Many people, at least in their hearts, consider themselves tough guys … But what if they face death face to face? Will they fall out of the plane without a parachute or will they be buried alive? This can only be dreamed of in a nightmare, but these people experienced this in reality …
Aaron Ralston … A mechanical engineer working for Intel, he was fond of rock climbing …
Aaron Ralston was exploring mountains in Utah when a huge boulder fell into his arms and crushed it. He managed to free one hand, after which Aaron, to free himself, cut off his other hand with a small penknife. He tied his arm in a sling to avoid a great loss of blood, then broke the bones of the arm and, with the help of an almost dull knife, cut the remaining flesh until he was free. It all took about an hour.
Ralston was treated for a long time, but his love for rocks did not leave him. Over time, he replaced the missing arm with a more climbing tool …
Vesna Vulovic is the Guinness Book of Records record holder, she holds the world altitude record for survivors in free fall without a parachute - 10 160 meters. The incident took place on January 26, 1972, near the village of Serbska Kamenice in Czechoslovakia, after the disaster of flight JAT 367, on which Vulovic worked as a flight attendant. The explosion, presumably produced by terrorists, tore the plane apart, but Vesna was lucky enough to escape, the only one on board.
After the disaster, Vulovich was in a coma for 27 days, and then remained in the hospital for another 16 months. She continued to work for the airline, but this time at ground work - her skull, legs and three vertebrae were injured. Vesna Vulovic was considered the national heroine of Yugoslavia.
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Loyd James "Jim" Thompson spent nine years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. James was a regular store worker until he went to the Green Berets … During the Vietnam War, Thompson was caught and held hostage, subjecting him to torture and torment.
When his plane was shot down in 1964, he was hit by a bullet and fractured his spine. For most people, going through this can be a heartbreaking story in itself, but for Jim it was just the beginning. After James was captured, he was held in the jungle, locked in a wooden cage that was too small for him, in which he could neither sit upright nor stretch out. For months, James's jailers tried to get him to sign papers that said he was being treated well … In the end, he signed. After that, he was sent to prison along with other prisoners.
During his imprisonment, he was so weak that he suffered a heart attack. However, he was able to hold out until his release in 1973. When released, Thompson weighed approximately 40.8 kg. He died 30 years later in Florida.
Punn Lim has set a record for extreme marine survival. On November 19, 1942, the English steamer Ben Lomond, on which he sailed from Cape Town to Brazil, was torpedoed by a German submarine.
Poon Lim, the shipwreck's cook, remained the only person on a typical 25-seat liferaft with a 2-day supply of food and water for the crew. Drawn by the current and wind, the raft went into the unknown, and the involuntary sailor migrated with him. In the heat, the Chinese swam, tied with a line, and almost fell into a shark's mouth, in the rain he collected water. His menu was diversified by caught fish, a seagull and a shark caught with a homemade crochet hook. The carnivore was butchered with the same improvised knife.
Picked up alone on April 5, 1943, Brazilian fishermen. Sunburned and weathered, he lost only 10 kilograms. The English consul sent a sea pilgrim to New York, where the brother of the rescued kept a Chinese restaurant.
Pun Lim was awarded the Imperial Medal of Valor by the British government. The person who presented the award informed the hero that he set a world record for being at sea on a raft - 133 days. In response, the humble Chinese said: "I want to believe that no one will ever break this record."
Meng brothers … Two Chinese miners, who were walled up in a mine after a collapse, fought their way to the surface for six days. The men survived on charcoal and urine.
Brothers Meng Xiancheng and Meng Xianyu were trapped while working in an illegal mine near Beijing on the evening of August 18, 2007. Two days later, the rescue service stopped trying to find them, and the relatives began the traditional rituals adopted after the death of loved ones.
“At first I didn't feel anything, but then I was so hungry that I couldn't crawl anymore,” Xianchen recalls. - I ate some coal and it even tasted good to me. It goes without saying that coal tastes bitter and unpleasant. But a small bite the size of a finger can be chewed. In the mine we found two empty plastic bottles and drank our urine. This can only be done in tiny sips, and when you finish, you want to burst into tears.”Miraculously, the brothers who survived promised that they would never go into any mine again.
Brent Keyes … In a Canadian forest, he was attacked by a 400-kg grizzly bear. Brent only had a small ax with him, so he pretended to be dead. Nevertheless, the bear began to gnaw at Brent's skull, but then gave up this occupation and suddenly left, leaving the poor man to die.
Despite all this, Brent, with a hanging scalp, got up and went to seek help. He returned to his car, drove 15 miles bleeding, where he met help …
Alexis Goggins … 7-year-old resident became the heroine of Detroit, shielding her mother from the bullets of an armed robber! The girl received a total of six bullets, three of them in the face, and miraculously survived …
29-year-old Kevin Tilly - a former "boyfriend" of the mother, a previously convicted criminal, released on bail by some irresponsible idiot - tried to steal the car in which the girl and her mother were. When the woman tried to call the police at the nearest gas station, Kevin, without hesitation, drove two bullets into her almost point-blank. Alexis rushed to her mother and covered her with her body, and the angry bandit fired 6 bullets at the child!
One of them hit Alexis in the eye, the second - in the chin, and the third - in the jaw. The girl saved her mother, who received non-life-threatening injuries, but she herself was on the verge of death: she underwent six severe operations in the intensive care unit of the Children's Hospital of Michigan.
And she will still have to return to the hospital for further treatment …