She Fell 10,000 ft And Survived The Jungle: The Juliane Koepcke Story — Transcript

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1. 0:02I still remember that terrible noise,
2. 0:05the insane screeching, the shrill
3. 0:07screams of people in mortal fear,
4. 0:10the certain death in front of me.
5. 0:12>> On Christmas Eve, 1971,
6. 0:1592 people boarded a plane in Lima, Peru.
7. 0:19Their destination was Pucallpa, a 1-hour
8. 0:22flight.
9. 0:23Only one of them would make it.
10. 0:25She was 17 years old. Hey guys, Jared
11. 0:28here. This is the story of Juliane
12. 0:31Koepcke, a teenage girl who survived a
13. 0:34fall from a disintegrating aircraft into
14. 0:37the heart of the Amazon
15. 0:39and walked out 11 days later,
16. 0:41alone.
17. 0:42But surviving the fall was only the
18. 0:44beginning.
19. 0:46How did she survive a 10,000-ft drop
20. 0:48with no parachute, no training, and no
21. 0:52warning?
22. 0:53What deadly creatures did she encounter
23. 0:55in the Peruvian rainforest?
24. 0:57>> Everything wants to eat
25. 1:00everything wants to consume you.
26. 1:02>> And how did she navigate through the
27. 1:04thickest jungle in the world? To
28. 1:06understand what Juliane was up against,
29. 1:08we spoke with Anthony Jardine Lee, CEO
30. 1:11of Otorongo Expeditions, a seasoned
31. 1:13Amazon naturalist who's spent decades
32. 1:16studying its ecosystems
33. 1:18and its dangers. On Christmas Eve, 1971,
34. 1:22Juliane and her mother boarded LANSA
35. 1:24Flight 508 from Lima to Pucallpa.
36. 1:27Just over 25 minutes into their flight,
37. 1:30they hit heavy turbulence.
38. 1:32They were flying headfirst into a storm.
39. 1:35And then, in a flash of lightning,
40. 1:39everything changed.
41. 1:40>> At that moment, my mother screamed,
42. 1:42"This is the end."
43. 1:44And exactly what happened after that, I
44. 1:46can't say.
45. 1:47>> What Juliane didn't know in those final
46. 1:50seconds
47. 1:51was that the aircraft wasn't simply
48. 1:53going down. The fuselage had begun to
49. 1:55tear itself apart mid-air, scattering
50. 1:58passengers and debris across 9 square
51. 2:00miles of jungle
52. 2:02while the plane was still airborne.
53. 2:04>> This machine was like a toy in the
54. 2:06clutches of a furious unleashed nature.
55. 2:09>> And then
56. 2:10she was no longer inside it.
57. 2:12>> And then all of a sudden I was outside
58. 2:14the plane. I was suspended in mid-air,
59. 2:17still in my seat. It was not so much
60. 2:19that I had left the plane, but rather
61. 2:21that the plane had left me.
62. 2:23>> Juliane began freefalling toward the
63. 2:26densest jungle on Earth.
64. 2:28Her mother was no longer by her side.
65. 2:30>> The only sound I heard was the wind
66. 2:32howling
67. 2:34in my ears and the forest was spinning
68. 2:36below me.
69. 2:37>> And now you may be thinking to yourself,
70. 2:39"How the hell did she survive a fall
71. 2:41like this?" Well, it was a bit of
72. 2:43physics and a lot of luck.
73. 2:45>> But I had no time to be afraid because
74. 2:47apparently I lost consciousness.
75. 2:50>> Experts believe the row of seats she was
76. 2:52strapped to spun around like a
77. 2:53helicopter providing some air
78. 2:55resistance.
79. 2:56And the warm updraft from the storm may
80. 2:59have slowed her descent.
81. 3:00But the trees also played a big part.
