English Audio Request

On December 24, 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed the other 91 passengers. More than forty years later, she tells her story.

“On Christmas Eve, 1971, me and my mother boarded a flight from Lima, Peru to Pucallpa in the Amazonian rainforest in order to join my father.

Suddenly, after twenty-five minutes of flight, we entered into a very heavy, dark cloud.
There was heavy turbulence and the plane was jumping up and down. Parcels and luggage were falling from the lockers and gifts were flying around the cabin. When lightning struck the airplane I was scared. Passengers were screaming and crying around me. Then the plane crashed and I lost consciousness and remember nothing of the impact.

I woke up the next morning in the Amazonian forest. I shouted out for my mother but I only heard the sounds of the jungle. I suffered from a broken collarbone and I had deep cuts on my arms and legs.

I found a river and I followed it downstream, hoping to find civilization. It was very hot and wet and it rained several times a day. It was cold in the night and I was only wearing a short mini-dress. Besides, I was really hungry because my only food was a bag of candies. I avoided crocodiles, piranhas, snakes and other dangerous jungle creatures but insects bit me and infected my wounds. I felt so lonely and scared.

After spending nine days in the jungle I finally saw a boat. Near the boat was a shelter in which I fell asleep. Several hours later, some men returned to the shelter and took care of my injuries and they gave me food. The next day they took me down the river to find help. The boat trip took seven hours. My father was waiting for me. We held each other before they took me to the hospital.

I was the only survivor of the plane crash”.