Aircraft accidents appeared along with aeronautics, but only by the 40s of the 20th century these cases began to be recorded. The rating included people who survived plane crashes. 10 cases were considered when out of all the passengers only one person survived.

10.Julianne Diller Koepke(December 24, 1971) - the only survivor of the plane crash, a seventeen-year-old girl . On that terrible night, she was on board a Peruvian airline with her parents. A thunderstorm began and the plane was struck by lightning. The aircraft began to fall apart at an altitude of 3200 meters and fell into a tropical forest. The piece on which Julianna's chair was mounted fell off while still in the air. He flew down through the raging elements and rotated at breakneck speed in a circle. The fragment, along with Julianne, landed on the treetops, which saved the girl. She had a broken collarbone and numerous wounds. The survivor found the strength to get up and go look for help. Having stumbled upon a stream in the jungle, she went down its course. On the tenth day, Julianna came out to the settlement. The story of the heroic girl formed the basis of several feature films.

9.Vesna Vulovich(January 26, 1972) - a twenty-two-year-old flight attendant who survived a plane crash and was included in the Guinness Book of Records for falling from a height of 10 kilometers without a parachute. At the moment when the airliner was flying over Czechoslovakia at an altitude of 10,160 meters, an explosion occurred on the ship. By the will of fate, the Yugoslav stewardess ended up on board that day - she was replacing her colleague. The branches of the trees on which the girl fell softened the blow. Vulovich did not come to her senses for almost a month and lay in a hospital bed for a year and a half. Despite this, the forced record holder was able to return to ordinary life and continued to work in aviation, but only in ground service.

8.Larisa Savitskaya - twenty-year-old girl who survived a plane crash (August 24, 1981). Together with her husband, a young woman was returning home from honeymoon. Over the city of Zavitinsk at an altitude of 5220 meters, a bomber crashed into their AN-24 plane. All the people on the two planes (37 people) were killed. The girl was in the tail section of the broken AN-24. From a height of five thousand, Larisa fell on a large piece of debris. The fall lasted 8 minutes. A piece of the airliner, along with the victim, fell onto birch plantations, which softened the force of the impact. Plane crash survivor Larisa spent two nights alone in the forest. Despite a concussion, numerous abrasions and injuries, she was able to move independently. Graves were prepared for all passengers, including Larisa. The search engines were taken aback when they saw her alive. The woman was included in the Guinness Book of Records twice: as the only person to survive a plane crash and as a passenger who received a minimum compensation of 75 rubles.

7.George Lamson ( January 21, 1985) - the only survivor of a plane crash that occurred in the US state of Nevada. A seventeen-year-old boy was returning with his father on a Lockheed L-188 Electra plane with ski resort. Suddenly, the aircraft tilted heavily to one side and began to fall. George pulled his knees to his chest the moment the plane hit the ground. He and his seat were blown out of the fuselage moments before the explosion. It was this factor that saved the young man’s life. The cause of the tragedy, in which 70 people died, was a pilot error in assessing the situation, as a result of which the Lockheed L-188 Electra lost speed and fell.

6.Cecilia Sichan(August 16, 1989) was a four-year-old girl who survived a plane crash in Detroit that killed 154 people. The plane never managed to gain altitude. While still on takeoff, his wing caught the lighting tower, causing it to fall off and catch fire. The airliner veered to the right, and with its second wing it pierced the roof of the building. The aircraft simply fell apart into pieces, which were scattered over almost a kilometer area. Cecilia was found under the rubble by a firefighter. After numerous fractures and burns, the girl was able to recover. Cecilia's parents became victims of the same tragedy. Now the girl is not afraid to fly, believing that “a projectile does not hit the same place twice.”

5. Nine year old Erica Delgado ( January 11, 1995) was on the list of people who were the only survivors of plane crashes thanks to her mother. She and her family were on board a flight from Bogota to Cartagena (Colombia). The cause of the terrible disaster was a malfunction of the ship's instruments, which crashed to the ground during landing. At the moment of the fall, the mother pushed the child out of the collapsing liner, and the girl fell into a lake overgrown with algae. A local farmer saved her after hearing cries for help. Erica escaped with a broken arm, the remaining passengers and crew members (52 people) died.

4.Youssef Jillali(March 6, 2003) - the only survivor of a plane crash that occurred in the city of Tamanrasset (Algeria). The Boeing 737-200 crashed during takeoff due to engine failure. Being in airspace Due to the engine fire, the ship began to rapidly lose speed. The Boeing crashed in a rocky area not far from the airfield and broke into pieces. Of the 104 crew members, only twenty-eight-year-old serviceman Djillali managed to escape. The victim suffered numerous fractures and was in a coma. But a day later the young man came to his senses, and his life was not in danger.

