There are people who are born with luck and others to whom the goddess fortune smiles at them on certain occasions and get out unharmed trances that are mortal of need. In Supercurioso we talk about 6 people with incredible stories of luck and this time we want to approach another of these cases: the protagonist, Joan Murray, survived a fall of 4000 meters . Join us to know his extraordinary adventure.
The case before us is not the only one in which someone survives the fall from a similar height. Stewardess Vera Vulovic was the only survivor of a plane crash in which the plane rushed from 10,000 meters high. However, the case of Joan Murray differs from that of Vera in that the first rushed to the void in a free fall due to the failure of the two parachutes that had to protect it.
Survived a fall of 4000 meters
The accidents derived from not opening a parachute are very difficult to finish well; but in the case at hand, survived a fall of 4000 meters . The events occurred on September 25, 1999 and Joan Murray "was reborn" thanks to some red ants on which he fell.
The protagonist
The protagonist of this story is Joan Murray, a bank employee, separated, and who lived in 1999 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 44 years old and he liked, from time to time, to dedicate himself to a very special sport: the parachute jump . He had already made 35 jumps when, on September 25 of that year, he went to a nearby airfield to make his 36th jump.
The accident
He got on the plane and, as on other occasions, jumped from almost 4,500 meters of height waiting for his parachute to open. However, this time, the contraption did not open.
When it was just over 200 meters from the ground, towards which it was falling at a speed of 128 km. per hour, the second parachute was opened, the reserve one, but perhaps due to the nervousness it could not stop the constant rotation of its body and, although it was deployed, it did not get to inflate, being extended like a useless rag. Exhausted this last opportunity to stop the fall, Joan crashed, against the ground? Not quite! The woman landed directly on the mound formed by a nest of red ants composed of about 250,000 elements. The red ants, seeing their habitat attacked, flocked to defend it and stung the semi-unconscious Jean. Doctors believe that this is what saved his life.
How did Jean Murray survive the fall?
The doctors believe that the bites of the red ants saved his life. Murray suffered very serious injuries, the right side of his body being destroyed. Yes survived a fall of 4000 meters It was because a few moments after bumping into the earth, it was chopped by more than two hundred red ants . This fact produced a wave of adrenaline that made the heart continue to beat until the emergency teams arrived at the place where he had crashed to rescue her.
Joan's life after the accident
Joan did not leave unharmed from the trance, survived a fall of 4000 meters , but he was in a coma for two weeks at the "Carolinas Medical Center". He had 17 blood transfusions and underwent surgery 20 times. In her first days at the hospital, the swelling caused her body to practically double its normal volume, but by 6 weeks she was sufficiently recovered to return to her home where she was attended by her 19-year-old twin daughters, although it took many sessions of rehabilitation to manage to get as before crashing.
Joan Murray proved to be a woman with great courage who survived a fall of 4000 meters . After the rehabilitation, he could choose to apply for a disability pension for physical disability, but he wanted to continue working at the Bank of America and was not satisfied with that. Two years after having suffered the terrible accident, He again jumped in a parachute . It was his 37th jump and when he was finished he was happy to have done it. Asked by journalists about the effect that "having been reborn" had on her, she replied that she took her life in a different way; She was no longer a workaholic as before and took time to do everything she considered really important. He had also learned to say "thank you" and "I love you" to those around her.
Accidents among paratroopers
Accidents due to not opening a parachute are scarce, but close to 35 people die every year in skydiving accidents. We say scarce if one takes into account that it is considered a high-risk sport and that each year more than 2.5 million jumps are made in the world. Statistically this means one death for every 75,000 jumps. The defenders of this practice argue that it is much more dangerous to fall off a ladder since one of every 20,000 people who suffer an accident in them die.
What do you think about the story of this woman who survived a fall of 4000 meters ? Had you heard of some other similar case? If so, share it with us! and if you want to meet other lucky characters, but they did not manage well what brought them luck, we invite you to read the post: 5 stupid winners of the Lottery .