This blog is dedicated to Seafearers from allover. Me being a seaman for 21 years and currently working with Container company ashore .
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
10 People Who Survived the Impossible
10 People Who Survived the Impossible
Vesna Vulovic: The Stewardess Who Survived a bombing at 33,000 feet
On January 26, 1972, a Yugoslav Airlines DC-9 departed from Copenhagen for Belgrade (via Zagreb) with 28 passengers and crew. At an altitude of approximately 33,000 feet, a bomb in the cargo section planted by the Ustashe Croatian separatist group exploded. The plane disintegrated and fell into the mountains below.
In what must be one of the greatest survival stories of all time, stewardess Vesna Vulovic survived the 33,000 foot descent in the tail section of the plane.
The 22 year old Vulovic wasn't even supposed to be on that plane. As she later stated in an interview, it was another Vesna who was supposed to be on that flight but she was happy with the mix-up as it allowed her to make her first trip to Denmark. She had a fractured skull, two broken legs, and three broken vertebrae - one of which was crushed and left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Vulovic spent several months in and out of hospitals and operations allowed her to walk once again. She became a celebrity when the Guinness Book of World Records invited her to a ceremony in London with Paul McCartney (she is listed for surviving the longest fall without a parachute). Vulovic is now a national hero in Serbia and spent the late 90s marching in Belgrade against Slobodan Milosovic.
Frane Selak: Escaped from a derailed train, a door-less plane, a bus crash, a car into flames, another 2 car accidents... then won Million Dollar lottery!
Luck has always been on his side or vice versa for croatian music teacher Frane Selak (born in 1929), who is well known around the world for as many fatal accidents as spectacular escapes. The first of his numerous near-death experiences began on a cold January day in 1962, when Selak was on a train to Dubrovnik. Seldom had Selak thought where he was heading until odyssey terminated, with the train suddenly plunging into the icy river killing 17 passengers. Although he managed to escape, not without a broken arm, minor scratches and bruises.
A year later, Selak was flying from Zagreb to Rijeka when abruptly a door blew away from the cockpit of the plane, as he was blown off the plane. The accident took a tool of 19 people; however, Selak was lucky enough to land on a haystack, to wake up in hospital with minor injuries. It was in 1966 that he met with the third misadventure while traveling on a bus that crashed and plunged into a river. There were four people dead, astonishingly Selak managed to escape unharmed.
In 1970, Selak was driving along when all of a sudden his car caught fire. He was fortunate again to have left the car before the fuel tank exploded. Three years later, Selak’s another car caught fire, blowing flames through the air vents. To a greater dismay, Selak only injury was that he lost most of his hair. He named “Lucky” by his friends.
In 1995, Selak was in Zagreb when a bus hit him, this time again it was nothing more for the man, except a few injuries. The following year, while driving through a mountain road, Selak drove off a guardrail to escape an oncoming truck and landed on a tree to watch his car explode 300 feet below.
Surprisingly, with the turn of events in 2003, Selak won $1,000,000 dollars in the Croatian lottery, when he was heard saying “I know God was watching me over all these years.” Selak feels he can be looked upon either as “the world’s unluckiest man, or the world’s luckiest man,” however he prefers the latter.
Andes Survivors: Crashed on the Andes Mountains, lasted 72 days
On Friday the 13th of October, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force twin turboprop Fairchild FH-227D was flying over the Andes carrying Stella Maris College's "Old Christians" rugby union team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to play a match in Santiago, Chile. When the plane was flying through the pass in the mountains, the pilot notified air controllers in Santiago that he was over Curicó, Chile, and was cleared to descend. This would prove to be a fatal error. Since the pass was covered by the clouds, the pilots had to rely on the usual time required to cross the pass (dead reckoning). However, they failed to take into account strong headwinds that ultimately slowed the plane and increased the time required to complete the crossing. As a result, the turn and descent was initiated too soon, before the plane had passed through the mountains. Dipping into the cloud cover while still over the mountains, the Fairchild soon crashed on an unnamed peak (later called Glacier of Tears), located between Chile and Argentina.