82. 3:03>> The descent through the canopy and the
83. 3:06the the the understory saved her ass. It
84. 3:09It probably would have died on impact if
85. 3:11she landed with the seat directly on the
86. 3:13land.
87. 3:14>> I fell through this thicket and then
88. 3:16relatively softly, quote unquote, struck
89. 3:19the ground.
90. 3:20>> The wild thing is Juliane wasn't the
91. 3:23only survivor of the crash. Well, at
92. 3:26least initially. We'll get to what
93. 3:28happened to the rest of the passengers
94. 3:30later on in the episode.
95. 3:31>> I suffered a very serious concussion.
96. 3:34I couldn't raise myself without fading
97. 3:36away again.
98. 3:38>> Juliane was in pretty bad shape. Her
99. 3:41left eye was swollen shut. She had deep
100. 3:43cuts on her arms and legs
101. 3:45and a broken clavicle.
102. 3:47But that's not all.
103. 3:49>> As I learned later, I also had a torn
104. 3:51ligament in my left knee. I had no idea.
105. 3:53Later, doctors in Germany said that was
106. 3:55impossible. You can't walk with that
107. 3:57injury. I was completely unaware that I
108. 3:59had it. There was no pain at all.
109. 4:01>> When your body goes into survival mode,
110. 4:03adrenaline kicks in.
111. 4:05It can help suppress pain and even
112. 4:07increase your strength and endurance.
113. 4:09And for Juliane, it kept her moving.
114. 4:12But, she had no glasses, leaving her
115. 4:14nearly blind.
116. 4:16One sandal, a thin mini dress,
117. 4:18and an Amazon rainforest that was
118. 4:21already working to kill her. She could
119. 4:23hear planes in the distance. [music]
120. 4:25A search team, maybe.
121. 4:27But, the jungle canopy made it
122. 4:28impossible to see anything from above.
123. 4:30And no signal fires were possible,
124. 4:32either. The rain had soaked everything.
125. 4:35She was on her own.
126. 4:36>> There's nothing to eat. There's no
127. 4:37shelter. Everything wants to eat you.
128. 4:40Hypothermia sets in.
129. 4:42For people who don't know anything about
130. 4:44the jungle, it's the same damn thing.
131. 4:46You might as well be dropped off in the
132. 4:47middle of the ocean.
133. 4:49Cuz there's nothing for you there.
134. 4:51Nothing at all.
135. 4:53>> Now, you may be thinking,
136. 4:55"Hypothermia? I thought the jungle was
137. 4:57hot and humid."
138. 4:58>> If it's not raining, if you don't have
139. 5:02any way to keep your heat in night, you
140. 5:04can go into hypothermia in the forest.
141. 5:06There's so much humidity
142. 5:09in the air that it's basically like
143. 5:11you're swimming. So, even if it's not
144. 5:13raining,
145. 5:14you are in direct contact with a soup.
146. 5:17And that soup is going to sap your your
147. 5:19heat out.
148. 5:21So, hypothermia is is possible in the
149. 5:23jungle, as well. And it's really
150. 5:25surprising she didn't get hypothermia.
151. 5:28>> To stay hydrated, Juliane licked
152. 5:30droplets off leaves until she found a
153. 5:32muddy stream. Delicious. And now, muddy
154. 5:35streams like this can carry pathogens
155. 5:37and diseases, but it was a risk she was
156. 5:40willing to take.
157. 5:41>> If you get sick,
158. 5:43you're going to you're going to have a
159. 5:44harder time. You're you're to get weak
160. 5:45and maybe even succumb to some illness
161. 5:49to the point where you can't even walk.
162. 5:51>> Although her next obstacle was finding
163. 5:53food, she had other priorities in mind,
164. 5:56finding her mother. As she moved through
165. 5:58the jungle, she found some debris from
166. 6:01the plane.
167. 6:02She came across a bag of candies and a
168. 6:04Christmas cake covered in mud.