3. On Sunday morning (August 27, 2006), a fire broke out on board a Lexington-Atlanta flight in Kentucky. The car crashed a kilometer from the airport. All passengers and crew members (49 people) were killed. The fire was so intense that it was impossible to identify the bodies. Only the second forty-four-year-old pilot James Polehink managed to escape. Firefighters pulled him out of the cabin burning. The cause of the disaster was the use of a shorter runway by the pilots. As a result of this, the aircraft rammed an iron fence and crashed into a tree, collapsed and caught fire.

2. Thirteen years old Bahia Bakari- the only surviving passenger on the Paris-Comoros flight (June 30, 2009). Just minutes before landing, the aircraft began to rapidly fall and crashed into the waters of the Indian Ocean. The girl cannot describe the circumstances of what happened because she was sleeping. Presumably, she was thrown through the porthole. Bahia waited 14 hours for rescuers to help, drifting in the open ocean on an unsunk wreck of the liner. So she turned out to be the only survivor of 153 people.

1. Flight engineer Alexander Sizov - survivor of a plane crash that occurred on September 7, 2011 near Yaroslavl. On that fateful day, the Yak-42 aircraft was supposed to deliver Lokomotiv hockey players to a match in the city of Minsk. Having missed the entire runway, the plane began to rise from the ground, falling sharply onto the left wing. After this, the car collapsed, breaking into pieces that were thrown several hundred meters in the area. Alexander only came to his senses when he found himself in a river burning with kerosene. Despite numerous fractures and subsequent operations, the fifty-two-year-old passenger managed to survive. The cause of the tragedy that occurred on board the Yak-42 was a crew error during takeoff of the aircraft.

Of course, the fastest and most comfortable mode of transport of our time is the airplane. Moreover, quite often it is by airliner that passengers can get to the most remote place on the planet, and the journey will take very little time. However, many refuse this option because they consider plane crashes to be a frequent occurrence. And this is not at all surprising, because if you analyze numerous feature films about plane crashes, you can really come to the conclusion that planes crash almost every day and the passengers have practically no chance to survive. In fact, this is, of course, not the case, but this fact is confirmed by numerous survivors of the plane crash. Real stories We will present in this article about the lucky ones who managed to escape during plane crashes as a convincing example.

Of course, the plane was and will be the most comfortable and in a safe way transport, but even such a powerful and reliable car should first of all be considered as equipment. And as you know, problems can happen with any machine, which leads to emergency situations. According to analytical studies, the main cause of disasters, sad as it may be to admit, is the human factor. After all, technology cannot spoil itself and disable itself; this happens due to the inattention and negligent attitude of a person. If low-quality components were used when assembling the machine, this process was not given due attention, and daily technical inspection was carried out, as they say, in haste, then even the most reliable equipment may sooner or later fail.

Almost all survivors of a plane crash indicate that the car in the sky simply begins to behave somehow incorrectly, and at this time alarming “lights” begin to flash on board, which further escalates the already alarming situation. Experts say that any breakdown in the sky is a defect and specialists need to find it on the ground in order to prevent an emergency from occurring.

Most often, planes crash due to the following reasons:

  • malfunctions of the aircraft or individual devices that were not identified during the technical inspection. According to statistics, approximately 23% of plane crashes occur precisely because of this reason, that is, due to ordinary human negligence and inattention;
  • errors made by pilots and maintenance personnel;
  • unfavorable conditions that can change dramatically along the airliner's route.

There are several other reasons that can lead to a plane crash, for example, terrorism, but this is a completely different topic for discussion. But so as not to create an emergency situation, there are still survivors in almost every accident after a plane crash. What helped them stay alive, what measures they took to save their lives, we will further analyze more carefully.

Names and stories of people who managed to survive plane crashes

Rescuers carry survivors from the scene of a plane crash near Jose Maria Cordova airport in Colombia.

It may seem to many that those who managed to survive the plane crash were simply lucky, that is, they were, as they say, born under a lucky star. In reality, this is not entirely true, because experts, having analyzed more than 2 thousand rescues, came to the conclusion that the survivors of the plane crash were able to save their lives not only because of a favorable combination of circumstances, but also thanks to the knowledge and rules that they took in a timely manner in extreme situation.

