How Juliane Koepcke Survived A Plane Crash — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00welcome back to horrifying stories
2. 0:03seventeen-year-old Julianne koepp was
3. 0:06seated at 19f Atlanta Airlines flight
4. 0:08508.
5. 0:10her seat was on the second to the last
6. 0:12row by the window just like how she
7. 0:14likes it
8. 0:15around 15 minutes before their scheduled
9. 0:18landing at bukalpa Peru a strong
10. 0:20thunderstorm suddenly ensued constantly
11. 0:22shaking their aircraft
12. 0:24not long after she saw an exceedingly
13. 0:26bright light flash over the aircraft
14. 0:28wing
15. 0:29the next thing she knew the aircraft was
16. 0:32already in a steep and Speedy descent
17. 0:34nose down into the world's biggest
18. 0:35rainforest
19. 0:37this is their horrifying story viewer
20. 0:40discretion is advised
21. 0:53it was December 24 1971 and Julianne
22. 0:57wasn't alone then
23. 0:58she flew with her mother Maria koepp as
24. 1:01they were about to head home and join
25. 1:03her father Hans Wilhelm Co-op for
26. 1:05Christmas
27. 1:07initially Maria had wanted to fly
28. 1:09earlier but Julian still had to stay in
29. 1:12Lima for a few more days to attend her
30. 1:14high school graduation ceremony in their
31. 1:16ball
32. 1:17thus a last-minute Christmas Eve flight
33. 1:20adding to the Holiday Rush some flights
34. 1:23had been canceled the day prior so the
35. 1:25Lima airport was packed with people that
36. 1:27day
37. 1:28Lanta Airlines aircraft for Flight 508
38. 1:31was the Lockheed l-188a electric
39. 1:34turboprop which had a dreaded image
40. 1:3758 out of the total 170 Electra
41. 1:40aircrafts had been forcefully retired
42. 1:42due to critical defects or Worse damaged
43. 1:44Beyond repair due to a crash
44. 1:47her father Hans had heard of its
45. 1:49reputation and was apprehensive in
46. 1:50letting them book the flight
47. 1:52he advised them to look for other
48. 1:54options
49. 1:56apparently it seemed to be their only
50. 1:58chance to make it in time for the
51. 1:59Christmas Eve celebration so Maria and
52. 2:01Julian pushed through
53. 2:04Maria and Julian boarded the 99-seater
54. 2:06aircraft and settled themselves down in
55. 2:09their respective seats at 19 enf beside
56. 2:12each other
57. 2:13flight 508 took off before noon and
58. 2:16flight time to pikalpa Peru was around
59. 2:18one hour before it would proceed to its
60. 2:21ultimate destination Iquitos Peru
61. 2:23the flight went on as usual and as soon
62. 2:26as they were at cruising altitude the
63. 2:28flight attendant started to serve
64. 2:29sandwiches for their complimentary
65. 2:31in-flight snacks
66. 2:33however more than halfway through their
67. 2:35flight as they were flying above the
68. 2:37thick forest of Amazon they were caught
69. 2:39in a sudden thunderstorm
70. 2:41right then and there the aircraft went
71. 2:43through extreme turbulence
72. 2:45the excitement at the Christmas holidays
73. 2:47brought suddenly turned to fear and
74. 2:49panic among the flight's 92 passengers
75. 2:51and crew
76. 2:52Julianne looked over the window and
77. 2:55instead of the view of the lush green
78. 2:56rainforest all she could see was the
79. 2:58dark skies and flashes of lightning
80. 3:01turbulence was so bad that hand carried
81. 3:04baggage and wrapped presents had already
82. 3:06been dislodged from the overhead bins
83. 3:09some of the drinks even got spilled and
84. 3:11snack trays were all over the place
85. 3:13panic and fear stricken passengers
86. 3:15started to shout and cry as they prayed
87. 3:17for the storm to stop
88. 3:19suddenly right before Julian's very eyes
89. 3:22lightning struck the wing of the
90. 3:24aircraft and within seconds the turbo
91. 3:26prop was already descending fast in a
92. 3:28nosedive into the world's largest
93. 3:30rainforest the Amazon rainforest
94. 3:33mid-air the aircraft disintegrated to
95. 3:36pieces and Julian found herself alone
96. 3:38still strapped to her seat as everything
97. 3:40was falling down
98. 3:41by the looks of it among all the
99. 3:43passengers in their row it appeared as
100. 3:45if only Julianne was wearing the seat
101. 3:47belt during that time
102. 3:49as she looked down she could see the
103. 3:51thick and Luscious Forest beneath her
104. 3:53that seemed like broccoli heads from her
105. 3:55point of view before she went
106. 3:57unconscious
107. 3:58the next thing she knew she was already
108. 4:00flat on the ground soaked in mud with
109. 4:03her glasses nowhere to be found the
110. 4:04morning after
111. 4:06she had a concussion her left eye was
112. 4:08swollen her collarbone broken along with
113. 4:10many other injuries
114. 4:12her sleeveless mini dress had already
115. 4:14been torn and obviously dirty
116. 4:17in spite of these thankfully more than
117. 4:19anything else she survived the fall
118. 4:22the thick canopies of the forest must
119. 4:24have been instrumental in cushioning her
120. 4:26fall
121. 4:27her first instinct was to look for her
122. 4:29mother first and foremost and others who
123. 4:31might have also survived
124. 4:33however she couldn't find anyone else
125. 4:37the only thing she found was a bag of
126. 4:39fruit candies
127. 4:40then reality sunk in and she felt so
128. 4:43alone and abandoned
129. 4:45surviving the crash was one thing but it
130. 4:48was another thing to make it out alive
131. 4:49and seek help especially in such an
132. 4:52extremely dense forest like the Amazon
133. 4:54nevertheless Julianne didn't sense even
134. 4:57an inch of fear of the Jungle probably
135. 4:59only on her quest for rescue but never
136. 5:01of the jungle
137. 5:03she knew what she had to do and had the
138. 5:05survival skills needed to thrive in the
139. 5:07jungle
140. 5:08it was a familiar territory for Julianne
141. 5:11growing up she had spent a lot of time
142. 5:13in the forest
143. 5:15her mother Maria was an ornithologist
144. 5:17and her father Hans Wilhelm was a
145. 5:20zoologist
146. 5:21both parents were from Germany they met
147. 5:24when they were in college at the
148. 5:25University of Kiel
149. 5:27overwhelmed with passion they both
150. 5:29decided to move to Peru and eventually
151. 5:31got married in Peru's Capital Lima
152. 5:34located somewhere in the vast rainforest
153. 5:36was the biological research station
154. 5:38called penguana station which the couple
155. 5:40themselves had built to further expand
156. 5:42their knowledge of Amazon's ecosystem
157. 5:45the penguana station had become this
158. 5:47little family's home
159. 5:49at first Julianne was homeschooled at
160. 5:51penguana for many years but eventually
161. 5:53continued her studies at Lima
162. 5:56in the years that she has been mostly
163. 5:58away from home she hasn't forgotten all
164. 6:00that she had learned from both parents
165. 6:02she knew the forest like it was on the
166. 6:04back of her hand
167. 6:06when she heard the sound of frogs and
168. 6:08birds around her she immediately
169. 6:10recognized that her home the penguana
170. 6:12station was not far away from where she
171. 6:15was
172. 6:16but she also knew that in the vastness
173. 6:18of the Amazon forest it would only take
174. 6:20one wrong turn and she would easily go
175. 6:22further away deeper into the thick
176. 6:24forest
177. 6:25the following morning her second day in
178. 6:27the jungle with only one sandal and
179. 6:29without any glasses she went forward and
180. 6:32looked for the nearest river
181. 6:34it was something that her parents most
182. 6:36especially her father had always taught
183. 6:38her to look for water and follow it if
184. 6:40she ever gets lost in the jungle
185. 6:43any small body of water will always lead
186. 6:45to a larger body of water and eventually
187. 6:47to civilization as humans normally tend
188. 6:50to settle close to the water source
189. 6:52when she found a small stream she walked
190. 6:55and floated in the middle recalling what
191. 6:57her dad told her that peranias are only
192. 6:59dangerous in Shallow Waters
193. 7:01also it was the rainy season during the
194. 7:03time so the weather wasn't particularly
195. 7:05helping Julianne
196. 7:07heavy rains that constantly poured
197. 7:09almost all through the day added up to
198. 7:11the already challenging conditions
199. 7:14nothing around her was dry enough to
200. 7:16light a fire and it wasn't the season
201. 7:17for trees to bear fruit either
202. 7:20she was careful in picking and feeding
203. 7:22on anything that she didn't recognize as
204. 7:24it might be poisonous
205. 7:26on the fourth day she heard the
206. 7:28frightening sound of vultures
207. 7:30when she followed where the sound was
208. 7:32coming from She Came Upon A horrifying
209. 7:34scene
210. 7:35she saw three passengers still seated
211. 7:37and strapped in their row half of their
212. 7:39bodies head first buried to the ground
213. 7:41because of the strong impact of their
214. 7:43fall
215. 7:44one of them was a woman so Julianne went
216. 7:47closer to check if it was her mother
217. 7:49to her relief she realized it wasn't
218. 7:52since the woman had her toenails
219. 7:54polished which her mom would never have
220. 7:55done
221. 7:56the sound of Rescue Planes reached her
222. 7:58but the thick forest concealed her
223. 8:00existence from The Rescuers
224. 8:02thus she continued on
225. 8:05by the tenth day she was starved and
226. 8:07extremely fatigued her skin sunburned by
227. 8:10then
228. 8:11just when she was about to lose all
229. 8:13strength left the sight of a small boat
230. 8:15gave her a sudden boost of energy
231. 8:18feeling like it was a dream she went
232. 8:20close to it and realized it wasn't just
233. 8:22her imagination fooling her
234. 8:24as she looked over she saw a small Hut
235. 8:26just near the River Shore
236. 8:29without hesitation she went inside
237. 8:32there was no wonder but she found
238. 8:33gasoline inside and used it to clean her
239. 8:36wounds that maggots had already started
240. 8:37feeding on
241. 8:39she stayed in the hut that night the
242. 8:41most decent shelter she's had in days
243. 8:44the next morning on January 3rd 1972 11
244. 8:48days after the crash three local
245. 8:50fishermen found her inside their shelter
246. 8:52skinny and dirty
247. 8:54when she had awakened she told them in
248. 8:56Spanish who she was and that she was one
249. 8:58of those passengers from the Lancer
250. 9:00crash
251. 9:01the fisherman immediately took her to
252. 9:02the village and in no time she was
253. 9:04airlifted to a hospital in pukalpa and
254. 9:07soon after got reunited with his father
255. 9:10as soon as she had recovered she went
256. 9:12back and guided the rescue team to where
257. 9:14the crash site was helping them to
258. 9:16retrieve the bodies
259. 9:18it was on January 12 1972 that Rescuers
260. 9:21found her mother's body
261. 9:23apparently it was believed that Maria
262. 9:25had also survived the crash but her
263. 9:28injuries were so severe it didn't allow
264. 9:30her to move
265. 9:31she only died a few days later
266. 9:34the thought of her mother's last days
267. 9:36horrified Julianne
268. 9:38around two months later March of 1972
269. 9:41Julianne was able to fully recover and
270. 9:44continued on with her studies in Lima
271. 9:46however having been the sole survivor of
272. 9:49a fatal plane crash the media often
273. 9:51chased her wanting to feature a story
274. 9:54this prompted her father to send her
275. 9:56back to her aunt in Keel Germany taking
276. 9:59inspiration from her parents and her own
277. 10:01experience she graduated from the
278. 10:03University of Kiel with a bachelor's
279. 10:05degree in biology in 1980 and earned her
280. 10:08doctorate degree from Ludwig Maximilian
281. 10:10University
282. 10:11she went back to penguana where she
283. 10:13spent 18 months conducting extensive
284. 10:15research on bats
285. 10:17in 1998 film director Werner Herzog
286. 10:20asked her if she was willing to have her
287. 10:22story be made into a documentary
288. 10:25interestingly Werner happened to be
289. 10:27booked for the same flight that fateful
290. 10:29day but his life was spared due to a
291. 10:31last-minute change in his itinerary
292. 10:34upon her agreement they traveled back to
293. 10:36the crash site to film the documentary
294. 10:39as they Revisited the site he
295. 10:41interviewed and listened to the
296. 10:42horrifying experience of Julianne
297. 10:45to her the visit back to the Dreadful
298. 10:47site and Warner's genuine listening
299. 10:49skills had become her best therapy
300. 10:52the one-hour documentary was entitled
301. 10:54wings of Hope and was released in 2000.
302. 10:57Julianne also authored the book entitled
303. 11:00when I fell from the sky how the jungle
304. 11:02saved my life translated into 12
305. 11:04languages first published in 2011.
306. 11:08Julianne also made sure her parents
307. 11:11Legacy continued on as well
308. 11:13she was able to expand the penguana
309. 11:15research station from 460 to a total of
310. 11:191730 acres and was able to secure the
311. 11:22area's permanent protection from the
312. 11:24Peruvian Government after it was
313. 11:25declared as a nature reserve
314. 11:28to this day the memory of the extreme
315. 11:30suffering her mother might have gone
316. 11:31through along with those of the other
317. 11:33victims in the thought of being the sole
318. 11:35survivor continues to haunt her
319. 11:38thank you for making it this far
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