List of sole survivors of airline accidents or incidents
This List of sole survivors of airline accidents includes sole survivors of airline incidents that are associated with ten or more fatalities. The term sole survivor for the purpose of this list is a person who survived an aircraft incident in which all other people on board the aircraft died as a direct result of the incident. This list does not include initial sole survivors who later died due to injuries sustained during the airline incident.
Notable examples
The earliest known sole survivor is Linda McDonald. On 5 September 1936, she survived a Skyways sightseeing plane crash that killed 10 other people, including her boyfriend.[1]
The youngest sole survivor is Chanayuth Nim-anong who on 3 September 1997, survived a crash when he was just 14 months old. He was the sole survivor of Vietnam Airlines Flight 815, which had 65 deaths in total. The oldest sole survivor is Alexander Sizov, who survived a crash at 52 years old. He was the sole survivor (and a crew member) of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which crashed on 7 September 2011, with 44 fatalities.
Another sole survivor is a former Serbian flight attendant, Vesna Vulović. According to the Guinness Book of Records she holds the record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute at 10,160 metres (33,330 ft). There was some controversy in 2009 when it was reported that her story might have been communist propaganda, but black box data strongly supported the official story.[2]
One of the more controversial lone survivors was Huang Yu (Chinese: 黃裕, Hanyu Pinyin: Huáng Yù) who tried to hijack the Cathay Pacific aircraft Miss Macao in 1948 but ended up crashing the plane killing the other 25 people on board.[3]
The deadliest aviation disaster to have a sole survivor involved the collision between a Japan Air Self-Defense Force North American F-86 Sabre and a Boeing 727-200 over Shizukuishi, Iwate, Japan on 30 July 1971. The crash killed all 162 on board the Boeing 727, with the sole survivor being the pilot of the F-86 Sabre, a 22-year-old man named Yoshimi Ichikawa.[4] The deadliest aviation accident involving a single aircraft which had a sole survivor was Northwest Airlines Flight 255, which crashed in Romulus, Michigan on 16 August 1987, killing 154 out of the 155 people on board the aircraft, as well as two people on the ground. The sole survivor of the crash was a 4-year-old girl named Cecelia Cichan, who was seriously injured.[5]
List
# | Name of sole survivor | Age on date of accident | Passenger or Crew | Operator | Flight / information | Date | No. of fatalities | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Linda McDonald | 17 | P | Skyways | Skyways sightseeing plane disaster | 5 September 1936 | 10 | [1] |
2 | Clarence Bates | 41 | C | Northwest Airlines | Northwest Airlines Flight 5 | 30 October 1941 | 14 | [6][7] |
3 | Lt Andrew Jack | 24 | C | RAF | RAF Short Sunderland flying boat crash killing Prince George, Duke of Kent, at August 1942 Dunbeath Air Crash | 25 August 1942 | 15 | [8] |
4 | John Alfred Howard | 26 | P | Pan American-Grace Airways | Flight 9 | 22 January 1943 | 14 | [9] |
5 | Foye Kenneth Roberts | 22 | P | U.S. Army Air Forces | Bakers Creek air crash | 14 June 1943 | 40 | [10] |
6 | Eduard Prchal | 32 | C | RAF | Gibraltar B-24 crash | 4 July 1943 | 10 | |
7 | Peter Link | 3 | P | Trans-Luxury Airlines | California Trans-Luxury Airlines crash | 5 September 1946 | 20 | [11] |
8 | William Ellis Keyes, Jr. | 25 | P | Eastern Airlines | Flight 665 | 12 January 1947 | 18 | [12] |