This applies to the surviving crew member of the Yugoslav airliner - flight attendant V. Vulovich, who was 22 years old at the time of the accident. Unfortunately, in the history of those who survived, it is not so often possible to find the names of airline crew members, perhaps this is explained by the fact that in such a difficult situation the crew of the airship does not care about their own safety, but devotes all their strength to saving passengers.

And V. Vulovich still managed to miraculously escape from a terrible plane crash in which a passenger plane exploded in the sky due to a bomb on board that was planted by terrorists. This terrible tragedy occurred in 1972, during an air flight from Copenhagen to Zagreb, which was operated by a Yugoslav air carrier. Despite a terrible explosion in the sky, the flight attendant survived the plane crash. According to experts, such an incredible rescue can be explained by the fact that the flight attendant was in the safest place at the time of the explosion - in the middle of the cabin and at a decent distance from the bomb. By luck, the flight attendant who survived the plane crash was in a compartment separated from the body, which fell from a height of 10 thousand km onto the branches of snow-covered trees and thereby softened the blow.

But this is just the first part of the happy story of a Yugoslav flight attendant who miraculously escaped. If it weren’t for the help of a local resident, who, upon seeing the girl, immediately freed her from the wreckage of the plane and took her to the nearest hospital, Vesna Vulovich could have simply frozen to death in the cold forest. The surviving flight attendant, after the plane crashed from such a great height, lay in a coma for more than a month, and after that she still had to wage a desperate fight for her life for almost 1.5 years. The girl was able to withstand serious tests and soon fully recovered both physically and mentally, and her truly “fantastic” jump from a height of 10 thousand km without a parachute was listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The legitimate certificate to the world-famous flight attendant was presented by her idol, Paul McCartney, which brought the heroine to incredible delight.

The story of Cecilia Sichan, a 4-year-old girl

Cecilia Sichan

The story of the next heroine, Cecilia Sichan, took place in 1989 and is actively discussed even today. After all, in this terrible tragedy that happened to the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82, which was serviced by Northwest Airlines, only one passenger out of 154 people on board was able to survive - a 4-year-old little girl from America.

Cecilia went on an air trip with her parents. The problem that caused the plane crash showed itself on takeoff - the pilot was unable to turn the steering wheel correctly, as a result of which the left plane of the wing caught the lighting mast, and a terrible flame instantly engulfed the wing. Air transport changed the flight path, which led to the crash and explosion of the plane. The airliner fell onto the highway, and a terrible explosion followed immediately. Experts found the wreckage of the car and the mutilated bodies of those on board half a mile from the crash site.

Medics and fire services arrived at the scene of the tragedy immediately, but the horror of the picture that presented itself made it clear that there was no one to save in this place. However, the children's crying, which came from the wreckage of the plane, led the rescuers to real amazement. Firefighter D. Tied was the first to rush to the child’s voice. Seeing a small hand reaching out of the rubble, the fireman carefully took out the victim and carefully handed her over to the doctors.

Of course, during the crash the girl received numerous injuries to both her head and limbs, and her body was also severely burned. But despite everything, this little traveler was the only one who managed to survive the terrible tragedy. For a complete recovery, the girl had to undergo several operations, including 4 skin grafts. Her aunt and uncle began to take care of Cecilia. As soon as the girl grew up, she decided to get an airliner tattoo on her arm as a constant reminder of the terrible and at the same time happy day in her life. Today, Cecilia continues to use modern aircraft, and when asked frequently whether you are afraid of air travel, she answers jokingly, “No, I’m not afraid, since a shell certainly doesn’t hit the same place twice.”

Russian accident

The tragedy with the An-24 plane, which was transporting 38 passengers from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Blagoveshchensk, has been discussed all over the world for a long time. After all, the survivors of the plane crash were not numbered in tens or even just a few - in this terrible disaster which happened in 1981, one 20-year-old passenger, L. Savitskaya, was able to survive, who was returning home with her husband after a honeymoon. The name of the surviving passenger was included in the Guinness Book of Records, more than once:

  1. For surviving a fall without a parachute from a height of more than 5 thousand km.
  2. For receiving the very minimum compensation, in the amount of 75 rubles, which is paid by the state as damage to all victims.
  3. She also collected many domestic awards from the authorities.

The cause of the plane crash was a collision with a bomber. Of course, the An-24, which is small in size, could not withstand the terrible impact and simply fell into pieces high in the sky. At the time of the collision, the happy passenger was resting in her seat, wearing a seat belt. She was brought out of her sleep by a severe burn caused by the fire, which was rapidly gaining strength due to depressurization.

