At 17, biologist Juliane Diller was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon. [8], In 1989, Koepcke married Erich Diller, a German entomologist who specialises in parasitic wasps. On Christmas Eve of 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke boarded LANSA Flight 508 at the Lima Airport in Peru with her mother, Maria. Koepcke was born in Lima on 10 October 1954, the only child of German zoologists Maria (ne von Mikulicz-Radecki; 19241971) and Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke (19142000). I only had to find this knowledge in my concussion-fogged head.". Juliane Koepcke Somehow Survives A 10,000 Feet Fall. And for that I am so grateful., https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/science/koepcke-diller-panguana-amazon-crash.html, Juliane Diller recently retired as deputy director of the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich. On December 24, 1971, 17-year-old Koepcke and her mother boarded a flight to Iquitos, Perua risky decision that her father had already warned them against. ADVERTISEMENT It was gorgeous, an idyll on the river with trees that bloomed blazing red, she recalled in her memoir. After following a stream to an encampment, local workers eventually found her and were able to administer first aid before returning her to civilization. Royalty-free Creative Video Editorial Archive Custom Content Creative Collections. If you ever get lost in the rainforest, they counseled, find moving water and follow its course to a river, where human settlements are likely to be. Taking grip of her body, she frantically searched for her mother but all in vain. I could hear the planes overhead searching for the wreck but it was a very dense forest and I couldn't see them. Later I found out that she also survived the crash but was badly injured and she couldn't move. She then survived 11 days in the Amazon rainforest by herself. The aircraft had broken apart, separating her from everyone else onboard. Juliane Koepcke, pictured after returning to her home country Germany following the plane crash The flight had been delayed by seven hours, and passengers were keen to get home to begin celebrating the holidays. The next thing she knew, she was falling from the plane and into the canopy below. Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Juliane Koepcke has received more than 4,434,412 page views. On Juliane Koepcke's Last Day Of Survival On the 10th day, with her skin covered in leaves to protect her from mosquitoes and in a hallucinating state, Juliane Koepcke came across a boat and shelter. I hadn't left the plane; the plane had left me.". Video'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. Early, sensational and unflattering portrayals prompted her to avoid media for many years. But then, the hour-long flight turned into a nightmare when a massive thunderstorm sent the small plane hurtling into the trees. On Christmas Eve of 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke boarded a plane with her mother in Peru with the intent of flying to meet her father at his research station in the Amazon rainforest. Starting in the 1970s, Dr. Diller and her father lobbied the government to protect the area from clearing, hunting and colonization. Her survival is unexplainable and considered a modern day miracle. A wild thunderstorm had destroyed the plane she wastravelling inand the row of seats Juliane was still harnessed to twirled through the air as it fell. Juliane Kopcke was the German teenager who was the sole survivor of the crash of LANSA Flight 508 in the Peruvian rainforest. Juliane Koepcke pictured after returning to her native Germany Credit: AP The pair were flying from Peru's capital Lima to the city of Pucallpa in the Amazonian rainforest when their plane hit. She married Erich Diller, in 1989. She survived a two-mile fall and found herself alone in the jungle, just 17. The two were traveling to the research area named Panguana after having attended Koepcke's graduation ball in Lima on what would have only been an hour-long flight. Her parents were working at Lima's Museum of Natural History when she was born. Discover Juliane Koepcke's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. I was completely alone. But just 25 minutes into the ride, tragedy struck. That cause would become Panguana, the oldest biological research station in Peru. Further, the details regarding her height and other body measurements are still under review. Juliane Koepcke will celebrate 69rd birthday on a Tuesday 10th of October 2023. Juliane Koepcke attended a German Peruvian High School. Despite a broken collarbone and some severe cuts on her legsincluding a torn ligament in one of her kneesshe could still walk. Rare sighting of bird 'like Beyonce, Prince and Elvis all turning up at once', 'What else is down there?' She had received her high school diploma the day before the flight and had planned to study zoology like her parents. In December 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke and her mother were traveling to see her father on LANSA Flight 508 when the plane was felled by lightning and . She's a student at Rochester Adams High School in southeastern Michigan, where she is a straight-A student and a member of the . The story of how Juliane Koepcke survived the doomed LANSA Flight 508 still fascinates people todayand for good reason. I had nightmares for a long time, for years, and of course the grief about my mother's death and that of the other people came back again and again. Juliane was home-schooled for two years, receiving her textbooks and homework by mail, until the educational authorities demanded that she return to Lima to finish high school. Her father had warned her that piranhas were only dangerous in the shallows, so she floated mid-stream hoping she would eventually encounter other humans. She Fell Nearly 2 Miles, and Walked Away | New York Times At 17, biologist