Twelve people died in the crash. Survivors not only had to withstand the hunger and the fearful Mountains, but also 30 degree-below-zero temperatures during the night. They tried to survive with the scarce food reserves they had until being rescued, but they lost their hope when heard that the search had ceased on the radio. Desperate owing to the lack of food and physically exhausted, they were forced to feed themselves on their death partners to keep on living. Finally fed up with the extremely low temperatures and the avalanche threats, as well as anguished by the continuos deaths of their partners and the bad rescue prospects, two of them decided to cross the huge mountains to reach Chile. On 22nd of December of 1972, after being isolated for 72 days, the World found out and knew there were 16 survivors that beat Death in the Andes mountains.
Anatoli Bugorski: The Man Who Survived a Beam from a Particle Accelerator
As a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Bugorski used to work with the largest Soviet particle accelerator, the Synchrotron U-70. On July 13, 1978, Bugorski was checking a malfunctioning piece of equipment when an accident occurred due to failed safety mechanisms. Bugorski was leaning over the piece of equipment when he stuck his head in the part through which the proton beam was running. Reportedly, he saw a flash “brighter than a thousand suns”, but did not feel any pain. The beam measured about 200,000 rads when it entered Bugorski’s skull, and about 300,000 rads when it exited after colliding with the inside of his head.
The left half of Bugorski’s face swelled up beyond recognition, and over the next several days started peeling off, showing the path that the proton beam (moving near the speed of light) had burned through parts of his face, his bone, and the brain tissue underneath. As it was believed that about 500 to 600 rads is enough to kill a person, Bugorski was taken to a clinic in Moscow where the doctors could observe his expected demise. However, Bugorski survived and even completed his Ph.D.. There was virtually no damage to his intellectual capacity, but the fatigue of mental work increased markedly. Bugroski completely lost hearing in the left ear and only a constant, unpleasant internal noise remained. The left half of his face was frozen, due to the destruction of nerves, and does not age. He is able to function perfectly well, save the fact that he has occasional petit mal seizures and very occasional grand mal seizures.
Roy Sullivan: Struck by Lightning 7 Times
Roy Sullivan was a Virginia Forest Ranger who had an incredible attraction to lightning... or rather it had an attraction to him. Over his 36-year career as a ranger, Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times - and survived each jolt, but not unscathed. His seventh strike put him in the Guinness Book of World Records:
In 1942, the first lightning strike shot through Sullivan's leg and knocked his big toenail off.
In 1969, a second strike burned off his eyebrows and knocked him unconscious.
In 1970, another strike left his shoulder seared.
In 1972 his hair was set on fire and Roy had to dump a bucket of water over his head to cool off.
On August 7, 1973, another bolt ripped through his hat and hit him on the head, set his hair on fire again, threw him out of his truck and knocked his left shoe off.
On June 5, 1976, a sixth strike in 1976 left him with an injured ankle.
On June 25th, 1977, the last lightning bolt to hit Roy Sullivan sent him to the hospital with chest and stomach burns in 1977.
His wife was also struck once, when a sudden storm welled up as she and her husband were out hanging wash on the back yard clothesline. On September 28, 1983, Roy Sullivan died at age 71, reportedly of a self-inflicted gunshot wound over troubles unrelated to lightning.
Simon Yates: Conquered Siula Grande, dropped 100ft into an Ice Crevasse, crawled 3 days
Simon Yates and Joe Simpson were the first to scale the west peak of the Siula Grande, in the Peruvian Andes. Disaster struck on the way down, and Yates was forced to let a badly wounded Simpson drop 100 feet into an ice crevasse. Simpson survived the fall and spent three days crawling back to base camp.
Truman Duncan: Cut in Two by a Train
Railroad switchman Truman Duncan fell off the front of a moving train car. He was swept underneath and cut in two. Despite losing both legs and a kidney, Duncan called the paramedics on his cell phone, survived a 45-minute wait, and then persevered through 23 surgeries.
Aron Ralston: Amputated his lower right Arm to Survive the Mountains
On May 2003, while Aron Ralston was on a canyoneering trip in Blue John Canyon (near Moab, Utah), a boulder fell and pinned his right forearm, crushing it.
Over five days of trying to lift and break the boulder, desperation took him to great measures like carving his name, date of birth and date of death into the boulder, drinking his own urine because of lack of water and videotaping his last goodbyes to his family. Finally, a dehydrated and delirious Ralston decided to bow his arm against a chockstone and snap the radius and ulna bones. Using the dull blade on his multiuse tool, he cut the soft tissue around the break. He then used the tool's pliers to tear at the tougher tendons. After Ralston was rescued, his arm was retrieved by park authorities and removed from under the boulder. It was cremated and given to Ralston. He returned to the boulder and left the ashes there.
