The Dailies

Word of the Day

Rubicund (adj., ROO-bih-kund)

Having a healthy, reddish complexion. Similar to "ruddy," but also including healthiness.

Gif of the Day

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Link of the Day

The woman who survived a 10,000 foot plane crash and 11 days in the jungle

This is one of the more crazy stories we've ever read. In 1971, the day after she received her high school diploma, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke traveled to visit her father in Peru, where he was working in the rainforest. The trip did not go as expected:

The flight was meant to be an hour long. Seated in 19F, it was a smooth ride until the clouds grew darker and the turbulence got worse. Suddenly, the plane was in the midst of a massive thunder storm. By this point, the plane was in a swirl of pitch black clouds and flashes of lightning glistened through the windows. When a lightning bolt struck the motor, the plane broke apart into pieces.

Then everything sped up. “What really happened is something you can only try to reconstruct in your mind,” said Koepcke. There were the loud noises of people’s screams and the motor until all she could hear was the wind in her ears. Still strapped to her seat, Koepcke had only realized she was free-falling for a few moments before she lost consciousness. She fell 10,000 feet down into the middle of the Peruvian rainforest.

Juliane Koepcke had a broken collarbone and deep gash on her calf. But somehow she was alive. And she would spend the next 11 days struggling to stay alive.

You can read the whole thing at All That's Interesting.

TagsStoriesJuliane KoepckePlane crashSurvivalPeruWelcome to the jungle?