9 | Paul Ashton Vick | 18 months | P | China National Aviation Corporation | Hankou crash | 28 January 1947 | 25 | [13] |
10 | Eugene Leonard | 38 | P | Air France | Lisbon mountain crash | 1 February 1947 | 15 | [14] |
11 | Tripolina Meo | 33 | P | Delta Air Lines | Flight 705 | 10 March 1948 | 12 | [15][16] |
12 | Mark Worst | P | Pan Am | Flight 1–10 | 15 April 1948 | 30 | [17][18] | |
13 | Moutafis | P | Sabena | Douglas DC-4 crash | 12 May 1948 | 31 | [19][20] | |
14 | Huang Yu (Chinese: 黃裕, Hanyu Pinyin: Huáng Yù, Cantonese: Wong Yu) | 24 | P | Cathay Pacific | Miss Macao | 17 July 1948 | 25 | [3] |
15 | Erick Rios Bridoux | 28 | C | Eastern Air Lines/Bolivian Air Force | Mid-air collision with Flight 537 | 1 November 1949 | 55 | [21] |
16 | Isaac Allal | 12 | P | Aero Holland | Hurum air disaster | 20 November 1949 | 34 | [22][23] |
17 | Olga Rada | 10 | P | LANSA | Galeras Douglas C-47 crash | 24 May 1950 | 25 | [24][25] |
18 | Sgt. Haru Sazaki | P | U.S. Air Force | Douglas C-47 crash | 27 July 1950 | 25 | [26][27] | |
19 | P/O P. D. Cliff | P | RAF | Aldbury Valetta accident | 6 January 1954 | 16 | [28] | |
20 | Concetta Finamore | P | Linee Aeree Italiane | LAI Flight 451 | 24 November 1956 | 34 | ||
21 | Néstor Mata | 31 | P | Philippine Air Force | Cebu Douglas C-47 crash | 17 March 1957 | 25 | [29] |
22 | P | Eagle Aviation Limited | Blackbushe Viking accident | 1 May 1957 | 34 | |||
23 | P | Austral Líneas Aéreas | Flight 205 | 16 January 1959 | 51 | [30] | ||
24 | Ernest P. "Phil" Bradley | 33 | P | Piedmont Airlines | Flight 349 | 30 October 1959 | 26 | [31][32] |
25 | Louis Matarazzo | P | Allegheny Airlines | Flight 371 | 1 December 1959 | 25 | [33] | |
26 | Lt. Joseph "Leo" Guenet | 29 | C | U.S. Air Force | USAF Lockheed EC-121H Super Constellation crash | 25 April 1967 | 15 | [34] |
27 | P | Aeroflot | Flight 15 | 29 February 1968 | 83 | [35] | ||
28 | P | Air Vietnam/US Air Force | Mid-air collision with Air Vietnam C-54D (XV-NUG) | 20 September 1969 | 74 | [36] | ||
29 | Capt. George A. Burk | 28 | P | U.S. Air Force | T-29 Convair crash | 4 May 1970 | 13 | [37] |
30 | Juan Loo | 26 | C | LANSA | Flight 502 | 9 August 1970 | 99 | [38] |
31 | Lt. Christopher E. Schiess | 24 | C | Hughes Airwest / U.S. Marine Corps | Mid-air collision with Flight 706 | 6 June 1971 | 50 | [39] |
32 | Sgt. Yoshimi Ichikawa | 22 | C | All Nippon Airways / Japan Air Self-Defense Force | Mid-air collision with Flight 58 | 30 July 1971 | 162 | [4] |
33 | Juliane Koepcke | 17 | P | LANSA | Flight 508 | 24 December 1971 | 91 | [40] |
34 | Vesna Vulović | 22 | C | JAT Yugoslav | Flight 367 | 26 January 1972 | 27 | [41] |
35 | Neil James Campbell | P | Pan Am | Flight 816 | 22 July 1973 | 78 | [42] | |
36 | John McCafferty | 16 | P | Downeast Airlines | Flight 46 | 30 May 1979 | 17 | [43] |
37 | Larisa Savitskaya | 20 | P | Aeroflot | Flight 811 | 24 August 1981 | 31 | [44][45] |
38 | Remberto Aparicio | 26 | P | Taxi Aéreo El Venado | Paipa Embraer Bandeirante crash | 2 September 1981 | 21 | [46][47] |
39 | AT2 Melissa Kelly | 30 | P | U.S. Navy | USN Convair C-131 crash | 30 April 1983 | 14 | [48] |
40 | 27 | P | Aeroflot | Flight 3519 | 23 December 1984 | 110 | [49] | |
41 | George Lamson Jr. | 17 | P | Galaxy Airlines | Flight 203 | 21 January 1985 | 70 | [41] |
42 | Ouologuem | P | Air Mali | Air Mali (TZ-ACT) crash | 22 February 1985 | 51 | [50][51] | |
43 | Prof. Neuba Yessoh | P | VARIG | Flight 797 | 3 January 1987 | 50 | [52][53] | |
44 | Cecelia Cichan | 4 | P | Northwest Airlines | Flight 255 | 16 August 1987 | 154 | [40] |