169. 6:06She tried to eat the cake, but was so
170. 6:08disgusted by it, she tossed it away.
171. 6:12Yeah, I don't blame her. I mean, I've
172. 6:13never been a fruitcake guy myself. At
173. 6:16one point, she came face-to-face with a
174. 6:19bird-eating spider.
175. 6:21A spider that eats birds.
176. 6:23They looked at each other and went their
177. 6:25separate ways. Now, thankfully, this
178. 6:27variety wasn't dangerous to humans, but
179. 6:29guys, I would have completely lost it.
180. 6:31The Amazon is full of fruits and
181. 6:33animals, but without her glasses, well,
182. 6:36distinguishing safe from deadly was next
183. 6:38to impossible. One wrong move is a death
184. 6:40sentence,
185. 6:41and Juliane would come terrifyingly
186. 6:44close to that later. As time dragged on,
187. 6:47she still couldn't find her mother.
188. 6:49She knew she had a tough decision to
189. 6:51make,
190. 6:52keep looking or
191. 6:53find help. She continued hearing planes
192. 6:56overhead and made a [music] game plan.
193. 6:58Rather than stay by the wreckage where
194. 7:00she was covered by dense foliage, she
195. 7:02decided to follow the sounds of
196. 7:04trickling water. She remembered the
197. 7:06advice her father told her when she was
198. 7:07a child.
199. 7:08>> Here I have learned how important it is
200. 7:10to find water if you are lost in the
201. 7:12jungle. A small creek leads to a larger
202. 7:15one, which eventually takes you to a
203. 7:17river where you can find human
204. 7:19habitation and help.
205. 7:20>> She came across a small stream.
206. 7:22If it led to a river, it would be her
207. 7:24best chance of being seen. She had one
208. 7:26thing on her mind,
209. 7:28getting out as soon as possible. Sadly,
210. 7:31the planes never saw her. After a few
211. 7:33days, they stopped searching altogether.
212. 7:35Still, Juliane didn't give up hope. She
213. 7:38managed to get by one day at a time,
214. 7:41but it wasn't easy.
215. 7:42>> Nights were the most difficult. It
216. 7:45either rained ice cold or I was bitten
217. 7:47to pieces by mosquitoes.
218. 7:49>> In an effort to stay warm and dry,
219. 7:51Juliane used large leaves to cover
220. 7:54herself and sought shelter under thick
221. 7:56tree trunks or along slopes.
222. 7:58>> There were often times I wanted to give
223. 7:59up, but I continued on regardless.
224. 8:01>> To avoid accidentally stepping on a
225. 8:03snake barefoot, Juliane led with her one
226. 8:06sandal. At least that way she had some
227. 8:08protection.
228. 8:09Or did she?
229. 8:10>> No matter what boots or snake chaps you
230. 8:12have on, if you are in the wrong
231. 8:15situation, you manage to piss that snake
232. 8:18off and get bit. It's going to bite
233. 8:20above your waist anyways.
234. 8:22So, your foot is nothing.
235. 8:24>> And it wasn't just the animals she
236. 8:26needed to worry about while navigating
237. 8:27through the jungle.
238. 8:28>> Although, you got to really use your
239. 8:30eyes and watch where you're walking.
240. 8:31Aside from that, you're stepping on
241. 8:33spiny [music] palms. Everything that
242. 8:35grows there has some sort of defense
243. 8:39to keep things from hurting it, climbing
244. 8:41on it, eating it, and it's usually in
245. 8:43the form of spines or poison.
246. 8:45>> At one point, she considered catching a
247. 8:47frog to eat. It was the rainy season and
248. 8:50she knew there were poisonous dart frogs
249. 8:52everywhere. They could make her really
250. 8:54sick, but not enough to kill her like
251. 8:57the golden poison dart frogs native to
252. 8:58Colombia. Still, they were too fast for
253. 9:01her to catch. And it's probably a good
254. 9:04thing, too. On day four, she heard
255. 9:06vultures and saw them circling overhead.
