# @science on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DNK50CFt7L7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/33641006-science-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/41fc1d0adb.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-08-10T10:00:27.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Science 🧬 (@science) — https://gondola.cc/science

## Caption

On January 26, 1972, 22-year-old Serbian flight attendant Vesna Vulović boarded JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367 after a scheduling mix-up placed her on the route from Copenhagen to Belgrade. Forty-six minutes after takeoff, as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passed over Czechoslovakia, an explosion in the baggage compartment tore the aircraft apart at 33,333 feet (10,160 m). All 27 others on board died.⁠
⁠
Investigators concluded the blast came from a briefcase bomb, likely planted by Croatian nationalists, though no arrests were ever made. Another theory, never proven, claimed the plane was mistakenly shot down at a lower altitude by the Czechoslovak Air Force.⁠
⁠
Vulović survived because she was pinned by a food cart in the tail section, which remained partially intact. The fuselage struck a snowy, forested hillside at an angle, cushioning the impact. She also had chronically low blood pressure, which doctors believe caused her to lose consciousness quickly, preventing fatal heart damage.⁠
⁠
Found by local villager and former WWII medic Bruno Honke, Vulović was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull, crushed vertebrae, broken legs, pelvis, ribs, and temporary paralysis from the waist down. She spent 27 days in a coma and 10 months learning to walk again, retaining a limp for life. She had no memory of the explosion or fall.⁠
⁠
In 1985, Guinness World Records recognized her as the survivor of the highest fall without a parachute. She became a national heroine, worked in a JAT desk job, and later campaigned for democracy, opposing Slobodan Milošević. In later years she lived quietly in Belgrade, struggling with survivor’s guilt.⁠
⁠
Vesna Vulović died on December 23, 2016, aged 66, her story enduring as one of history’s most extraordinary accounts of survival.⁠
⁠
#aviation #history #survival #planecrash #record #humanresilience #guinnessworldrecords #europeanhistory #tragedy #miracle

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,013
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 12

## Tags

history, europeanhistory, miracle, planecrash, tragedy, survival, record, humanresilience, guinnessworldrecords, aviation

---
Copyright (c) Gondola