Vesna Vulović

Vesna Vulović was a flight attendant for JAT Airways when, on January 26, 1972, her plane, JAT Flight 367, exploded over Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. At an altitude of 33,330 feet (10,160 meters), she was the sole survivor of the 28 passengers and crew members, falling for three minutes, reportedly pinned by a food cart in the tail section.

Discovered by a local villager, she spent days in a coma, suffered a fractured skull, two broken legs, three broken vertebrae, and a fractured pelvis. Paralyzed from the waist down, she miraculously recovered, defying all medical expectations, though she continued to walk with a limp for the rest of her life.

Despite her incredible survival, Vulović had no memory of the incident itself. She became a national hero in Yugoslavia, though she later became an outspoken critic of Slobodan Milošević. While her survival was unprecedented and remarkable, it has no discernible connection to Jewish identity or origin.