45 | Lt. Edilberto Villar | C | Peruvian Navy | Alianza Lima air disaster | 8 December 1987 | 43 | [54] | |
46 | Fahraddin Balaev | P | Soviet Air Force | Soviet Air Force CCCP-86732 crash | 11 December 1988 | 77 | [55] | |
47 | Bambang Sumadi | P | Indonesian Air Force | Indonesian Air Force A-1324 crash | 5 October 1991 | 136 | [56] | |
48 | Annette Herfkens | 31 | P | Vietnam Airlines | Flight 474 | 14 November 1992 | 30 | [57] |
49 | Erika Delgado | 9 | P | Intercontinental de Aviación | Flight 256 | 11 January 1995 | 52 | [41] |
50 | Ulziibayar Sanjaa | 27 | P | MIAT Mongolian Airlines | 21 September 1995 | 42 | [58] | |
51 | Irianto | 40 | P | Dirgantara Air Service | Flight 5940 | 7 December 1996 | 18 | [59] |
52 | Chanayuth Nim-anong | 14 months | P | Vietnam Airlines | Flight 815 | 3 September 1997 | 65 | [60] |
53 | Sergei Petrov | 37 | C | Tajik Air | Flight 3183 | 15 December 1997 | 85 | [61] |
54 | Youcef Djillali | 28 | P | Air Algérie | Flight 6289 | 6 March 2003 | 102 | [61] |
55 | Lt. Martin Farkaš | P | Slovak Air Force | Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crash | 19 January 2006 | 42 | [41] | |
56 | James M. Polehinke | C | Comair | Flight 5191 | 27 August 2006 | 44 | [62] | |
57 | Abdülkadir Akyüz | P | AerianTur-M | Balad aircraft crash | 9 January 2007 | 34 | [63][64] | |
58 | 2 | P | Great Lakes Business Company | Kongolo Antonov An-32B crash | 26 August 2007 | 14 | [65] | |
59 | Surendra Kunwar | C | Yeti Airlines | Flight 103 | 8 October 2008 | 18 | [66] | |
60 | Robert Decker | 28 | P | Cougar Helicopters | Flight 91 | 12 March 2009 | 17 | [67] |
61 | Bahia Bakari | 13 | P | Yemenia | Flight 626 | 30 June 2009 | 152 | [40] |
62 | Ruben van Assouw | 8[68] or 9[69][70] or 10[40] |
P | Afriqiyah Airways | Flight 771 | 12 May 2010 | 103 | [40] |
63 | P | Filair | Bandundu Filair Let L-410 crash | 25 August 2010 | 20 | [71] | ||
64 | Francis Mwamba | P | Georgian Airways / United Nations | United Nations Bombardier CRJ-100 crash | 4 April 2011 | 32 | [72] | |
65 | Alexander Sizov | 52 | C | Yak-Service | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash | 7 September 2011 | 44 | [73][74] |
66 | Nimer Djelloul | 21 | P | Algerian Air Force | Algerian Air Force 7T-WHM crash | 11 February 2014 | 77 | [75][76] |
67 | Maylen Díaz Almaguer | 19 | P | Cubana de Aviación | Flight 972 | 18 May 2018 | 112 | [77][78][79] |
Bibliography
- Darby, Paul; Johnes, Martin; Mellor, Gavin (2005). Soccer and disaster (2005 ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-8289-1. - Total pages: 193
- Williamson, Ronald M. (2000). Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, 1940–2000: An Illustrated History (2000 ed.). Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-56311-730-5. - Total pages: 200
- U.S. Congress (2003). Congressional Record (2003 ed.). Government Printing Office. - Total pages: 15591
References
- 1 2 McDonald, Linda (7 September 1936). "Sole crash survivor believes safety belt saved her life". The Pittsburgh Press. p. Cover. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Souhrnná zpráva Státní letecké inspekce o šetření příčin letecké nehody (NA, ÚCL, karton 84, sg. 2/1972)". www.nacr.cz/. Národní archiv. Archived from the original on 16 September 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- 1 2 TIME (9 August 1948). "Hong Kong: Pilots & Pirates". TIME. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- 1 2 "ASN Accident Description (All Nippon Airways-58)". Aviation Safety Network. 30 July 1971. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
