The 22-year-old stewardess was not supposed to be on the plane that exploded in the sky. She fell 33,000 feet and survived

need to know

• Vesna Bhulovic holds the world record for the highest fall without a parachute

• In 1972, Vulovic fell 33,000 feet after the plane exploded, killing the other 27 on board.

• “I’m like a cat,” the woman said before her death in 2016, “I’ve lived nine lives.”

Ten years after Vesna Vulovic’s death, she still holds the world record for the longest fall without a parachute.

Vulovic was a 22-year-old stewardess in 1972 when she fell 33,000 feet from a plane over Czechoslovakia, killing all on board.

“I was broken, and the doctors put me back together,” Valvoik said The New York Times After suffering a fractured skull and broken leg in 2008, three vertebrae and a pelvis had healed decades earlier. “Nobody expected me to live this long.”

On January 26, 1972, Vulovic, who was not actually scheduled to work, was mistaken for another stewardess with the same first name and boarded a Yugoslav Airlines Douglas DC-9 in Copenhagen that was bound for Belgrade. the timeBBC and The Guardian.

An hour after takeoff, the jetliner, with 27 others on board, exploded in the village of Serbska Kamenice. the time.

Meanwhile, Vulovic, who was initially trapped inside the broken fuselage by a food cart, fell more than six miles to the ground, where tree cover and snow softened the broken plane’s landing, according to outlets.

Bhandari heard the screams and was rescued by a nearby woodsman – and she spent 10 days in a coma at a local hospital. The Guardian Reported.

All other 27 passengers and crew members died.

Czechoslovak authorities determined at the time that explosives hidden in a suitcase caused the plane to break apart (no arrests were made), but in 2009, investigative journalists argued that the plane may have been accidentally shot down by the Czechoslovak Air Force. the time Reported.

Vulović never recovered her memories from the devastating accident, but her miraculous life made her famous in her home country of Serbia.

In 1985, Vulovic was awarded a certificate and a medal by Paul McCartney – yes, that Paul McCartney – Survived without a parachute for the tallest fall during the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame ceremony.

A spokesperson for the organization confirms to PEOPLE that Vulovic continues to hold that title today.

In the years after her historic fall, Vulovic turned to religion for solace, she said the time In 2008.

“It also made me hopeful, because if you can survive what I’ve been through, you can survive anything,” he added.

The same year as the accident, Vulovic started a new job at Yugoslav Airlines, this time in an office. She worked there for 18 years, until she said she was forced to retire after demonstrating against President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in prison while on trial for war crimes. the time Reported.

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In 2016, Vulovic died at his home in Belgrade at the age of 66 – but his devotion to his country remained strong in his final years.

Eight years before his death, the former steward campaigned for President Boris Tadic’s Democratic Party. the time Reported.

“I’m like a cat,” Bhulovic told the paper in 2008, before Tadic won his re-election campaign. “I have lived nine lives, but if this country is dominated by nationalist forces, my heart will break.”

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