The Parallel Lives

The zoologist, Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke, graduated from Germany’s University of Kiel, in 1947, with a doctorate in Natural Sciences. He migrated to Lima, Peru, in 1950, and worked at the Museum of Natural History, along with his wife Maria, whom he had met at the University. 

     Maria was an accomplished ornithologist, who enjoyed sketching pencil drawings of birds.

     On October 10, 1954, Maria gave birth to a daughter, Juliane, their only child. 

     In 1968, Hans-Wilhelm and Maria moved to Panguana, a small settlement in extreme eastern Peru inside the Amazon rainforest. Their aim was to explore the diversity of the flora (plants and trees) as well as the fauna (animals and insects) of a jungle. 

     In 1968, Juliane was fourteen. She left the comforts of the imposing city of Lima and learned, with her parents, how to adapt to life inside a jungle and a rainforest. 

     Peru’s authorities encouraged Juliane’s parents to allow her to attend high school at a German-speaking high school in Lima. Juliane graduated from high school on December 23, 1971, at the age of 17, with her mother in attendance. That evening Juliane attended her prom.

     Maria was anxious to return to Panguana, and purchased tickets for two for the next day, Christmas Eve, on LANSA Flight 508, from Lima to Pucallpa, the nearest airport to Panguana.

     Hans-Wilhelm had warned Maria not to fly LANSA because of that company’s history of crashes and poor maintenance of their aircraft, but it was the only flight out with seats available.

     Maria sat in seat 19G, the middle seat on the right hand side, second from the back row. Juliane sat in seat 19F, beside the window. She wore a mini skirt and sandals. The man who sat in the aisle seat, 19E, fell asleep. 

     The flight took off at 11:50 a.m. Within 30 minutes, the aircraft crossed the Andes Mountains, and Juliane could see the Amazon rainforest, its deep green canopy below her. It was then that the aircraft encountered a black cloud, a thunderstorm with updrafts and downdrafts.

     Juliane watched as a lightning bolt struck the right wing. The aircraft fell apart. Juliane later said that “it was not that she was ejected from the aircraft, as it was that the aircraft was gone.”

    She was seat belted to her seat as it began a 3000 meter, or 10,000 feet, or two-mile drop into the rainforest. She blacked out upon impact.

    The next day, Christmas, she awoke, and realized she was alive. Her mother and the sleeping man were not seated next to her. She unbuckled and assessed her injuries: a concussion, a broken clavicle, a deep cut on her upper arm, another across her leg’s calf.

    She waited for help to arrive, but none came, although she saw planes flying overhead. She decided she must walk out, although she was missing a sandal and her glasses.

     As she walked, she discovered debris from the aircraft as well as at least three dead bodies. She found a bag of candy, and ate two pieces per day. She followed a trickle of water to a river, careful to avoid sting rays, poisonous snakes, and caimans, South American alligators.

     On the tenth day, she saw a boat tied next to shore, and a hut. She struggled to the hut, found a can of gasoline and poured it onto her upper arm’s wound to kill the maggots and infection.

     The next day three men appeared at the hut and stared in bewilderment. She seemed more of a ghost, due to her blonde hair, her swollen-shut eyes, her sunburned skin, her mosquito bites.

     By boat, over 11 hours, the men transported her to a hospital. Hans-Wilhelm arrived soon.

     Days later authorities arrived at the crash site and discovered Maria’s body and others, but they were dead. Authorities speculated that 14 of them survived the fall, but had died waiting.

     Juliane was sole survivor. She is now a director at Panguana, but lives in Munich. Her incredible story is that of a struggle to live that succeeded, despite overwhelming difficulties.

     In three weeks, she will celebrate her 72nd birthday, very lucky to be alive.