and her friends grew up in Yugoslavia listening to The Beatles so this was an extra special moment for her. [2] Driven by her love of the Beatles, Vulovi travelled to the United Kingdom after completing her first year of university, hoping to improve her English-language skills. Although we always love to see records being broken, this one is an exception and we hope no one ever experiences a fall like Vesna's again. Ukraine matters, but so did Bosnia 30 years ago. The fall gained Vulovic a place in the Guinness Book of Records of 1985 for the highest fall survived without a parachute. She continued for two more decades to fight against nationalism. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The Guinness World Record holder for the "highest fall survived without a parachute," Vesna Vulovic, has been found dead in her apartment in Serbia. A neighbor said she had called Ms. Vulovics brother after Ms. Vulovic did not answer her phone calls. She never regained memory of the accident or her rescue. Miracle woman who survived '33,000ft fall', "Sestelen jugoslvskho letadla echy by se neutajilo, mn pamtnk od radaru", "Remembering Vesna Vulovi, flight attendant who survived 10,000-metre fall from plane", "Stewardesse overlevede fald p 10.000 meter", "Sahranjena legendarna stjuardesa koja je preivela pad sa 10 hiljada metara", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vesna_Vulovi&oldid=1142131761, Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Serbian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 17:58. "Everybody wanted to buy something for his or her family," she recalled. Vesna Vulovic, who survived a midair explosion in 1972, has died at the age of 66. She continued her work as a pro-democracy activist until the Socialist Party of Serbia was ousted from power during the Bulldozer Revolution of October 2000. The crew had the entire afternoon and the following morning to themselves. About 18 years after she returned to work, she said, the airline forced her to retire for trying to persuade co-workers not to vote for Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian nationalist and president known as the Butcher of the Balkans. She demonstrated in the streets against Mr. Milosevic, who died in jail before a verdict was reached in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. At 4:01 p.m., 46 minutes after take off, an explosion in the luggage compartment tore the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft into three pieces. When was the accident bound to have happened? [3][d] She attributed the divorce to her chain smoking, which her husband disapproved of. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, landed at Copenhagen Airport at 2:30p.m., whereupon Vulovi and her colleagues boarded the plane. Vesna Vulovic, Serbian stewardess who survived plane explosion & 10,000 meter . An hour into the flight, the plane, a DC-9, blew up over the Czech village of Srbska Kamenice. Ms. Vulovic was the only one of 28 passengers and crew members to survive but just barely. [25], In December 2016, Vulovi's friends became concerned for her well-being after she abruptly stopped answering telephone calls. [15] Within ten months of her fall, Vulovi had regained the ability to walk, but limped for the rest of her life, her spine permanently twisted. The tail landed in a heavily wooded and snow-blanketed part of a mountainside, which was thought to have cushioned the impact. Serbia's state TV reports Saturday Dec. 24, 2016, Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, aged 66. Vesna Vulovi (Serbian Cyrillic: , pronounced [sna loit]; 3 January 1950 - 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi).She was the sole survivor after an explosion tore through the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 . In Belgrade, Vulovi's hospital room was placed under 24-hour police protection because authorities feared that the perpetrators of the bombing would wish to kill her. Regardless of the scenario, Vulovic survived the ordeal, despite suffering a crushed skull, snapped legs and three broken vertebrae. Her turquoise uniform was covered in blood and her stiletto heels had been torn off by the force of the impact. She was rushed to a hospital, where she fell into a coma for 10 days. Ms. Vulovic, who had been divorced, was living on a small pension, with three cats, at her death. [3][4] Nevertheless, Vulovi said that she was excited to travel to Denmark because it was her first time visiting the country. "But if nationalist forces in this country prevail, my heart will burst.". In 2008, Ms. Vulovic campaigned for the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic. The cause of death was not immediately known. Filip Horvat for The International Herald Tribune. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Vesna Vulovic, an air stewardess who survived the highest ever fall by a human being after her plane broke up at 33,000ft (10,000m), has died aged 66. [26] She was buried in Belgrade's New Cemetery on 27 December.[27]. [4], Vulovi told reporters that she did not think of her fall every day, but admitted to struggling with survivor's guilt. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who was the only one of 28 people to survive a jetliner blast over Czechoslovakia in 1972. Her name was Vesna Vulovi and though even she didnt know it yet, she had just survived an epic fall of 33,330 feet in what is one of the strangest world records: surviving the highest fall without a parachute. However, in 2009 two investigative journalists in Prague claimed the plane had probably been mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot down by the Czechoslovakian air force, causing it to fall and break up at a much lower height than previously believed. Ms. Vulovic disagreed that luck played any part in helping her to survive the 33,000-foot fall. Market data provided by Factset. [17] After the crash, Vulovi received a decoration from Yugoslav President Josip Tito, and the Serbian folk singer Miroslav Ili recorded a song titled "Vesna stjuardesa" ("Vesna the Stewardess"). [10] The Czech Civil Aviation Authority dismissed the journalists' claim, calling it a conspiracy theory. Vesna Vulovic, a flight attendant who alone, and miraculously, survived the midair explosion of a jetliner over Czechoslovakia in 1972 after plummeting thousands of feet onto a snowy hill, was. If I were lucky I would never have had this accident and my mother and father would be alive. Vesna Vulovic was a stewardess back in the '70s working on a Serbian airline. Honke, the man who found Vulovi alive after the crash, had a granddaughter born six weeks after her fall; she was named Vesna in Vulovi's honour. Belgrade New Cemetery. Vesna Vulovi recovering in the hospital. The Czech authorities concluded that explosives in a suitcase had detonated and tore the jet apart. While many other passengers were sucked out of the plane after the explosion, Vulovi became pinned by the cart. [3] She later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party and advocated for Serbia's entry into the European Union, which she believed would bring economic prosperity. Serbia's state TV reports Saturday Dec. 24, 2016, Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade, aged 66. Trapped in the planes tail cone, she plummeted to earth in subfreezing temperatures and landed on a steep, heavily wooded slope near a village. Her final years were spent in seclusion, and she struggled with survivor guilt. A Serbian woman who survived what was said to be a 10,000-metre (33,000ft) fall after a plane exploded in mid-air in 1972 has died aged 66. 9 October 2017. place of death. More than three decades later, however, two investigative reporters in Prague challenged that conclusion, claiming that documents showed the aircraft may have been mistakenly shot down by the Czechoslovak air force at a far lower altitude of around 2,500 feet. Maybe I was born in the wrong place. From the crash, Vulovi had sustained two broken legs, three broken vertebrae, a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, and a fractured skull. 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Ms. Vulovic was working as a Yugoslav Airlines flight attendant on Jan. 26, 1972, when the DC-9 airliner she was aboard blew up high above the snowy . retrieved. The cause of death was not immediately known. The best indicator is the annual horoscope. Published: 11:57 EST, 24 December 2016 | Updated: 08:47 EST, 25 December 2016. Guinness World Records Kids (opens in a new window), GWR Merchandise Store (opens in a new window), Corporate Social Responsibility activities & fundraising ideas, Community engagement & tourism marketing activities. 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She fainted upon being shown a newspaper headline by her doctor and had to be tranquilized. An instant national heroine, she went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Milosevics rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. The cause of death was not immediately known. An instant national heroine, she went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Milosevic's rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. Vesna Vulovic's Ascendant in her annual horoscope for 1971/1972 is at the eighteenth degree of Gemini. If I were lucky, I would never had this accident, and my mother and father would be alive, she said. BELGRADE, Serbia Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian stewardess who miraculously survived a plunge from 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) after her plane exploded in mid-air in 1972, has died. [1][2] Her father was a businessman and her mother was a fitness instructor. "I initially stayed with my parents' friends in Newbury," she recalled, "but wanted to move to London. Air safety investigators attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. Vesna Vulovi continued to fly until her death in 2016. After traveling to London to learn English, she realized her love of traveling. She was rushed to hospital where she fell into a coma for 10 days. Woman Survived 33,333 Feet Fall From Airplane (Vesna Vulovic Guinness World Records) 21,658 views Jan 8, 2021 Woman Survived 33,333 Feet Fall From Airplane (Vesna Vulovic Guinness World. [20], In the early 1990s, Vulovi and her husband divorced. Ms. Vulovic in a picture released by the airline. [6] She received the recognition at a London gala from musician Paul McCartney. Vesna passed away at 66 in 2016 (Source: guinnessworldrecords.com) Fifty years ago, a 23-year-old woman fell 33,333 feet from the sky and survived, making it to the Guinness World Record (GWR) for 'Highest fall survived without parachute'. "But if nationalist forces in this country prevail, my heart will burst. [22] Hornung-Andersen conceded that the pair's evidence was only circumstantial. The cause of death was not immediately known. It was suspected that a bomb was planted inside the jet during a scheduled stopover in Copenhagen, but no arrests were ever made. Vesna Vulovic, when she worked as a stewardess. Vesna Vulovic survived the highest ever fall without a parachute by a human being after her plane exploded on January 26, 1972 . Air safety investigators believe that Vulovi's position within the aircraft at the time of the explosion helped her survive the fall. The day after these events, Swedish newspaper Kvllsposten received a phone call from a self-described Croatian nationalist, who took credit for bringing down Flight 367. Initially paralyzed from the waist down, Vulovic eventually made a near-full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. VESNA Vulovic, a Serbian air hostess who survived the highest ever fall after a plane exploded mid-air, has died aged 66. The stewardess was temporarily paralysed from the waist down by the fall but in time she made a near-full recovery and returned to work for the airline in a desk job. Authorities confirmed the "miracle" woman was found dead in her Belgrade, Serbia, home. GET IN TOUCH WITH A RECORD SPECIALIST (Opens in a new window), Rumeysa Gelgi, tallest woman living, breaks three new records, Love is in the air as highest speed dating event record is set on board jet plane. It quickly spiralled to the ground, crashing into a village in what was then Czechoslovakia. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Ukraine soldiers shoot down enemy drones with drones of their own, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts. She was trapped in the cone of the tail and landed on a slope after plunging 10,160m from the DC-9 aircraft. The fuselage tumbled through pine branches and into a thick coating of snow, softening the impact and cushioning its descent down the hill. She was a Serbian flight attendant, who came hurtling down towards the earth from 33,000 feet above and still survived the deadly fall. She was 66. All rights reserved. She had a fractured skull, two crushed vertebrae and a broken pelvis, ribs and legs. All 27 other passengers and crew aboard perished. [3], The secondary crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from Stockholm to Belgrade with stopovers in Copenhagen and Zagreb, arrived in Denmark on the morning of 25 January 1972. She never regained memory of the accident or her rescue. 174350084. subject named as. [3] Her pelvis was fractured and several ribs broken. A week after Anthony Veasna So, an emerging author on the cusp of success, died unexpectedly at age 28, a far-flung but tightknit literary community is in shock and mourning over what might have . She was 66. Serbias state TV said Saturday that Ms. Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade. Amazingly, Vesna was able to walk again after ten months, albeit with a permanent limp due to the twisting of her spine. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian flight attendant who holds the world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute when her plane broke apart. Trees broke the fall of the fuselage section and snow on the hill cushioned its landing. To her delight, it worked, and she was allowed into the flight attendant training program. [3] The last thing that Vulovi could remember from before the crash was greeting passengers as they boarded. "So I had to go shopping with them. However, her cause of death is unknown at this time. What science tells us about the afterlife. Ne propustite. Vesna Vulovi in 1972. Ms Vulovic was working on board a Yugoslav Airlines flight that crashed in 1972. Both of her legs had been broken along with three vertebrae, multiple ribs and a fractured pelvis. [1] Her reputation as a "Cold War heroine" also extended to the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. She said in 2008 that she could only recall greeting passengers before takeoff from the airport in Denmark, and then waking up in hospital with her mother at her side. Autoridades iugoslavas suspeitaram que nacionalistas croatas fossem os culpados, mas ningum jamais foi preso. Everybody thinks I am lucky, but they are mistaken. Blic, a Serbian daily newspaper, said that locksmiths discovered her body in her apartment after forcing open the door. One part of my body with my leg was in the plane and my head was out of the plane. On 26 january 1972 an explosion on JAT Flight 367 (Jugoslavenski Aerotransport) caused the plane to break apart. JAT Flight 367 had two scheduled stopovers in between Stockholm and Belgrade. I was talking to them and asking them why they were with me in Slovenia. Vesna Vulovic. However, her dream almost didnt come true. I thought I was in Slovenia, as I had just visited Ljubljana the capital city before going to Copenhagen., In less than a year, she recovered well enough to walk, but with a limp. Air crash sole survivors", "Kako je Vesna Vulovi preivela avionsku nesreu nad ehoslovakom '72: udo nije bila prava re", "Woman Who Fell to Earth: Was Air Crash Survivor's Record Just Propaganda? The fuselage tumbled through pine branches and into a thick coating of snow, softening the impact and cushioning its descent down the hill, crash investigators said at the time. Katie Serena is a New York City-based writer and a staff writer at All That's Interesting. Everyone except Vesna, who survived a fall of 33,333 feet (10,160 metres; 6.31 miles). 31M subscribers in the todayilearned community. When I told my parents I was living in the Swedish capital, they thought of the drugs and the sex and told me to come home at once." Play it now! Find a Grave. They concluded that the DC-9 was mistakenly shot down by the Czechoslovak Air Force at an altitude of only 800 meters, or about 2,625 feet. She was 66. She continued to fly occasionally, she said, without any fear. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Vesna Vulovic died in Belgrade in December 2016, at the age of 66. A young Vesna Vulovi in her flight attendant uniform. Find a Grave memorial ID. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. stated in. (The Associated Press) She beat the odds by surviving a 10,000-metre (33,000 feet) fall from a plane, and became a national hero in Serbia because of it. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian flight attendant who survived a 10,000-meter plunge after her plane exploded mid-air in 1972, has died at the age of 66. . The explosion and crash killed everyone on board. An air stewardess who miraculously survived a plunge from 33,000 feet after her plane exploded in mid-air has died at the age of 66. Vulovi underwent treatment in a Prague hospital until 12 March 1972, after which she was flown to Belgrade. Vesna Vulovic, who survived a midair explosion in 1972, has died at the age of 66. Vesna Vulovic, an ex-air stewardess who survived a 10 kilometre fall to Earth, is seen in a 2008 file photo. Back in 1972, the former stewardess survived a 10,160-meter fall from a plane that exploded midair. The Douglas DC-9 went down on January 26 that year over the mountains . 0 references. In the morning, during breakfast, the co-pilot was talking about his son and daughter as if nobody else had a son or daughter. She was 66. Serbian-born Vesna Vulovi was 22 years old and had been a flight attendant for only eight months before the fateful crash. Vesna Vulovi (Yugoslavia, b. Initially paralyzed from the waist down, Vulovic eventually made a near-full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. As the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were believed to have been sucked out of the plane into freezing temperatures, falling to their deaths. "[21] Vulovi lamented that her mother and father might not have died prematurely had she not been aboard Flight 367, stating that the incident not only ruined her life, but also those of her parents. Vulovic was working as a flight attendant on January 26, 1972, when her Douglas DC-9 airliner blew up high above the mountain ranges of the former Czechoslovakia.
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