Juliane Diller was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon. Juliane Diller in 1972, after the accident. It was then that she learned her mother had also survived the initial fall, but died soon afterward due to her injuries. Survival Skills I decided to spend the night there," she said. But one wrong turn and she would walk deeper and deeper into the world's biggest rainforest. They treated my wounds and gave me something to eat and the next day took me back to civilisation. According to an account in Life magazine in 1972, she made her. The 17-year-old was traveling with her mother from Lima, Peru to the eastern city of Pucallpa to visit her father, who was working in the Amazonian Rainforest. Then, she lost consciousness. "I'm a girl who was in the LANSA crash," she said to them in their native tongue. She became a media spectacle and she was not always portrayed in a sensitive light. 78K 78 2.6K 2.6K comments Best Add a Comment Sleeeepy_Hollow 2 yr. ago Dredging crews uncover waste in seemingly clear waterways, Emily was studying law when she had to go to court. Of 170 Electras built, 58 were written off after they crashed or suffered extreme malfunctions mid-air. Everyone aboard Flight 508 died. It was Christmas Day1971, and Juliane, dressed in a torn sleeveless mini-dress and one sandal, had somehow survived a 3kmfall to Earth with relatively minor injuries. But sometimes, very rarely, fate favours a tiny creature. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. 1,089. Juliane was homeschooled at Panguana for several years, but eventually she went to the Peruvian capital of Lima to finish her education. The first man I saw seemed like an angel, said Koepcke. In 1989, she married Erich Diller, an entomologist and an authority on parasitic wasps. Juliane Koepcke. Listen to the programmehere. Much of her administrative work involves keeping industrial and agricultural development at bay. The next thing I knew, I was no longer inside the cabin, Koepcke said. This is the tragic and unbelievable true story of Juliane Koepcke, the teenager who fell 10,000 feet into the jungle and survived. Then check out these amazing survival stories. Ninety other people, including Maria Koepcke, died in the crash. Your IP: Juliane Koepcke's account of survival is a prime example of such unbelievable tales. I pulled out about 30 maggots and was very proud of myself. I grew up knowing that nothing is really safe, not even the solid ground I walked on, Koepcke, who now goes by Dr. Diller, told The New York Times in 2021. Koepcke has said the question continues to haunt her. People gasp as the plane shakes violently," Juliane wrote in her memoir The Girl Who Fell From The Sky. I found a small creek and walked in the water because I knew it was safer. Her biography is available in 19 different languages . All flights were booked except for one with LANSA. CONTENT. Som tonring blev hon 1971 knd som enda verlevande efter en flygkrasch ( LANSA Flight 508 ), och efter att ensam ha tillbringat elva dagar i Amazonas regnskog . Performance & security by Cloudflare. Her father, Hand Wilhelm Koepcke, was a biologist who was working in the city of Pucallpa while her mother, Maria Koepcke, was an ornithologist. They ate their sandwiches and looked at the rainforest from the window beside them. "I lay there, almost like an embryo for the rest of the day and a whole night, until the next morning," she wrote. The next day I heard the voices of several men outside. Juliane was the sole survivor of the crash. And she wasn't even wearing a parachute. In 1971 Juliane, hiking away from the crash site, came upon a creek, which became a stream, which eventually became a river. Juliane finally pried herself from her plane seat and stumbled blindly forward. Juliane Koepcke's Incredible Story of Survival. . She was sunburned, starving and weak, and by the tenth day of her trek, ready to give up. Her voice lowered when she recounted certain moments of the experience. My mother never used polish on her nails," she said. Her parents were stationed several hundred miles away, manning a remote research outpost in the heart of the Amazon. What's the least exercise we can get away with? Strapped aboard plane wreckage hurtling uncontrollably towards Earth, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke had a fleeting thought as she glimpsed the ground 3,000 metres below her. 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke. "I was outside, in the open air. Juliane Koepcke. The jungle was in the midst of its wet season, so it rained relentlessly. It was the first time I had seen a dead body. Juliane Koepcke two nights before the crash at her High School prom Today I found out that a 17 year old girl survived a 2 mile fall from a plane without a parachute, then trekked alone 10 days through the Peruvian rainforest. Kopcke followed a stream for nine days until she found a shelter where a lumberman was able to help her get the rest of the way to civilization. The call of the birds led Juliane to a ghoulish scene. Juliane Koepcke suffered a broken collarbone and a deep calf gash. She also became familiar with nature very early . Juliane Koepcke. To reach Peru, Dr. Koepcke had to first get to a port and inveigle his way onto a trans-Atlantic freighter. The local Peruvian fishermen were terrified by the sight of the skinny, dirty, blonde girl. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. About 25 minutes after takeoff, the plane, an 86-passenger Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop, flew into a thunderstorm and began to shake. Like her parents, she studied biology at the University of Kiel and graduated in 1980. My mother, who was sitting beside me, said, Hopefully, this goes all right, recalled Dr. Diller, who spoke by video from her home outside Munich, where she recently retired as deputy director of the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology.