15/09/2026
She Walked 11 Days Through the Amazon... Alone 🌿 | Part 2
She fell 10,000 feet from a plane and survived. But that was just the beginning.
For 11 days, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke walked alone through the Amazon rainforest — with a broken collarbone, one eye swollen shut, maggots in her wounds, and no food. Search helicopters flew directly overhead but couldn't see her through the jungle canopy. On Day 10, rescuers gave up. They assumed she was dead.
She never stopped walking.
👉 Watch Part 1 first: [LINK]
🎬 Based on the true story behind:
- "Wings of Hope" (1998) — Werner Herzog documentary
- "Miracles Still Happen" (1974) — Italian drama film
- "When I Fell From the Sky" — Juliane Koepcke's autobiography
📌 Follow for more untold survival stories
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On December 24, 1971, LANSA Flight 508 broke apart mid-air during a thunderstorm over the Peruvian Amazon. 91 of the 92 people on board died. Juliane Koepcke, just 17, fell 10,000 feet strapped to her row of seats — and survived.
What followed was 11 days of solo jungle survival. She followed a creek for days, hoping it would lead to a river and eventually to people. Her father, a zoologist who worked in the Amazon, had taught her this survival technique as a child. That lesson saved her life.
On Day 11, she found a boat and a lumberjack hut along a riverbank. Inside, she found a can of gasoline and used it to remove the maggots from her wounds — another technique her father had taught her. The next morning, three lumberjacks arrived and rescued her.
Juliane's mother, Maria Koepcke, also survived the initial crash — but never made it out of the jungle. Her body was found days later. 14 other passengers also survived the fall but died in the jungle before rescue could reach them.
Director Werner Herzog, who later made the documentary "Wings of Hope" about Juliane's survival, had been booked on LANSA Flight 508 but changed his plans at the last minute due to a schedule change for his film "Aguirre, the Wrath of God."
Juliane Koepcke is alive today. She became a zoologist like her parents and returned to the Amazon to continue their research.
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