Juliane Koepcke

Juliane Margaret Koepcke, a German-Peruvian biologist of distinguished lineage, was born in Peru to a family of German expatriates, her parents having chosen to make the Andean nation their adopted home. This remarkable individual's life was forever altered on December 24, 1971, when she became the sole survivor of a catastrophic aviation disaster that claimed the lives of all 92 passengers and crew members on board LANSA Flight 508. As the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air, Koepcke found herself plummeting towards the earth, still securely fastened to her seat, in a harrowing ordeal that would test her mettle and will to survive. With the plane's fragments scattered throughout the dense Peruvian rainforest canopy, Koepcke's seat crashed through the foliage, ultimately coming to rest on the forest floor, a testament to her remarkable resilience in the face of unimaginable tragedy.