Robert Evans: Survived Being Hit by Car, Then Train Hours Later
"He got two ambulance rides last night," said the police. "It's an extreme oddity that someone is hit by a car and a train on the same night. I can't imagine that this has ever happened before in Boulder." An early morning of September 2008, 46-year-old homeless man Robert Evans had a hit-and-run car accident. An then, when he was walking back from a hospital to his camp, he was knocked off a narrow railroad bridge into a creek by a train, surviving the second accident in seven hours. Police said Evans was hit by the railing of a stairway on the side of the train. The railroad bridge is only wide enough to accommodate the train tracks and is not intended for pedestrians or other traffic.
Mauro Prosperi: Survived 9 days in the Sahara Desert
Prosperi, a keen endurance runner, took part in the 1994 Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands) in Morocco. Part way through the 6-day 233 kilometre event a sandstorm caused Prosperi to lose his way. He ended up disoriented and ran in the wrong direction, ultimately running several hundred kilometres into Algeria. After 36 hours he ran out of food and water. He survived by drinking his own urine and eating bats resident in an abandoned mosque and the occasional snake found in the desert.
Not wishing to die a long drawn out death, Prosperi attempted to commit suicide in the mosque by slitting his wrists with a pen knife he had with him. The attempt failed - lack of water had caused Prosperi's blood to thicken and clotted the wound before he died.
After nine days alone in the desert he was found by a nomadic family and taken to an Algerian military camp and from there to a hospital. He was 186 miles off route, and reportedly had lost between 30 and 40 pounds (18 kg) in body weight.
I know that this comes as a shock, seeing as the sun is powered by the most powerful fusion reaction we can easily wrap our paltry little minds around, but the tsunamis of hot gas moving around its surface were filmed, and they move really, really fast.
Image from NASA
Considering that we didn’t even recognize that this phenomena existed until the 1990s, I think it’s pretty impressive that it took less than 20 years to capture it on film.
Using a spacecraft called STEREO, NASA has determined that these waves of hot gas release two billion times the ANNUAL energy consumption of the entire planet (non-Earth Hour, har har) in a fraction of a second.
In that same fraction of a second, they wave will also have traversed nearly one million miles, as they move at a speed that is so great that they’re blazing over the area of our planet in less than the blink of an eye, according to the STEREO team.
Unlike tsunamis on earth, we don’t yet totally know why they occur– explosions inside the sun, of course, but how, and why, are mysteries– but at least we have really, totally awesome video here.
Image from NASA. Not our sun, but you get the point.
I know - who would have thought that a ball of gas so hot we can measure, but not yet properly fathom, be put off by its fusion-powered viciousness? The sun is having a bad week, and we should all be paying attention, because it’s currently suffering quake tremors hundreds of times larger than our entire planet, and launching solar flares that are making me think about buying a higher SPF sunblock.
The ESA and NASA-sponsored probe SOHO was observing the sun, which was calmly blazing along at 15 million degrees Celsius, when this month it observed a series of solar flares reaching up into the sky, which in turn triggered the terrible solar earthquakes. The most scientifically interesting were 5-minute long monsters which covered more geographic territory than the planet Jupiter several times over, and left our flaming giant quaking as though it was a bell that had just been struck.
The flares, which are powerful towers of gas pulled away from the sun by its magnetic field, are among the most spectacular celestial phenomena, and can easily reach earth - not with flaming death, but via a proton cloud or coronal ejection which can punish aircraft navigation systems and other electronics, or cause the Aurora Borealis
In the last month major volcanic activity has affected people in locations all over the globe: we take a look at two of the most serious recent eruptions.
Melipeuco, Chile
Thousands live in daily terror of the snow-capped Llaima volcano in Melipeuco, Chile. The ski industry thrives on the surrounding slopes, one of the most famous summer skiing destinations, yet the volcano is one of the most volatile in South America.
Just before dawn last Thursday a jet of hot pyroclastic rock was spewed 1,300 feet into the air, only a week after lava had flowed down one of its sides. Dozens were evacuated, many losing their livelihoods as property and public amenities were destroyed. The government may have imposed a red alert on the area but those who feed their families by working there have no choice but to return to the heart of the danger.
This is not the first time residents and tourists have been affected: on New Year’s Day a spectacular eruption forced the evacuation of much of the surrounding Conguillo National Park - a park that is today mainly off-limits.
