Sole survivor: Eight days in the jungle after my plane crashed

Sole survivor: Eight days in the jungle after my plane crashed

How a romantic getaway ended in disaster.

Dutch financier Annette Herfkens boarded Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 in November 1992, embarking on what was meant to be a romantic break with her fiancé Willem van der Pas or ‘Pasje’. But fate had other plans. Midway through the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the coastal resort of Nha Trang, the Soviet-built Yakovlev Yak-40 encountered severe weather and slammed into a remote, fog-shrouded mountain ridge in the dense Vietnamese jungle. The impact was catastrophic, killing all 30 other passengers and crew on board, including Annette's beloved Pasje. Incredibly, Annette emerged as the sole survivor of the crash, defying odds in one of the most amazing real-life tales of endurance. Thrown from the wreckage with devastating injuries—including a collapsed lung, a broken jaw, two fractured legs, and a dozen fractures in her hips—she found herself stranded amid the twisted metal and bodies of her fellow travellers. Unable to walk or even crawl far, she endured eight gruelling days in the unforgiving wilderness, battling excruciating pain, dehydration, and the psychological torment of her loss. With no food, she sustained herself solely on rainwater collected from the jungle foliage, her will to live fuelled by sheer determination and fleeting moments of hope that a rescue would come.

Annette’s book is called Turbulence: A True Story of Survival.

Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience.

Our latest mini-series Hold Fast! tells the incredible true story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 15 people on board.

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Episoder(189)

Looking for my son for 58 years, part 1

Looking for my son for 58 years, part 1

Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse's own story is wilder than any romance.An agent once told Lesley Pearse to "write what you know", but her own story is more extraordinary than any of her bestselling novels. In this, the first episode of two, we follow her from playground storyteller to lost teenage girl in 1960s London, to brave single mum determined to go it alone. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar MaddicottGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

28 Okt 202428min

The Wicker Man: Learning to love the film that broke us

The Wicker Man: Learning to love the film that broke us

Dominic and Justin Hardy were young boys when their father, the director Robin Hardy, began a gruelling and obsessive quest to make The Wicker Man. Now the film is regarded as a masterpiece and beloved by fans across the world, but when it was first released in 1973, it was a major flop. The fallout for the Hardy family was painful, tearing them apart. It would take many decades, a bundle of lost letters and another burning effigy for Dominic and Justin to finally come to terms with the past – and this iconic movie.Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Maryam MarufGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

20 Okt 202445min

"He counted 3, 2, 1 – then stabbed me in the heart"

"He counted 3, 2, 1 – then stabbed me in the heart"

Kieran Quinlan was on his way to a party when a man with a knife attacked him. Kieran Quinlan was an aspiring boxer living in his hometown of Birmingham in the UK. When he was 17 he was on the bus heading to a party when a man confronted him. The man counted down: 3, 2, 1 – before stabbing Kieran through his lung and into his heart. Kieran should have died that night. But instead he survived, spending the next decade rebuilding his life, transforming his body and his mind in the process. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: May Cameron Editor: Munazza KhanGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

13 Okt 202441min

The US’s first black astronaut trainee reaches space at 90

The US’s first black astronaut trainee reaches space at 90

In May 2024, 90-year-old Ed Dwight Jr. from Kansas City, Missouri travelled to the edge of space – he was an honoured guest in the Blue Origin rocket. His trip was 60 years overdue. Ed had been chosen by President John F Kennedy to be the first African-American astronaut at a time when racism was rife and segregation a reality. But JFK’s plans for Ed were scuppered – and Ed had to pick himself up and build a whole new career.Please be aware that this episode contains outdated racial language that may offend.Presenter: Jo FidgenGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

6 Okt 202440min

Love, grief, and an AI chatbot

Love, grief, and an AI chatbot

Joshua created an AI simulation of his deceased fiancée to help him deal with his loss.When gaming enthusiast Joshua Barbeau met Jessica, he knew he had found his soulmate. But his happiness didn't last. Jessica died from a rare health condition aged just 23, leaving Joshua struggling to cope with his grief, and his life. Eight years later, in 2020, while playing around with a website that used AI to create bespoke chatbots, Joshua had an audacious idea. He decided to create a chatbot based on his beloved Jessica. It's an experience that he says helped him finally to find closure.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rebecca VincentGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

29 Sep 202445min

A love story and a battle cry in the Ecuadorian rainforest

A love story and a battle cry in the Ecuadorian rainforest

Nemonte Nenquimo’s passion for her rainforest home, and her love for an unlikely man, propelled her to achieve an historic victory for indigenous people in Ecuador. She took the national government to court to protect 500,000 acres of rainforest from destruction by the oil industry.Nemonte and her husband Mitch Anderson have written a book together called We Will Not Be Saved: A Memoir of Hope and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: May Cameron Voiceover: Cecilia CruzGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

22 Sep 202439min

The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 2

The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 2

Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor.Maxwell Smart was just 11 years old in 1941 when the Nazis took over his town in eastern Poland. One by one his Jewish family were disappeared or killed, but his mother implored him to run for his life just as she and his sister were being loaded onto a German truck. Using his extraordinary ingenuity he managed to survive in remote woodland for the rest of the war, mostly alone, sleeping in improvised shelters and foraging for food. He eventually met another orphaned Jewish boy in the woods, Janek, whose friendship would come to have a profound impact on Maxwell’s life.In this second episode, Maxwell describes how his life changed again after the war was brought to an end and decades later is part of a shocking reunion. A feature film based on Maxwell’s life has been released, it’s called The Boy in the Woods. Presenter: Emily Webb Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Rebecca Vincent Editor: Munazza KhanGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

15 Sep 202430min

The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 1

The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 1

Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor.Maxwell Smart was just 11 years old in 1941 when the Nazis took over his town in eastern Poland. One by one his Jewish family were disappeared or killed, but his mother implored him to run for his life just as she and his sister were being loaded onto a German truck. Using his extraordinary ingenuity he managed to survive in remote woodland for the rest of the war, mostly alone, sleeping in improvised shelters and foraging for food. He eventually met another orphaned Jewish boy in the woods, Janek, whose friendship would come to have a profound impact on Maxwell’s life.A feature film based on Maxwell’s life has been released, it’s called The Boy in the Woods. Presenter: Emily Webb Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Rebecca Vincent Editor: Munazza KhanGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

8 Sep 202441min

Populært innen Samfunn

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
rss-spartsklubben
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
vitnemal
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dannet-uten-piano
alt-fortalt
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-herrepanelet
opptur-med-annette-og-ingeborg
198-land-med-einar-trnquist
den-politiske-situasjonen
min-barneoppdragelse
sektpodden-2