256. 9:09In her childhood, her mother, who was an
257. 9:11ornithologist, taught her all about the
258. 9:13birds of the jungle. And she knew
259. 9:15exactly what this meant. The birds led
260. 9:18her to three passengers still strapped
261. 9:20into their seats, driven head first into
262. 9:23the ground with such force that half of
263. 9:26each body was buried in the dirt.
264. 9:29At first, Juliane was afraid one of the
265. 9:30victims was her mother.
266. 9:32>> And I turned one of her feet over and
267. 9:34saw that the toenails were painted. And
268. 9:36it then became clear to me that this
269. 9:38could not possibly be my mother because
270. 9:41she never painted her toenails.
271. 9:43>> The Amazon is a death sentence for most
272. 9:45people, but thankfully for Juliane, it
273. 9:48was like a second home. Her parents were
274. 9:50zoologists. At 14, her family relocated
275. 9:54to the Peruvian jungle to conduct
276. 9:56research. She grew up alongside caimans,
277. 9:58vampire bats, poisonous spiders, and
278. 10:01venomous snakes. But, here is where this
279. 10:03story stops being a tragedy and starts
280. 10:06being something else entirely. It never
281. 10:08should have happened. In the years
282. 10:10before Christmas Eve 1971, LANSA had
283. 10:13already been responsible for two
284. 10:15separate fatal crashes,
285. 10:17and yet the Peruvian government kept its
286. 10:19operating license active.
287. 10:21Locals had a saying. It translated
288. 10:24roughly to LANSA lands on its belly.
289. 10:27Juliane's own father refused to let them
290. 10:29book the flight. He knew the reputation,
291. 10:32but with no other options available,
292. 10:34they boarded anyway.
293. 10:3592 people,
294. 10:37an airline with two fatal crashes on its
295. 10:39record, and a government that looked the
296. 10:42other way. That's not bad luck. That's a
297. 10:44decision someone made,
298. 10:46and 91 people paid for it. Now, before
299. 10:49we go further, if this is the kind of
300. 10:50story you're here for, make sure you're
301. 10:52subscribed and hit the bell. On day five
302. 10:54or six, Juliane heard the sounds of
303. 10:57birds yet again.
304. 10:59But, these weren't vultures.
305. 11:01It was the call of the hoatzin, a
306. 11:03chicken-like bird native to the Amazon
307. 11:05which lives along bodies of water.
308. 11:08She followed their calls and came across
309. 11:10a large river.
310. 11:12Although she had found water, the
311. 11:13dangers that lurked beneath were also
312. 11:15something she knew she had to be
313. 11:17cautious of. So, she entered the river
314. 11:19and started moving, but this was not a
315. 11:22casual swim.
316. 11:23>> In the water, we have electric eels
317. 11:26who are territorial and aggressive.
318. 11:29We have piranhas, we have anacondas, we
319. 11:31have caimans. The anaconda's and caimans
320. 11:33would definitely look at you as a meal
321. 11:36if they were big enough.
322. 11:37>> I always carried a stick and poked the
323. 11:39river bottom ahead of me because there
324. 11:42are a lot of poisonous stingrays in the
325. 11:44muddy shallows of the river.
326. 11:46Stingrays are the really dangerous
327. 11:48animals of the jungle of these rivers.
328. 11:51Much more dangerous than the poisonous
329. 11:53snakes, jaguars, and tarantulas which
330. 11:56people generally fear.
331. 11:58>> And if you're wondering about piranhas,
332. 12:00they're only dangerous in standing
333. 12:01water. So, they weren't really a concern
334. 12:04for Juliane. At one point, she heard the
335. 12:06cries of baby caimans. Then she saw the
336. 12:09mother rising from the bank moving
337. 12:11toward her.