Larisa was familiar with the rules of safe flight, so she did not unfasten her seat belts and sank into her seat as much as possible. As the girl will later explain, the plot of the film from the Italian directors “Miracles Still Happen” helped her survive, in which the main character was able to survive thanks to a fastened belt and the correct body position. The part of the plane the girl was in fell onto tree branches, which significantly softened the fall, which lasted about 8 minutes. After landing, Larisa lost consciousness, but after a while she woke up on her own, went down into the birch forest and even built a shelter for herself for a safe overnight stay. It took rescue teams 48 hours to find the lucky passenger, whose name had already been added to the list of dead.

This is not at all surprising, because those who arrived at the scene of the tragedy could not find a single survivor; there were only burnt bodies and plane wreckage around. The girl had serious head and back injuries; for a full recovery she needed to undergo several operations, which Larisa was able to cope with 100%.

Erica Delgado's Story

Erica Delgado

Many were worried about the recovery of 9-year-old, the only surviving passenger on the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14, Erica Delgado. The air transport carried 47 passengers on board to Bogota from Cartagena. Only Erica managed to escape death. The cause of the plane crash was a breakdown of the altimeter, as a result of which the plane was unable to land safely and simply crashed in a swampy area.

The girl was on board with her parents and brother; according to her, she was pushed out of the plane, which literally began to fall apart before her eyes, by the hands of her mother. Literally a few seconds later the air transport was engulfed in flames and a terrible explosion occurred. Erica fell on the seaweed, but she could not get out of the swamp on her own. According to the girl, within a few minutes they arrived at the scene of the tragedy. local residents, but not to save the victims, but for the purpose of profit. According to Erica, they ignored her pleas for help, but the looters quickly tore the gold jewelry from her neck and hurried away. But her rescuer turned out to be a local farmer, who, having heard the child’s cry, hurried to the girl’s aid. Surprisingly, in such a terrible accident, Erica escaped with only a broken arm.

More stories from Russia

In a crash Russian plane Yak-42, flying on the route Yaroslavl - Minsk, in 2011, there were two survivors. The plane was supposed to deliver a hockey team to Minsk after it crashed air transport rescuers found two survivors - athlete A. Galimov and A. Sizov, flight engineer of the crashed aircraft. Unfortunately, the efforts of doctors did not help save the life of the hockey player, as he received serious burns to his body that were incompatible with life. The flight engineer was much luckier; despite numerous fractures and bruises, Alexander was able to fully regain his strength and did not even give up aviation. Of course, the flight engineer does not agree to work in the air, but he very carefully checks each aircraft for technical serviceability before departure.

Experts say that it is quite possible to save your life in a plane crash; the most important thing is that passengers must know about the rules of safe flight, use this knowledge in an emergency, remain calm even in a seemingly hopeless situation, and strictly adhere to instructions from crew members. You definitely need to soberly assess the current situation and slowly make the right decision.

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In 2007, Francesca Lewis escaped death in the Panamanian mountains by being overwhelmed by luggage, which saved her from freezing to death. A 12-year-old girl nearly lost her life after the single-engine Cessna she was aboard crashed into a volcano, killing three people. Not only did she miraculously survive the collision, but she spent two and a half days afterwards pinned in her seat, without food or water, and wearing only shorts and a T-shirt. Three others on board the plane - Francesca's best friend, 13-year-old Talia Klein, Talia's father, 37-year-old millionaire Michael Klein, and 23-year-old pilot Edwin Lasso - died instantly.

The girls studied together at school located in Santa Barbara, California, and were on vacation in Panama.

2. Baya Bakari: the only survivor of the Yemenia Airways plane crash


14-year-old French schoolgirl Baya Bakari became the only survivor of the crash of Yemenia Flight 626. The plane crashed in the Indian Ocean near the northern coast of Grande Comore (Comoros) on June 30, 2009. The remaining 152 people on board were killed. Bakari, who could barely swim and did not have a life jacket, spent more than 13 hours in rough seas, mostly in the dark, clinging to the wreckage of the plane. The girl was rescued by the private ship Sima Com 2. As soon as Bakari was spotted, a member of the rescue team threw her Lifebuoy, but the sea was too rough and the girl too tired to catch it. One of the sailors, Maturafi Seleman Libonah, jumped into the water and handed her a flotation device, after which they were both brought safely aboard the ship. Bakary's mother, who flew with her from Paris for summer holiday in the Comoros, died in a disaster.

3. Mohammed el-Fateh Osman: 3-year-old boy who was the only survivor of 116 passengers

In 2003, 3-year-old Mohammed el-Fateh Osman was the only survivor after a Sudan Airways plane crashed into a hillside at Port Sudan airport during takeoff. As a result of the disaster, the boy lost his right leg and received severe burns. 105 passengers and all 11 crew members were killed. A nomad found a boy lying on a fallen tree.

4. Cecelia Sichen: the only survivor of one of the most terrible plane crashes in US history

In 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed minutes after takeoff from Detroit Airport, killing 154 people. Four-year-old Cecelia Sichen was the only survivor. Her mother Paula, father Michael and 6-year-old brother David were among those killed. The family was returning from vacation.

For several days after the accident, the girl's identity remained a mystery until her maternal grandmother read in a news report that the girl's fingernails were covered in purple polish and her front tooth was chipped. Pauline Siamaichela recalled with tears in her eyes how the girl's nails were painted lavender before returning home.

5. Ruben van Assouw: the only Dutch boy to survive the plane crash



9-year-old Ruben van Assouw from Holland was found strapped into his seat amid debris scattered across the Libyan desert. The boy was unconscious, but breathing, his legs were broken.

On May 12, 2010, an Afriqiyah Airways Airbus plane crashed on approach to Tripoli, killing 103 passengers and crew. Ruben was returning home with his parents and brother after a safari. The boy learned that he was the only one alive only a few days later.

Libyan authorities circulated a photo of the traumatized child, and a correspondent from a Dutch tabloid managed to get into Ruben's room and talk to him before he learned that his entire family had died. Now being raised by his aunt and uncle, Ruben says he hopes to return to Libya because “he wants to know what happened.”

6. Erica Delgado: The Girl Who Survived After Her Mom Pushed Her Out of a Plane



In 1995, a 10-year-old girl with a broken arm became the only survivor of a plane crash in northern Colombia that killed 47 passengers and five crew members. Authorities said the DC-9 Intercontinental exploded in mid-air, but witnesses in the town of Maria la Baja, 500 miles northwest of Bogota, said the plane, without lights, crashed into an embankment and then capsized in lagoon.

Erica Delgado, who was flying with her parents and younger brother from Bogota to the Caribbean resort town Cartagena, was taken to hospital in a state of shock and with a broken arm.

One of the farmers said that he heard cries for help and found the girl on a mound of seaweed, which softened her fall. The girl told farmers that her mother pushed her out of the plane when it caught fire and began to fall apart.

7. Paul Ashton Vick: Youngest Survivor



Paul Ashton Vick is the youngest of the only survivors. He survived a China National Aviation Corporation plane crash when he was just 16 months old in January 1947. His father, Robert Wick, was a Baptist pastor from Connecticut who worked in China as a missionary after the end of World War II. Vic, his wife and two sons (2-year-old Theodore and 16-month-old Paul) were traveling from Shanghai to Chongqing. During the flight, one of the engines caught fire, and the fire quickly penetrated the cabin. When it became obvious that the twin-engine plane was doomed, some of the 23 passengers began to jump out of the plane in panic. The Vic couple jumped out too, each with a child in their arms. Robert Vick and Paul, who was in his arms, were the only ones to survive.

Robert died 40 hours later, but he managed to tell hospital staff the names of Paul's grandparents, as well as their address in the United States. The baby, whose legs were broken, was sent to them after treatment of his injuries.

8. Wong Yu: the world's first hijacker who crashed a plane and survived it



One of the most controversial figures on this list is Wong Yu, who attempted to hijack Cathay Pacific's Miss Macau plane in 1948, but the plane crashed, killing 25 people.

The PBY Catalina carried extremely wealthy passengers and became the first hijacked aircraft in aviation history. The fishermen saw the plane crash into the water. At the crash site, they found a semi-conscious man floating, Wong Yu. It was eventually determined that Wong Yu was one of the hijackers, after which he spent three years in prison.

Survive a plane crash... Indeed, throughout history civil aviation there were many passengers who managed to avoid tragedies. Some of them overslept or were late for ill-fated flight and thanks to this he remained alive. But there are also truly miraculous salvations that are simply impossible to explain. We have made a selection of the most incredible stories about people who survived plane crashes.

