Vesna Vulovic, a Serbian flight attendant who survived a 10,000-meter plunge after her plane exploded mid-air in 1972, has died at the age of 66.
Vulovic was found dead by her friends in her apartment in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, state television reported on December 24. The cause of her death was not immediately known.
Vulovic was 22 and working as a stewardess on board JAT Yugoslav Airlines on January 26, 1972, when the Douglas DC-9 plane blew up mid-air due to a suspected terrorist bomb.
Vulovic plummeted 10 kilometers to the snowy mountains of then-Czechoslovakia below. She suffered severe injuries, including a fractured skull and two broken legs.
All 27 other people aboard the flight were killed.
Vulovic entered the Guinness Book of Records for "the highest fall survived without a parachute."
Several years later, Vulovic said that despite the crash she continued to “enjoy travelling and have no fear of flying.”
It was suspected that the explosive device was planted inside the cargo section of the plane during a scheduled stopover in Denmark, but no arrests were ever made.