338. 12:12Rather than panic, she slowly slid back
339. 12:15into the water and held still showing
340. 12:17she wasn't a threat. The caiman stopped.
341. 12:20It worked. Now, these were likely
342. 12:22spectacled caimans, a less dangerous
343. 12:24variety.
344. 12:25>> Black caimans are the ones that can get
345. 12:2614 ft long and they look at humans as
346. 12:29food. The spectacled caimans
347. 12:31will max out around 8 ft and they're not
348. 12:34going to really see a large human
349. 12:37towering over as a prey item.
350. 12:40>> Still, Juliane's instinct to stay calm
351. 12:42and back away slowly is likely what led
352. 12:45her to avoid a serious confrontation
353. 12:48with the mother caiman. Each day she
354. 12:50continued to float down the river and
355. 12:51would go to shore at sunset to rest, but
356. 12:54sleeping wasn't possible due to the pain
357. 12:56she started to feel from
358. 12:58the insects feasting on her wounds.
359. 13:01>> I had a wound on the back of my left
360. 13:03upper arm
361. 13:05where flies had deposited their eggs.
362. 13:08>> At risk of blood disease or losing her
363. 13:10arm due to other forms of bacteria and
364. 13:12parasites, Juliane knew she didn't have
365. 13:14much time. And the second-degree
366. 13:16sunburns she suffered while wading
367. 13:18through the river all day added insult
368. 13:20to injury. After several more days, she
369. 13:22rested on a gravel bank.
370. 13:24Things weren't looking good.
371. 13:27And then she saw a boat.
372. 13:29She thought she was hallucinating.
373. 13:31>> I slowly approached it and touched the
374. 13:32boat, and it was real. At this moment, I
375. 13:35became wide awake, looked around. Where
376. 13:37are the owners?
377. 13:39There was no one there.
378. 13:40>> Juliane crawled up the riverbank on all
379. 13:42fours. It took her hours. And then she
380. 13:44saw a small hut.
381. 13:46Although no one was inside, she was
382. 13:48certain it was only a matter of time
383. 13:49before someone returned. She remembered
384. 13:51a trick her father used on a wounded
385. 13:53dog.
386. 13:54She found gasoline from the boat's
387. 13:56engine and poured it directly into her
388. 13:58cut. One by one, the maggots surfaced.
389. 14:01>> In total, there were 50 maggots, [music]
390. 14:03each about 1 cm long in my arm. Amazing.
391. 14:07I managed to pull out around 30 myself.
392. 14:10>> She grabbed a tarp, laid down on the
393. 14:12sandy riverbank, and later wrote it was
394. 14:14a better sleep than any five-star hotel.
395. 14:17By the morning, there was still no sign
396. 14:19of anyone coming to the camp.
397. 14:21Juliane came to terms with the fact that
398. 14:24she may die here without anyone knowing
399. 14:26what happened to her. And then
400. 14:28she heard voices. It was three forest
401. 14:31workers, Beltran Paredes, Carlos
402. 14:34Vasquez, and Nestor Amaifuen, who, by
403. 14:37chance, decided to go back to their
404. 14:39shelter.
405. 14:40>> That became my rescue. They told me
406. 14:42later that they hadn't intended to go
407. 14:44there at all. They just checked on their
408. 14:46boat every 3 weeks.
409. 14:48>> Wow.
410. 14:49Talk about lucky.
411. 14:51They cleaned her wounds and removed the
412. 14:53remaining maggots, fed her, and took her
413. 14:56on an 11-hour boat ride back towards
414. 14:58civilization. Juliane asked about the
415. 15:00other survivors.
416. 15:02The men went quiet.
417. 15:04No living passengers had been found.
418. 15:06She was the only one. This confirmed her
419. 15:09worst fear.
420. 15:10Her mother was gone. As they reached
421. 15:13civilization, local villagers were taken
422. 15:16aback by her blond hair and bloodshot
423. 15:18eyes.
