Wednesday, January 11, 2012

This Day in History January 11, 1995

A bittersweet story for today indeed.  On this date in 1995, a horrible plane crash occurred.  An Intercontinental Airlines plane with 52 passengers and crew aboard was flying from Bogota, Columbia to the Columbian resort city of Cartagena.

The pilot was evidently trying to make some kind of emergency landing near a swamp, but instead, for a still unknown reason, it hit a grassy field, exploded, and then fell into a lagoon.  It would seem that this would have killed all people aboard.

But there is an amazing story connected with this.  Nine-year-old Erika Delgado was traveling with her parents and younger brother.  She told her rescuers that right before the plan broke apart, her mother shoved her out of the plane.  She landed on a piece of seaweed that broke her fall.  She was found by a farmer to whom she reportedly said that God had told her to stay where she was until help came.  She only suffered shock and a broken arm.

Later on, she said that when she was crying out for help, someone approached her and ripped the gold necklace from her neck, her only memento from her father. Evidently looters stole things from other bodies from the crash site as well.  When Erika returned to her home, she became a national celebrity and became known as "Little Miss Miracle."

I have no idea where she is now.  She would be around 26 now.  I can't imagine how it would have been growing up after such a trauma happened.  It is indeed a story that is both amazing and sad.  I hope I never experience being the sole survivor of any event.

My information for today's feature comes from these sites:
http://listverse.com/2008/06/18/top-10-sole-survivors-of-a-plane-crash/
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/world/libya.planecrash.survivors_1_plane-air-crash-francesca-lewis/2?_s=PM:WORLD

2 comments:

  1. Wow, that would be incredible to live though. It would be interesting to find out where the girl is now, but I know I would probably try to stay "hiding" so I didn't have to constantly relive the crash. Interesting story!

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  2. What a sad, but inspiring story. I hope the girl was able to lead a normal life after going through such a traumatic experience.

    Thank you for stopping by my blog, and leaving a comment. It was nice to 'meet' you! I hope you are enjoying a great week! :)

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