1. A terrible plane crash in Peru in December 1971 killed 92 people. A Lockheed L-188A aircraft was struck by lightning while flying over a tropical forest at an altitude of 3 km. The liner fell apart and it seemed that no one was left alive. But 9 days after the tragedy, a surviving passenger of the “deadly flight” LANSA 508 was found - 17-year-old Juliana Margaret Kepke (in the main photo - note Ed.). The schoolgirl had a broken collarbone, a bruised face, and bruises all over her body. And this - after a fall from a height of 3000 meters! She was not found immediately - Juliana survived alone in the wild conditions of the jungle for more than a week. As Juliana herself later admitted, during the plane crash, the row of seats to which she was fastened rotated like a helicopter blade, which slowed down the speed of the fall. She was also lucky in that the seats collapsed with her into the dense crowns of trees, thereby softening the “landing.” By the way, the story that happened to Juliana Kepke formed the basis of the Italian film “Miracles Still Happen.”

2. An-24 passenger Larisa Savitskaya remembered exactly this very picture “Miracles Still Happen” in 1981. The woman was returning with her husband from their honeymoon, but, unfortunately, they beautiful story love was interrupted at an altitude of 5 km at Far East. On August 24, 1981, the plane they were flying in collided with a Soviet Air Force Tu-16 bomber. Of the 32 people, only 20-year-old Larisa survived. At the time of the disaster, the woman was fast asleep, clinging to her husband. Savitskaya woke up from a strong blow - the plane broke into pieces. She was thrown into the aisle and despite all the horror of what was happening, Larisa managed to firmly grab the nearest chair and press herself into it, like the heroine of the film “Miracles Still Happen.”

Already finding herself on the ground, Larisa saw in front of her a chair with the body of her dead husband. Next to him, she waited for rescuers at the plane crash site for exactly two days.

Larisa Savitskaya is mentioned twice in the Guinness Book of Records: as a survivor of a plane crash and as someone who received the smallest compensation - 75 rubles!

3. The tragedy that occurred in the Andes also formed the basis for a feature film. "Alive" was released in 1993 - 21 years after the tragic known history. Uruguayan Airlines Flight 571 carrying 45 rugby players and their loved ones crashed on October 13, 1972. 10 people died immediately, while the rest had to survive for 72 days in the mountains without food.

It’s scary to imagine, but the unfortunate people even had to eat the meat of their dead comrades. A few days later, only 16 people remained alive. The rest died from hunger and cold. The surviving passengers were rescued on December 23, 1972.

4. The year 1972 was marred by another plane crash - on January 26, terrorists blew up a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-3 passenger plane flying from Copenhagen to Zagreb over the Czech town of Srpska Kamenice. The bomb was planted in luggage compartment and detonated at an altitude of 10,160 m. 27 passengers and crew members were killed. Only 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulovich survived. The woman had a fractured skull, both legs and three vertebrae, but nevertheless she was alive.

For the next 27 days, Vesna was in a coma, and after that she was under the supervision of doctors in the hospital for another 16 months. Vulovich's miraculous rescue is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest altitude jump without a parachute.

5. One of the largest disasters in the history of Japanese civil aviation occurred on August 12, 1985. Airlines Boeing 747SR-46 Japan Airlines crashed near Mount Takamagahara 100 km from Tokyo.

Of the 520 passengers, only four women survived: 24-year-old Japan Airline employee Hiroko Yoshizaki, a 34-year-old passenger on the plane and her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko, and 12-year-old Keiko Kawakami, who was found sitting in a tree.

6. A photograph of little Cecilia Sichan in 1987 spread all over the world. A 4-year-old girl miraculously survived a plane crash in Detroit on August 16. The tragedy claimed the lives of 156 people, but how Cecilia survived such an incident is still big mystery. The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was unable to gain altitude - the plane skidded into a pole, then it overturned and, sliding along the road, flew into an overpass.

During the special operation, rescuers witnessed a heartbreaking picture: a tiny girl with huge eyes of fear sitting in her chair, and next to her were the bodies of her parents and 6-year-old brother.

7. In 2009, the world was shocked by another tragedy: off the coast of the Comoros Islands in Indian Ocean Airbus A310 crashed. There were 142 passengers and 11 crew members on board the plane, which was flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa to the city of Moroni. It was simply impossible to find anyone alive.

But a miracle still happened: 10 hours after the tragedy, rescuers found a little girl in the ocean, who had spent all this time in the water without a life jacket. In addition, as the baby’s father later admitted, she didn’t even know how to swim! Bahia Bakari held onto the wreckage of the plane.