Commercial aircraft crashes involving the tragic deaths of passengers never fail to gain the attention of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The often highly dramatic events seem to strike a chord with the public perhaps because they highlight the fragility of life when travelling on exciting adventures or a feeling that the victims could have been anyone of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But where there is extreme pain and suffering there are often stories of miracles and the human instinct to survive against the odds\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
For those that survive plane crashes when everyone around them, including loved ones, perish, the psychological turmoil that follows can be an incredible weight to bear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Survivors guilt\u2019 can lead to feelings of distress in which they may feel responsible and that they are someway to blame for the deaths of others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A 2016 study<\/a> by Free University Amsterdam found that following a plane crash a significant proportion of survivors suffer posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n After working with 82 survivors of a 2009 plane crash near Amsterdam the study found that two months after the event 46% were at risk of PTSD and 32% of depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n A further 76 survivors from the same crash were questioned nine months after the event and found that 47% were at risk of PTSD and 35% of depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the last 50 years, it is thought that there have been fewer than 30 sole survivors from commercial flights that crashed killing everybody onboard with the exception of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n While their survival is astonishing, their testimony of what happened and how they now view life through a different lens is equally captivating and inspiring.\u00a0<\/p>\n Four-year-old Cecelia Cichan from Tempe, Arizona, was travelling with her mother, father and six-year-old brother on Northwest Airlines Flight 255 on August 16, 1987, when the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n The MD-80, registered N312RC, was scheduled to land at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) but ran into difficulties after takeoff, colliding with obstacles northeast of the runway.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the Federal Aviation Administration<\/a> (FAA), the MD-80 \u201cbroke up as it slid across the ground, and post-impact fires erupted along the wreckage path\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sole Survivors: Cecelia Cichan, Age 4. Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (1987). Deaths 156. pic.twitter.com\/3os8NCeqjw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Luke\u270d\ud83c\udffb (past aviation account \u2708\ufe0f) (@Drawingyterss) November 6, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the ensuing mayhem, all six crewmembers, 148 passengers and two people on a road adjacent to the airport died but against the odds young Cecelia Cichan survived despite being seriously injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n Deputy James Arnold of the Wayne County Sheriff\u2019s office found the four-year-old after,\u00a0assisted by John Thiede from the Romulus Fire Department\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a seat upside down, and we moved the chair and checked underneath the chair. When we looked, a hand was coming out from the chair that she was in,\u201d Thiede told CBS<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In hospital Cecelia Cichan underwent four skin grafts for severe burns and received treatment after suffering a fracture to her skull and collarbone and a broken left leg.\u00a0<\/p>\n The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew\u2019s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure that the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, an absence of electrical power to the aircraft\u2019s takeoff warning system meant the flight crew were not advised that the plane was configured properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cecelia Cichan was looked after by her aunt and uncle in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was mainly protected from the media spotlight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On this day in 1987: \u2014 Ken Coleman (@HistoryLivesDet) August 16, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 2013, Cecelia, now Cecelia Crocker following a marriage, spoke about the crash for a documentary called \u2018Sole Survivor\u2019 after remaining silent for years. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think about the accident every day. It\u2019s kind of hard not to think about it when I look in the mirror. I have visual scars. My arms and my legs. And I have a scar on my forehead. I got this tattoo (of a plane) as a reminder of where I\u2019ve come from. So many scars were put on my body against my will, and I decided to put this on my body for myself,\u201d said Cecilia Crocker in the documentary.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the interview Cecelia expressed how feelings of guilt for surviving the crash have developed over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I realized I was the only person to survive that plane crash, I was maybe in middle school, high school, maybe, being an adolescent and confused. So, it was just extra stress for me. I remember feeling angry and survivor\u2019s guilt. \u2018Why didn\u2019t my brother survive? Why didn\u2019t anybody? Why me?\u2019\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The incredible survivor also revealed that flying doesn\u2019t scare her despite the tragedy having such a huge impact on her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have this mentality where if something bad happened to me once on a plane, it\u2019s not going to happen again. The odds are just astronomical,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 30, 2009, 12-year-old Bahia Bakari was flying from France with her mother to Comoros, an <\/strong>archipelagic country off the east coast of Mozambique, to visit relatives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Yemenia Airways Airbus A310-300, registered 7O-ADJ, flew from Sanaa in Yemen and was approaching Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (HAH), when it crashed at full throttle into the Indian Ocean at 01:50, local time.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the aircraft went down there were 142 passengers and 11 crewmembers onboard, many who had boarded in Paris and Marseille on a connecting flight into Yemen.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Bahia Bakari fought for her survival in the dark, choppy waters she had no idea that she was the sole survivor and her mother along with 151 people had perished.