Her fiancé told her the flight would only take 20 minutes. It was the last thing he ever told her.
Annette Herfkens was the sole survivor of a 1992 plane crash in the mountains of Vietnam, spending eight days alone and injured in the jungle before rescue. She later wrote a memoir about the experience and its unexpected connection to a very different chapter of her life.
A Romantic Getaway
Herfkens, a Dutch banker, and her longtime fiancé, Willem van der Pas, boarded a small Russian-built plane in Vietnam on November 14, 1992, heading for a five-day trip to the coastal town of Nha Trang. Herfkens, who had a fear of enclosed spaces, had been reluctant to fly; her fiancé told her the flight would take only 20 minutes, understating the actual length to convince her to board.
The Crash
About 50 minutes into the flight, the plane dropped suddenly while crossing mountainous terrain, clipped trees, and struck a mountainside before flipping over. Herfkens, who hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown violently inside the cabin. She woke up trapped beneath a seat, with a fellow passenger's body strapped in nearby. When she freed herself, she found Willem had died in the crash.
Eight Days Alone
Herfkens suffered a broken hip, a broken leg, a collapsed lung, and a broken jaw. She could hear other injured passengers nearby in the immediate aftermath, including a Vietnamese businessman who briefly helped her before he, too, died. She used yoga breathing techniques to manage her collapsed lung and collected rainwater using insulation torn from the plane's wings, tearing her arms badly enough in the process that she later needed skin grafts. Though she found herself thinking about famous accounts of stranded survivors resorting to eating the deceased to stay alive, she never did so herself.
Presumed Dead
As days passed without any sign of survivors, Herfkens's family in the Netherlands began to accept she had likely died, and an obituary ran in a local paper. A close friend and colleague, Jaime Lupa, refused to accept this and traveled to Vietnam to search for her personally, despite others telling him it was a lost cause.
Rescue
On the eighth day, a Vietnamese police search team reached the crash site, having brought only body bags, not expecting to find anyone alive. Herfkens was carried down the mountain on a canvas sheet stretched between poles and taken to a hospital to begin an extensive recovery. She attended Willem's funeral in a wheelchair that December, was walking again by New Year's Eve, and returned to her banking career within a few months.
Life After
Herfkens went on to marry Lupa, the colleague who had searched for her; the couple later divorced. In 2016, she published a memoir, "Turbulence: A True Story of Survival," which wove her account of the crash together with the story of raising her son, Max, who was later diagnosed with autism. Herfkens has said publicly that the mindset she developed during her eight days in the jungle — focusing on what remained rather than what was lost — became central to how she approached raising Max as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Annette Herfkens the only survivor of the crash?
Yes, she was the sole survivor among the 30 people aboard the flight.
Did she resort to cannibalism to survive?
No. She's said she thought about historical accounts of stranded survivors who had done so, but never did so herself.
Has she written about her experience?
Yes. Her 2016 memoir, "Turbulence: A True Story of Survival," covers both the crash and her later experience raising her autistic son.