Woman survived 33,000ft fall without parachute after plane exploded mid-air

Vesna Vulović holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute

On 26 January 1972, Vesna Vulović would make history as the first person to fall 33,000 feet out of the sky and survive.

An air hostess for Yugoslav Airlines, Vulović was one of 27 onboard a flight from Stockholm to Belgrade when tragedy struck. A bomb, believed to have been placed onboard the aircraft by Croatian nationalists, exploded while the plane was cruising above a village in the north of the Czech Republic.

The aircraft subsequently broke into three pieces before tumbling to the ground near the Czech village of Srbská Kamenice.

While the rest of the aircraft's crew and passengers either perished in the explosion or impact, Vulović was found alive in the middle of the aisle in the rear section of the aircraft.

Aged just 22 years old, Vulović was severely injured – suffering from a fractured skull, broken legs, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis – and spent months in hospital, but ultimately survived.

Vulović is one of just three people, excluding military pilots, to survive a crash in which a plane fell out of the sky.

Before you take Vulović's story as a sign that surviving a plane exploding at 33,000 feet is a typically survivable event, it's worth noting that the Serbian national was saved by a variety of favourable factors.

According to Vulović's entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, the explosion had led to her becoming pinned underneath a food trolley, which prevented her from being sucked out of the aircraft.

Vulović also suffered from low blood pressure, which caused her to pass out, meaning that she was not at risk of her heart bursting upon impact with the ground.

Additionally, the wreckage landed upon thick snow, cushioning the aircraft upon impact.

Vulović was also found by a villager who happened to have been an army medic in World War II, who was able to administer life-saving first aid.

Forget claims about not breaking a bone meaning you're guarded by angels, as Vulović clearly had some sort of divine protection that day.

Either that or she was extremely lucky. Especially when you factor in that she wasn't even meant to have been working that day.

After spending 10 days in a coma and being temporarily paralysed from the waist down, Vulović was able to recover. She did however, live with permanent injuries from the crash, walking with a limp due to a twisted spine.

"I was broken, and the doctors put me back together again," she told the New York Times in 2008, adding: "Nobody ever expected me to live this long."

After suffering amnesia due to the head injuries she sustained, Vulović never remembered the crash, instead learning about the incident from others.

She later passed away at her home in December 2016, at the age of 66.

After previously working as a freelancer for Digital Spy, Brenna joined LADbible in 2024 and has since carved out a niche covering film and TV. She has previously interviewed stars from shows such as Monster, MobLand and the 28 Days Later franchise. Outside of what's on her screen, Brenna is also interested in writing about music and bizarre pop culture.

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