Following the bombing, Vulovi spent days in a coma and was hospitalised for several months. "People always want to sit next to me on the plane," she said. ", "Too good to be true? Vesna Vulovic | Obituary | Beyond the Dash As fate would have it, Vesna was not actually scheduled to be working on Flight 367, as she revealed in a 2002 interview with Green Light. She said in 2008 that she could only recall greeting passengers before takeoff from the airport in Denmark and then waking up in the hospital with her mother at her side. Serbian stewardess who survived jet crash in 1972 dies at 66 Read about our approach to external linking. 33,000-Ft Fall! Meet The Flight Attendant Who Pulled-Off The Biggest Poginuli su svi putnici i lanovi posade, a preivjela je jedino ona. Vulovic was 23 and working as a Yugoslav Airlines hostess on Jan. 26, 1972, when the Douglas DC-9 airliner she was aboard blew up high above the snowy mountain ranges of Czechoslovakia. Vesna Vulovic's record fall Communist propaganda, say journalists, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Serbia must choose between EU and Russia, says Germany, Serbia bans its first staging of EuroPride rally at late notice, Its a win for us: Serbias cancelled EuroPride exposes ongoing LGBTQ+ struggle, Serbian president Aleksandar Vui wins new term by landslide. Miracle air stewardess who survived 33,000ft fall in 1972 after plane Autoridades iugoslavas suspeitaram que nacionalistas croatas fossem os culpados, mas ningum jamais foi preso. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. All 27 other passengers and crew aboard perished. [3][d] She attributed the divorce to her chain smoking, which her husband disapproved of. Her name was Vesna Vulovi and though even she didnt know it yet, she had just survived an epic fall of 33,330 feet in what is one of the strangest world records: surviving the highest fall without a parachute. After arriving in hospital, Vulovic fell into a coma for 10 days. She was offered a hypnotic injection to help her sleep during the flight back to Yugoslavia, but declined, explaining that she was not afraid of flying because she had no memory of the crash. Flight attendant Vesna Vulovi set record for highest fall survived without a parachute, said to be 10,000 metres. Vesna Vulovic, was a flight attendant on Yugoslav Airlines DC-9 enroute from Stockholm to Belgrade. As others were believed to have been sucked out of the jet into subfreezing temperatures, Ms. Vulovic remained inside part of the shattered fuselage, wedged in by a food cart, as it plunged. She was the sole survivor of the explosion of JAT Flight 367 near Srbska Kamenice, Czechoslovakia on . Officials suspected that JAT Yugoslav Flight 364 was brought down by explosives planted in a suitcase by a Croatian terrorist group. The fuselage tumbled through pine branches and into a thick coating of snow, softening the impact and cushioning its descent down the hill, crash investigators said at the time. [5] The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the Czechoslovak village of SrbskKamenice. [3], Between 1962 and 1982, Croatian nationalists carried out 128 terrorist attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets. The day after these events, Swedish newspaper Kvllsposten received a phone call from a self-described Croatian nationalist, who took credit for bringing down Flight 367. Market data provided by Factset. She was an air stewardess who survived the highest ever fall by a human being after her plane broke up at 33,000 ft. Vulovic was working on a Yugoslav Airlines Douglas DC-9 on January 26, 1972 when a suspected bomb brought the plane down among mountains in Czechoslovakia. Initially paralyzed from the waist down, Vulovic eventually made a near-full recovery and even returned to work for the airline in a desk job. Vesna Vulovi was 66. Vesna, a Belgrade native, entered the Guinness World Records book after surviving the highest ever fall without a parachute. About 18 years after she returned to work, she said, the airline forced her to retire for trying to persuade co-workers not to vote for Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian nationalist and president known as the Butcher of the Balkans. She demonstrated in the streets against Mr. Milosevic, who died in jail before a verdict was reached in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. [21] Guinness World Records continues to list her as the record-holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute. Mind-bending optical illusion that makes your brain IMAGINE a color that doesn't exist leaves the internet baffled, Kellyanne Conway's soon-to-be ex-husband George looks despondent without his wedding ring after couple announced they are divorcing, New heartbreak for Liz Hurley, 57, as third former partner dies: Actor Tom Sizemore, 61, suffers fatal brain aneurysm a year after her ex-fiance Shane Warne's death from a heart attack at 52 - while father to her son Damian lost his life