For many of us, the idea of perishing in a freak plane , train, or automobile accident is our greatest fear. Yet sadly, these kinds of things happen every day .
There are, however, a very lucky few who live to tell the tale. Have a look and check out these 15 survivors of catastrophes as they share their stories.
This user barely survived a bus fire.
“I was sleeping one minute and being rushed off the bus the next. The vehicle had been driving slowly and smelled funny, but no one thought anything of it until someone looked out the window and saw smoke.” – Reddit u/Free2Be_EmilyG
Earthquakes are just a part of life.
A Reddit user who goes by the handle DicerNicer had the misfortunate of being in an apartment building during a 6.0-plus earthquake. They had to precariously climb down, helping friends and strangers who were trapped by the debris.
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What would you do if your bus driver passed out?
“I couldn’t see out the window because I was on the floor, but I remember it started getting bumpy like we were pulling off the road when suddenly I heard a girl scream, ‘WE ARE CRASHING,’ and like 0.5 seconds after that registered, my face smacked the ceiling of the bus.” – Reddit u/Opitovo
Flightless bird.
This Redditor was flying in an antique fighter plane from the 1940s with their mother. Almost immediately after takeoff, the plane lost all power and plummeted to earth at breakneck speed. EMTs arrived quickly at the scene and were able to revive both mother and child.
When your friend accidentally triggers an avalanche.
“I tried skiing out of it, but there’s not much you can do. I got flipped over, and snow rushed down over the top of me. I thought I was a goner, as I was literally stuck and not able to move any part of my body.” – Reddit u/GAMMATITAN
The power of water is a terrifying thing.
This user was living in South East Asia when a tsunami hit unexpectedly. In less than 5 minutes, water had filled the entire house up to the very peak of the ceiling.
A terrifying mishap involving a sailboat.
“Suddenly, a burst of wind tipped us right over, and as we fell the boat came over on top of us into the water. “Now stuck under the boat, I had to swim through the sail and rope blocking my path to the surface.” – Reddit u/deleted
We didn’t start the fire.
Back in 2020, Reddit user shangonc92 was in Australia while the wildfires were running rampant all over the country. While on the highway, the bush next to the road caught fire — nearly trapping them inside.
This user’s plane crashed almost immediately after take-off.
“We hit the trees, and the wing on my side of the plane got completely torn off, leaving a huge hole in the fuselage where I was sitting; then the plane rolled because the wing was gone, and we landed nose down in the woods.” – Reddit u/creedthings
Hang-gliding is for the birds.
After soaring upward to over 250 feet in the air, this Redditor began plummeting back down to earth. They were forced to put their glider into a nosedive and then pull out at the absolute last second to avoid being killed.
You’re gonna need a bigger boat.
“My whole family, around nine of us, tried to fit on a tiny little motorboat. Not too long after we left the shore, everyone realized something wasn’t right with the boat. Within five minutes, the boat began to sink.” – Reddit u/shangonc92
Boat safety is nothing to joke about.
Reddit user Codvodka was once on a boat with a fatal flaw: it would break in two if hit with a hard enough wave. Long story short, the boat did just that. Luckily, their father was able to fire off two flares before they sank.
This user’s boat capsized after hitting an illegal lobster pot.
“Of course, we put out a mayday call straight away, and all we could do was wait to be rescued. As we were waiting, the tide was coming in, and we were slowly being dragged underwater.” – Reddit u/sunburnedtourist
The only thing worse than a boat sinking quickly is a boat sinking slowly.
When Redditor LatrodectusGeometric was 8-months pregnant visiting their in-laws on their boat — it sank in the middle of the ocean. It took more than a day to capsize, and in that time all they could do was wait in vain to be rescued.
Mayday, mayday, mayday!
“Once we reached maybe 2,000 feet above takeoff, we began losing airspeed. The pilot panicked and did some steep turns in an attempt to gain some speed, but it scrubbed nearly all our altitude pretty much instantly.” – Reddit u/cactussword