\u00a0<\/p>\n For 10 hours the 12-year-old clung to aircraft wreckage before she was plucked from the ocean by a rescue team.\u00a0<\/p>\n The day after the tragedy, Bahia Bakari\u2019s father, Kassim, told the French media that his daughter had suffered a fractured collarbone and cuts and bruises to her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI asked her what happened, and she said: \u2018We saw the plane fall in the water. I found myself in the water. I was hearing people speak but I couldn\u2019t see anyone. I was in the dark. I couldn\u2019t see anything. Daddy, I couldn\u2019t swim very well. I grabbed on to something, but I don\u2019t know what\u2019,\u201d Kassim Bakari said after speaking to his daughter on the telephone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/a> reported that after visiting the survivor Alain Joyandet, the French co-operation secretary, said that Bahia Bakari had shown \u201cincredible physical and moral strength\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cShe is physically out of danger, she is evidently very traumatized,\u201d Joyandet added.\u00a0<\/p>\n In April 2012, Bahia Bakari spoke out for the first time and described how the Airbus A310 was \u201cshaking\u201d before the aircraft crashed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI remember that I was sat next to my mother, who was tired, and so was I. There were lots of people sleeping in the plane [\u2026] I saw by the porthole the plane was shaking. We were asked to fasten our seat belts, not because of turbulence, but because we were about to land,\u201d Bahia Bakari told a French radio station. \u00a0<\/p>\n She explained that she had the feeling something was wrong as she had never experienced an aircraft vibrate so much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In the water she described there being choppy waves and for a while she could hear other people still alive nearby, but she could not see them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I found myself back in the water, I said to myself that it was necessary to stay awake and that rescuers would not be late arriving. But I stayed awake, and I saw nothing. Then I fell asleep. In the morning, I again remained hopeful. But then I said to myself, that\u2019s that, they\u2019re not going to find me,\u201d said Bahia Bakar.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc42Bahia Bakari,yon j\u00e8n rescape frans\u00e8z\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 kitap vrayaje ak manmanl Ab\u00f2 v\u00f2l\ud83d\udeeb Yemenia 626, yon Airbus A310,kite esploze 153, pasaj\u00e8 nan nuit ki te 30 jen 2009, nan okseyan endyen nan rejyon n\u00f2 peyi comore\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf2an afrik, Bahia Bakari ta pral sove par yon pech\u00e8 Comorien\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf2apr\u00e8 9\u00e8d tan\ud83d\udc42. pic.twitter.com\/2CeDjsUd00<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 PLAToA\ud83c\udfa4\ud83c\udfa7 (@PlatoA_) October 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 2022, Bahia Bakar gave evidence as part of a French trial against Yemenia where she told the court more about the lead up to the crash.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to <\/em>Agence France-Presse<\/a>, she said that while she was in the water she had \u201cthe taste of jet fuel\u201d in her mouth and that she was unsure how she \u201cwas going to get through this\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n In front of more than 100 relatives of the crash victims, Bahia Bakar described how the flight \u201cwent normally\u201d until the decent into Comoros began. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI started to feel the turbulence, but nobody was reacting much, so I told myself it must be normal [\u2026] I felt something like an electric shock go through my body. There\u2019s a black hole between the moment when I was seated in the plane and the moment I found myself in the water,\u201d she told the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n She later added: \u201cI realized that voices were calling for help in Comorian, and I cried out a bit but without much hope, because there was nothing but water around me and I couldn\u2019t see anyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When explaining how she got through the ordeal Bahia Bakar told the court she was thinking of her \u201cincredibly protective\u201d mother and that gave her the strength to hold on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Juliane Koepcke was 17 years old when she boarded Lineas A\u00e9reas Nacionales SA (commonly known as LANSA) Flight 508 on December 24, 1971, in Lima, Peru, with her mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n Including Juliane Koepcke there were 86 passengers and six crewmembers on board the Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop that was scheduled to fly to Pucallpa and then on to Iquitos, both in Peru.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview with CNN<\/a> in 2009, the\u00a0dual German Peruvian\u00a0national said she and her mother had reservations about LANSA\u2019s safety record but they wanted to be with her father, who ran a research station in the Amazon Rainforest, for Christmas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n During the flight, the aircraft encountered thunderstorms and heavy turbulence resulting in the engine being struck by lightning and right wing tearing off the plane. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThen we flew into heavy clouds and the plane started shaking. My mother was very nervous. Then to the right we saw a bright flash and the plane went into a nose dive. My mother said, \u2018This is it!\u2019,\u201d Juliane Koepcke told CNN. \u00a0<\/p>\n #OTD<\/a> in 1971: LANSA Flight 508, an L-188 Electra, crashes in Puerto Inca (Peru), 91 die. Plane was hit by lightning and fell in the jungle. Lone survivor, 17 yo Juliane Koepcke, used survival skills to make her way out of the location until she was found by locals, 11 days later. pic.twitter.com\/qvlskz8oVK<\/a><\/p>\nCecelia Cichan\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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More than 150 people are killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes while trying to take off from @DTWeetin<\/a>. Lone survivor is 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan who sustains serious injuries. It is the second-deadliest aviation accident in the United States. pic.twitter.com\/X4aUEcrRTY<\/a><\/p>\nBahia Bakari\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Yemenia](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/04\/Yemenia-Airbus-7O-ADJ-1200x800.jpg\" "\\"Yemenia")
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Juliane Koepcke\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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![\"Juliane](\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/images\/2025\/04\/Juliane-Koepcke-1200x800.jpg\" "\\"Juliane")