- ↑ "Sole Survivor Of Metro Airport Crash Breaks Her Silence". 2012-06-11. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
- ↑ AP (4 November 1941). "Pilot tells story of airliner crash". The New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Clarence Frederick Bates". Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ↑ AP (27 August 1942). "Survivor of crash killing duke found". The Palm Beach Post. p. Cover. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "6 Americans victim of Air Crash in Peru". The New York Times. 27 January 1943. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ US Congress 2003, p. 14892
- ↑ AP (6 September 1946). "Fog Blamed for plane crash fatal to 21". The Southeast Missourian. p. 6. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ United Press (13 January 1947). "Pilot failure given blame for 2 crashes". The Bulletin. p. Cover. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Poling, Dr Daniel A. (29 April 1947). "Reminded that 'Blood of Martyrs is seed of Church'". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Associated Press (2 February 1947). "16 Killed in Crash Near Lisbon". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Fitzpatrick, Rita (17 March 1948). "Only air crash survivor tells takeoff dread". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Only Crash Survivor Was En Route Here". Los Angeles Times. 15 April 1948. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Only one survivor believed on plane in Belgian Congo crash". The Chicago Tribune. 16 May 1948. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report (Eastern & Bolivian AF 1 November 1949)" (PDF). dot.gov/. United States Department of Transportation. 22 September 1950. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2013. (Archived).
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "12-year-old Boy who survived plane crash laid for 2 days in wreckage". Ludington Daily News. 23 November 1949. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Girl only survivor of plane crash; 25 killed". Ellensburg Daily Record. 25 May 1950. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network Database (2010). "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Names of Air Crash Victims Released". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Tokyo. AP. 1 August 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ↑ "15 Killed in R.A.F. Crash". The Times (52823). London. 7 January 1954. col A, p. 6.
- ↑ "I Shouldn't Be Alive: 10 People Who Survived Plane Crashes". Tenmania.com. 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ↑ "ASN Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ "About Phil". solesurvivor.info. 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Spencer, Hawes (8 October 2009). "Alone on a mountain: the true story of Flight 349". The Hook. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ↑ "Plane rams peak in snow; 24 die". The Milwaukee Sentinel. 2 December 1959. p. 11.
- ↑ "53-0549 Engine Disintegrating -Hole InWing- Witnesses Watch in Horror". dean-boys.com. 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 18D CCCP-74252 Parchum, Chunsky District, Irkutsk Region". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
- ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas C-54D-10-DC (DC-4)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
- ↑ Lori A. Carter, "Air Force plane crash south of Petaluma recalled 44 years later", Stars and Stripes, June 19, 2014; also reprinted in Marin Independent Journal, June 20, 2014.
