Stories of Individuals who survived against all odds

There is no telling when death decides to come calling. You may be healthy and happy one instant, but be faced with a near death experience the next. What matters here is how you manage to overcome all the odds and come out with your life intact. For instance, take a cue from these individuals who have amazingly incredible stories of survival in extreme situations to share.

Aron Ralston

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What started as a routine hike in the Blue John Canyon in Utah turned deadly for Aron Ralston when his arm got jammed into a boulder. After wrestling to free his hand for five days and facing death at the risk of hypothermia, Ralston had no choice but to self-amputate his arm, cutting through the soft tissues and blood vessels with his pocket knife. It was only this macabre act of self-liberation that freed Ralston finally.

Vesna Vulovic

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Death probably decided to evade Yugoslavian stewardess Vesna Vulvoic when the flight she was traveling on exploded and crashed over former Czechoslovakia. All 28 people on board the flight died except Vulovic who managed to enclose herself in a piece of the wreckage which impacted her fall, causing her to go into a coma with a broken skull, arms and legs.

Thomas Magill

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A window cleaner by profession, Thomas Magill accidentally fell from a sky scraper in New York. Magill fell from the 39th floor, but managed to bounce against the back window of a parked car. Apart from multiple bone fractures in his legs, he survived the fall thanks to falling feet first right into the car.

Joan Murray

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Talk about being resuscitated by killer ants! Joan Murray nearly died when both her parachutes failed to launch during a routine jump. Murray hit the ground at 130 kmph and landed right on top of an ant’s nest. As death loomed near her, Murray received a stroke of good luck via the ants who kept on stinging her back to life until she was rescued.

Juliane Koepcke

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Another victim of a flight crash, Juliane Koepcke was ejected into the air when the LANSA Flight 508 she was traveling in blew up mid-air. Luckily, she remained strapped to her seat which managed to break her fall as she fell into the Peruvian rainforest. She was rescued by loggers after 9 days.

Bruce Gordon

Bruce Gordon faced a near impossible situation when his ship smashed into an iceberg in the Arctic in 1757. Gordon managed to find his ship which was floating upside down and used it as a refuge to stay safe from polar bear while living on the rations and supplies on board. He also managed to kill a polar bear and train its baby to hunt for him as well as scare away predators. He stayed this way for many years until the ice floe on which his ship was, floating into Greenland where he was rescued by a group of natives.

We are forced to deal with near death experiences in many instances. Amidst all odds, some of us manage to cheat death and escape with our lives intact, much like these individuals did.

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