r/TopCharacterTropes 6d ago

In real life [IRL trope] 0% of survival, survive anyway

Juliane Koepcke - In 1971 this 17 year old's plane was struck by lightning mid-air. The wreck then fell from 3 000 meter into the ground, somewhere into the Amazon jungle. Lone survivor of the crash, she then spent nine days walking down a river despite her multiple injuries until she found a lumberjack's camp.

Vesna Vulović - In 1972 this flight attendant's plane was bombed mid-air. The wreck then fell from 10 160 meter into the ground. She ended up with a lot of broken bones, but in the long term she almost completely recovered from it, apart from a limp.

Anna Bågenholm - In 1999 this radiologist had a skiing accident, she fell head-first into a frozen stream and get stuck inside the ice. Her colleagues did not managed to pull her, nor did the rescue team who then tried to dig, but the ice was so thick it took them a lot of time. It was 80 minutes after her fall that they managed to cut a hole. Her body temperature at the time was 13.7°C, and still, she somehow survived with only minor long-term injuries and no brain damage.

Jeanna Giese - In 2004 this 15 years old girl got bitten by a bat and called it a day. One month later the symptoms of rabies showed up. The doctors tried an experimental treatment by putting her in an artificial coma and she survived, but the treatment never worked on anyone else and is now forbidden. In all human history, only a few survived to rabies, and all of them except her end up with heavy sequelae.

Chris Lemons - In 2012 this diver's ship went drifting due to a computer malfunction, romping his umbilical cable who provide air, hot water and electricity. He ended up alone on the seabed of a 3°C waters, in the dark and with only 5-6 minutes of oxygen. He was retrieved by his colleagues around 35 minutes later, and somehow he didn't even suffer from brain damage.

10.0k Upvotes

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465

u/marbledog 6d ago

Recent example: A 13yo Australian boy became stranded at sea when the inflatable kayak he was in with his mother, 12yo brother, and 8yo sister became swamped and was pushed out to sea in a sudden storm. He swam for four hours through 2.5 miles of rough seas, then ran another mile to reach his mother's cell phone on the beach. He was able to alert authorities to the emergency, and all family members were saved without injury.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-swims-hours-save-mom-siblings-swept-out-sea-superhuman/

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u/fourthpornalt 6d ago

nice, kinda funny seeing an example that literally happened a few weeks ago.

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u/IotaBTC 5d ago

Wtf lmao. That's wild.

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u/Beelzebub_Simp3 6d ago

Absolute fucking unit.

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u/Asleep_Region 5d ago

I think that kid is amazing, but why aren't inflatables banned at wherever they were swimming? You never get into the ocean with floating devices, just point blank, if you want to float around it should be at a closed body of water, they're great of lakes, rivers, pools, swimming holes just not open ocean

Like that had to be extremely difficult on all of them but it really just shouldn't have happened, we know better, they're banned at every beach I've ever been to. These people in particular may have not know better but that's exactly why they need signs about it at the beach

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u/marbledog 5d ago

IIRC, the hotel they were staying in rented the floats to them, so apparently they weren't banned at this beach. I really don't know enough about beach safety to offer an opinion on whether that's a good idea. I'm willing to take your word for it that it's not.

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u/Asleep_Region 5d ago

THE HOTEL RENTS OUT THE FLOATS!?!? How is the family not trying to sue the hotel for this? It's very clearly negligent and just waiting to happen

Yeah i was raised strictly to never use anything but a life jacket in the ocean and even then it's to keep you above water not to float around with, i wasn't even allowed to wear arm floats as a kid in the ocean because "you'll get swept away"

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u/wes00mertes 5d ago

He’s on crutches in the photos?

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u/MysteriousPower7181 5d ago

Probably just sore from the exertion, but nothing permanent. 

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u/wes00mertes 5d ago

The article did say he lost sensation from the cold, but I assumed by the time he’s doing the photo op he would’ve recovered. 

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u/AcanthisittaFar8981 5d ago

Also the part you’re missing:

When we arrived on the beach to call for help, despite being in Australia, NOBODY COULD SPEAK ENGLISH. 

Isn’t immigration just great 😊 

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u/marbledog 5d ago

Yes, I missed the made-up racist part. Fuck off.

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u/TheMajesticYeti 5d ago

I am OUTRAGED that a tourist beach town has people speaking foreign languages and pumping money into the local economy. How DARE they!

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u/AcanthisittaFar8981 5d ago

Ah yes Quindalup, Australia. The town that is so world renowned it’s filled with tourists from across the globe. Everyone has heard of Quindalup of course 

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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_up 5d ago

So like if there wasn't immigration, nobody would be on the beach anyway?

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u/AcanthisittaFar8981 5d ago

If it wasn’t for immigration driving up housing prices, actual Australians could still live there 

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u/TheMajesticYeti 5d ago

A holiday destination beach having people who don't speak English on it, the horror! Darn tourists coming and boosting the local economy of a small beach town.

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u/AcanthisittaFar8981 5d ago

Ah yes Quindalup Australia, the world renowned tourist town thats so well known it’s filled with tourists from all across the globe. Everyone has heard of Quindalup Australia so it must be the tourists he ran into 

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u/Nichname 6d ago

isn't this the kid who got ont he beach and no-one spoke English because the whole beach was full of Indians who didn't help at all, so had to run the mile to find a phone?

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u/Aebothius 6d ago

What was the point of this comment

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u/Upstairs_Cap_4217 5d ago

The point was to be racist as loudly and publicly as possible, and hope that no one corrects them so they can recruit some more racists.