Aviation history holds many disastrous aircraft crashes, which happened due to numerous reasons. Starting from the terrible weather and technical aircraft failure, finishing with a lack of fuel to reach the destination. Some of the tragic airplane crashes have a miraculous side of the story ‒ the survivors. Some of them followed the safety protocol, others fainted out and got lucky to survive the crash. These stories of survivors truly satisfy the definition of a miracle.
The 12-year-old survivor of Yemenia Flight 626 crash
Bahia Bakari was the only person to survive the Yemenia Flight 626 crash in 2009. The disastrous crash killed 152 people on board, except for 12-year-old Bahia. She survived by holding onto plane wreckage for over 13 hours before rescuers found her in the Indian Ocean.
Knowing that the 12-year-old survivor was barely able to swim, did not have a life vest and managed to survive the crash, Bahia became “the miracle girl” to the world’s media.
The last report of the Yemenia Flight 626 crash concluded that the inappropriate flight control inputs of the crew led to an aerodynamic stall.
The nine-year-old survivor of Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 crash
In 2010, Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 crashed just short of the runway of Tripoli airport in Libya. The sole survivor, 9-year-old Ruben van Assouw, was coming back from a safari with his parents and brother, who were among the 103 killed people.
Ruben was found half a mile away, semi-conscious and still strapped to his airplane seat. Ruben suffered four fractures to his legs and lost a lot of blood, but his head and neck were unharmed. Doctors said several reasons played a role in his extraordinary survival, including where he was seated in the plane.
One of seven survivors of Northern Thunderbird Air flight
Due to an unsecured oil cap on the aircraft, a Northern Thunderbird Air flight crashed on a six-lane street during the rush hour in 2011. The plane was heading to Kelowna, British Columbia. Even though the pilot realized the leak, it was too late to return to the airport.
One of the seven survivors was 49-year-old Carolyn Cross, who blacked out while the plane was falling and woke up after she smelled the fuel. Carolyn managed to drag herself to the door of the plane. Although the survivor experienced numerous injuries, including head trauma, broken ribs, teeth and jaw, eventually, she recovered.
One survivor from the Bombardier CRJ-100 crash
In 2011, Georgian Airways Bombardier CRJ-100 crashed while attempting to land in a thunderstorm at Kinshasa Airport. The passenger jet was heading from Kisangani to Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The accident killed 32 people on board. All of them were part of United Nations staff and peacekeepers.
Only Francis Mwamba, a Congolese journalist, survived the crash. Francis
remembered the aircraft shaking violently before the crash. He blacked out and woke up in the hospital.
Mother and her baby survived the Colombia jungle plane crash
In 2015, a small Cessna plane crashed into the Colombian jungle, killing all people on board, except for 18-year-old Maria Nelly Murillo and her 1-year-old baby boy. After the accident, the Colombian Air Force found the crashed plane and searched for survivors. Five days later, Maria was found about 500 meters from the site of the crash. Maria managed to open the cabin door and run into the jungle as the fire was covering the whole cabin. Although the mother and her baby were treated for burns, dehydration and a broken ankle, miraculously, they survived the plane crash.
One of six survivors of the LaMia Flight 2933 crash
In 2016, LaMia Flight 2933 crash killed 71 people, including most members of the Chapecoense soccer team, other passengers, and most of the crew. After the tragedy, a probe found that the plane did not have enough fuel to reach its destination.
Erwin Tumiri was one of six miraculous survivors of the plane crash. Erwin, who was also a crew member, said that following the protocol has saved his life. The survivor saved himself by putting bags between his legs and setting himself in the fetal position.