424. 15:19>> They mistook me for a water spirit.
425. 15:21There is a legendary figure called
426. 15:23Yacumama, the water mother.
427. 15:26>> But, her journey alone had finally come
428. 15:28to an end. She was then flown to a
429. 15:30missionary hospital where she recovered
430. 15:32for months.
431. 15:34But, she still needed closure about her
432. 15:35mother. Juliane directed search teams to
433. 15:37the crash site. On January 7th, 1972,
434. 15:41they found the first pieces of wreckage.
435. 15:43The next day, they uncovered more
436. 15:45aircraft debris and 20 corpses. But, the
437. 15:48full story of what happened to the
438. 15:50passengers of LANSA Flight 508 is darker
439. 15:53than the crash itself. Forensic analysis
440. 15:55of the bodies recovered from the jungle
441. 15:57told investigators something
442. 15:58devastating. Juliane wasn't the only
443. 16:01person to survive the initial impact.
444. 16:03Multiple passengers had survived the
445. 16:05fall.
446. 16:06They were alive, conscious, and waiting
447. 16:09in the jungle.
448. 16:10But, they reached them too late. On
449. 16:12January 12th, Juliane's mother was
450. 16:15finally identified by her father,
451. 16:17despite serious injuries to her face. He
452. 16:19knew it was her by her distinct feet.
453. 16:21Forensic investigators believed she,
454. 16:23along with at least 11 others, survived
455. 16:26the crash only to die in the jungle over
456. 16:28the following days. Years later, Juliane
457. 16:31teamed up with filmmaker Werner Herzog
458. 16:33to make Wings of Hope, a film she
459. 16:35credited with helping her overcome her
460. 16:37trauma. Believe it or not, Werner almost
461. 16:40got on the same flight as Juliane while
462. 16:42filming 1972's Aguirre, the Wrath of
463. 16:45God. But, a last-minute cancellation
464. 16:48kept him back. [music]
465. 16:49>> I was booked on this plane. That's why
466. 16:51it's important for me. And uh
467. 16:54by a chain of coincidences, I was taken
468. 16:56off the passenger list.
469. 16:58>> Now, Juliane didn't run from the jungle
470. 17:00after this.
471. 17:02She returned to it. She earned her
472. 17:04doctorate in biology, became a
473. 17:06mammologist specializing in bats, and
474. 17:08spent her career researching the Amazon
475. 17:10rainforest. The place that should have
476. 17:13killed her became her life's work.
477. 17:15Survival [music]
478. 17:16isn't just about instinct. It's about
479. 17:18preparation, knowledge, and as Anthony
480. 17:21reminded us, the mental clarity to
481. 17:23assess your situation before anything
482. 17:25else.
483. 17:26>> If you were in a situation like hers,
484. 17:27you [music] were badly hurt in the
485. 17:29middle of the jungle, no form of
486. 17:30communication, you know, no tech, no
487. 17:32cell phone, nothing like that. What's
488. 17:34the first thing that you would do to
489. 17:36[music]
490. 17:37increase the odds of your survival?
491. 17:38>> Orient myself, not only physically but
492. 17:41psychologically to what you need to do
493. 17:43to get out. Uh
494. 17:45do a general [music]
495. 17:47check on how healthy and capable you are
496. 17:49of even doing that.
497. 17:51>> Of course, when you board a flight, you
498. 17:52hope you'll get to your destination
499. 17:54without any problems.
500. 17:55But, there's always a chance things can
501. 17:57go
502. 17:59sideways.
503. 18:00Check out our video on the deadliest
504. 18:01aviation crashes next. Maybe don't watch
505. 18:04this one on a plane. Either way, we'll
506. 18:06look at the most important tips you
507. 18:08should know to survive the worst case
508. 18:09scenarios in the air
509. 18:11or in the middle of the ocean. We'll see
510. 18:13you next time in another episode of How
511. 18:15to Survive.