to suicide in 2020, All 28 aboard died apart from Vulovic, who would break record for highest fall. [4][20] In response to her activism, pro-Miloevi tabloids launched a smear campaign against her, claiming that Flight 367 had been shot down by a Czechoslovak surface-to-air missile and that she had fallen from a lesser height than previously believed. "I saw all the passengers and crew deplane. The cause of death was not immediately known. Vesna Vulovic - stewardess who survived 33,000ft fall, dies Vesna Vulovic, Serbian flight attendant who survived 1972 crash, dies She was 66. Oh yeah, except for the fact that she fell 33,000 fucking feet and lived to tell the tale. [3] In 1985, The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Vulovi as the world record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 metres (33,330ft; 6.31mi). [4] Honke had been a medic during the Second World War and was able to keep Vulovi alive until rescuers arrived. Market data provided by Factset. Everybody thinks I am lucky, but they are mistaken. On Jan. 26, 1972, 23-year-old Vulovic was working as a flight attendant aboard a Yugoslav Airlines Douglas DC-9 when the plane ripped apart above the village of Srbska Kamenice. However, her dream almost didnt come true. Im not lucky, she told Green Light. While even short drops can be lethal, people have survived horrendous falls. The fuselage tumbled through pine branches and into a thick coating of snow, softening the impact and cushioning its descent down the hill, crash investigators said at the time. Just 46 minutes into the fight, disaster struck. When she found out a friend was becoming a flight attendant and traveling the world, she jumped at the chance. Serbia's state TV said Saturday Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in Belgrade. Her physicians believe her low blood pressure kept her heart from bursting on impact with the mountainside. How she managed this isn't entirely clear, but the . She went on to put her celebrity at the service of political causes, protesting against Slobodan Miloevis rule in the 1990s and later campaigning for liberal forces in elections. According to the official accident report, an explosion tore the DC-9 she was working . At first, she could only move her left leg, and one month thereafter, she was able to move her right. 7 People Who Cheated Death (Then Kicked It In The Balls) Vesna Vulovi (Serbian Cyrillic: , pronounced [sna loit]; 3 January 1950 - 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi).She was the sole survivor after an explosion tore through the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 . Ms. Vulovic was working as a Yugoslav Airlines flight attendant on Jan. 26, 1972, when the DC-9 airliner she was aboard blew up high above the snowy . Vesna [] YouTubeThe wreckage of the JAT Flight 367 crash. Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian flight attendant who holds the world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute when her plane broke apart. As he went to investigate, he came across a grisly sight: the wreckage of an airplane, torn apart by an explosion. She was in the rear of the plane with a food cart when the fuselage broke apart. A bomb, which may . [3] JAT felt that her presence on flights would attract too much publicity and instead gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. She was rushed to a hospital, where she fell into a coma for ten days. She was 66. Some sources suggest that Vulovi's employment was terminated in 1990. All 27 other passengers and crew aboard perished. [4] Vulovi attributed her recovery to her "Serbian stubbornness" and "a childhood diet that included chocolate, spinach, and fish oil". It is certain that the other passengers and crewmembers had similar horoscopes, as well. With a history of low blood pressure, Vulovi knew it was unlikely shed pass the medical exam. The first thing she did upon waking was ask for a cigarette. Air safety investigators believe that Vulovi's position within the aircraft at the time of the explosion helped her survive the fall. or redistributed. The two claimed that the Czechoslovak State Security had conjured up Vulovi's record fall as part of a cover-up. The cause of Flight 367s explosion and subsequent crash has been subject to several conspiracy theories over the years, the most popular of which suggested that the plane was mistakenly shot down by Czechoslovak anti-air missiles at a much lower altitude of 800 metres (2,600 ft). She continued for two more decades to fight against nationalism. She never regained memory of the accident or her rescue. Vesna Vulovic, Survivor Of Mid-Air Plane Explosion And - HuffPost "[4][16], In 2009, Peter Hornung-Andersen and Pavel Theiner, two Prague-based journalists, claimed that Flight 367 had been mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot down by the Czechoslovak Air Force at an altitude of 800 metres (2,600ft), far lower than the official altitude of 10,160 metres (33,330ft).