Yet the molten rocks and gas are not the only hazards. There are fears that a large eruption could melt the snow that envelops the area, causing nearby rivers to burst their banks and flood neighbouring communities. There is no way of knowing if and when it might erupt again, “activity is going up and down very fast,” said Hugo Moreno, a geologist and volcano expert with state mining and geology service Sernageomin.
The 2000 volcanoes in Chile are some of the world’s most active, with around 50 having already erupted and a further 500 deemed potentially active.
Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Ten people were evacuated by the U.S. Coast Guard last Saturday after the Okmok volcano erupted on Umnak Island, sending a cloud of ash 35,000 feet into the air. Residents in Unalaska and Dutch Port reported light ashfall during the eruption, which lasted from noon through Saturday night.
Shortly after the eruption, the residents of the island’s cattle ranch, located close to the volcano, placed a call seeking evacuation before a fishing vessel whisked them to the safety of Unalaska, away from the 3250 feet volcano.
Jennifer Adleman, a geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said: “There have been reports of eye irritation and people being able to taste it, if you will.” Two airline flights were cancelled as a result of the eruption.
Since 1805 Okmok has been highly active, with eruptions occurring roughly every 5 years. The last was in 1997 and produced large clouds of ash and lava that flowed five miles from the peak and there is likely to be more in the near future.
We’re used to seeing stunning images of cascading waterfalls in all their fluid glory, but have you ever wondered how they would look if Jack Frost was let loose on them? Well, you need wait no longer as we have compiled a range of fantastic frozen waterfalls.
1. This enchanting image of an ice waterfall perfectly captures the force and flow of the water underneath the ice, making it hard to comprehend how it ever manages to free
ze. photogapher unknown
2. Ice climbers flock to The Fang in Vail, Colorado. The enormous ice pillar forms from the cascading waterfall only on exceptionally cold winters, and when it does the column can measure up to 50 meters high and has been known to have a base measuring 8 meters wide. photographer unknown
3. If you think climbing an ice waterfall is scary, imagine the fear factor when part of the cascade breaks off and collapses to the ground mere meters from you and your buddy. That’s exactly what happened climbers Albert Leichtfried and Markus Bendler on their ascent of a frozen waterfall near Hokkaido, Japan. Their friend managed to capture the frightening moment on camera. Both climbers made it to safety soon after. Image: Herman Erberr
4. Thick layers of ice sit on St Louis Falls in Beauharnois, Quebec. The area is home to one of the largest hydroelectric generating stations in the world. Image: Eric Begin
5. This fantastic shot shows the waterfall free
zing from outside in; there’s still a considerable waterfall flowing within the ice lume. Image: hightechredneck
6. Undulating waves and nodules of ice give this waterfall in Starved Rock State Park, Illinois, such wonderful texture. Image: leroidude
7. This random waterfall was discovered on the road side of a seldom travelled road near Hamilton, Canada. Image: Martin Cathrae
8. The folds at the bottom of this waterfall demonstrate how slowly waterfalls can free
ze, and are in stark contrast to the jagged, spiky icicles hanging from the edge of the rock. Image: slieb25
9. This great image was taken in Oak Creek Canyon near a place called Temple of Mother Earth on the West Fork Trail, Sedona, Arizona. Image: Eileen Nauman
10. A simply fabulous shot from the bottom of the ice waterfall looking up. Just look how the ice has built up from the spray on surrounding twigs. That’s what you call natural beauty. Image: Stefan Gara
Vesna Vulovic: The Stewardess Who Survived a bombing at 33,000 feet
Frane Selak: Escaped from a derailed train, a door-less plane, a bus crash, a car into flames, another 2 car accidents... then won Million Dollar lottery!
Andes Survivors: Crashed on the Andes Mountains, lasted 72 days
Anatoli Bugorski: The Man Who Survived a Beam from a Particle Accelerator
Roy Sullivan: Struck by Lightning 7 Times
Simon Yates: Conquered Siula Grande, dropped 100ft into an Ice Crevasse, crawled 3 days
Truman Duncan: Cut in Two by a Train
Aron Ralston: Amputated his lower right Arm to Survive the Mountains
Robert Evans: Survived Being Hit by Car, Then Train Hours Later
Mauro Prosperi: Survived 9 days in the Sahara Desert
1. Landscapes Devoured by Lava >
2. Objects Engulfed in Pyroclastic Ash >
3. Lava Eating Roads >