- ↑ airsafe.com (2010). "Plane Crashes with a Sole Survivor". airsafe.com. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Williams, John. "Duarte, CA Jetliner - Military Jet Crash, Jun 1971". GenDisasters.com. Stu Beitler. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Westcott, Kathryn (13 May 2010). "How do 'lone survivors' of air disasters cope?". BBC News. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 Farndale, Nigel (5 July 2009). "The children who survive plane crashes". London: The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Final Report of Boeing 707 N 417 PA" (PDF). Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile. 12 May 1977. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Christian, Ken (2010). "1979 Downeast Airlines crash still on many minds". WCSH. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ ВЫЖИЛА, ЧТОБЫ ЖИТЬ [Survived to live] (in Russian). Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ↑ Wikipedia article about Larisa Savitskaya in Russian
- ↑ "Plane carrying Exxon employees crashes; 21 die". Eugene Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. 3 September 1981. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- ↑ "Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante HK-2651 Paipa". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
- ↑ Williamson 2000, p. 125
- ↑ http://airdisaster.ru/database.php?id=3
- ↑ "ASN Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ "A Soviet-built airliner exploded and crashed shortly after takeoff..." UPI Archives. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ AP (7 January 1987). "Death of Briton Brings Toll To 50 in Abidjan Plane Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Brooke, James (5 January 1987). "'No Hope' for more survivors of African crash". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Darby, Johnes & Mellor 2005, p. 162
- ↑ Hakobyan, Tatul. "The Story Behind the 1988 Baku-Gyumri Airline Disaster". Civil.net. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ "Sabotage Ruled Out". Library.ohiou.edu. 7 October 1991. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ↑ Bennetto, Jason (9 August 1993). "Inquiry demanded after air crash bodies are sent to wrong families: Just what did happen after Flight VN474 from Ho Chi Minh City hit a mountain in bad weather?". London: The Independent. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19950921-0
- ↑ "Pesawat DAS jatuh, 16 orang tewas".
- ↑ Elizabeth Moorthy (1997-09-12). "Mad dash saves boy plucked from flames, National, Phnom Penh Post". Phnompenhpost.com. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- 1 2 Rice-Oxley, Mark (12 May 2010). "Sole survivors of plane crashes". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Serrano, Alfonso (3 October 2006). "Comair Crash Survivor Leaves Hospital". CBS News. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Moldovan plane that crashed in Iraq was downed – eyewitness". pub. 12 January 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Yavuz, Ercan (27 January 2007). "The puzzle of the Moldovan plane crash continues". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ "Crash of an Antonov AN-32 In Kongolo: 14 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ↑ AAP (8 October 2008). "Two Aussies among those killed in plane crash in Nepal". Australian Associated Press. Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Vallis, Mary (5 November 2009). "Robert Decker, the only Newfoundland helicopter crash survivor, testifies: updated with full statement". National Post. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ↑ Wire Staff (13 May 2010). "Child is lone survivor in Libya plane crash". CNN. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
- ↑ Tacken, Tom (13 May 2010). "Ruben is well cared for". Brabants Dagblad. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
- ↑ "Identity of Dutch boy now known". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 13 May 2010. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
- ↑ The Telegraph (21 October 2010). "Aircraft crashes after crocodile on board escapes and sparks panic". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ↑ "Crash de ce lundi. Francis Mwamba, journaliste free lancer, le seul rescapé" [Crash on Monday. Francis Mwamba, a journalist freelancer, the only survivor.] (in French). Nsango04.over-blog.com. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ↑ "Plane crashes during takeoff in Russia, killing 43 – This Just In". CNN. 7 September 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ↑ "Russian hockey player dies from injuries after plane crash". CNN. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ↑ Quali, Aomar (11 February 2013). "Official: 1 survivor, 77 dead in Algerian crash". USA Today. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ↑ "Une cérémonie de recueillement prévue à Boufarik". L'Éco News. 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- ↑ "19-year-old now sole survivor of Cuban plane crash". New Straits Times. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ↑ "Sole survivor of Cuba plane crash still in critical condition". Xinhua. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
- ↑ José Alejandro Rodríguez, Maykel Espinosa Rodríguez (August 19, 2018). "La historia de la única sobreviviente del accidente aéreo en Cuba" [The story of the only survivor of the aviation accident in Cuba] (in Spanish). Retrieved August 29, 2018.