All language subtitles for The UnXplained Special Presentation s01e02 Defying Death

A horrific plane crash deep in the
jungle.

A struggle for survival in freezing
water.

And a daring escape from a submarine
that sank to the bottom of the ocean.

How are some people able to cheat death?

Is it just a matter of dumb luck, or do
we all have powerful survival instincts

locked within us that come alive when we
need them the most?

Can the harrowing stories of individuals
who looked death in the eye and lived

to tell the tale give us clues about how
to dodge our own demise?

Well, that is what we'll try and find
out.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, November
1992.

Banker Annette Herfkins, her fiancé, and
29 other passengers board a small plane

and head to the coastal town of Nha
Trang for a vacation.

But what is supposed to be a short,
routine flight is about to turn into

a nightmare.

When I saw the plane, I didn't want to
enter it because it was awfully small.

I am very claustrophobic, and I said,
there's no way I enter in that plane.

not going to go in there. It looks old,
but mostly small.

And my fiancé said, well, don't worry,
don't you have to. It's only 55 minutes,

and do it for us, because I have this
beautiful vacation planned, and I knew

were going to speak up about it, but
please, please do it.

And then we entered.

From the back of the plane.

So we sat down, and we were told to
buckle our seatbelts and never going

And then I was restrained enough as it
is, and I did not buckle my seatbelts.

And the flight took off.

For the next 30 minutes, I just kept
counting the minutes, and the 50th

there was a gigantic drop.

And people were screaming.

My fiance looks at me and says, what is
it I don't like?

And then another drop.

More people spinning. And he reached for
my hand and I reached for his.

And then everything went black.

I woke up to this eerie sound of the
jungle.

The plane broke in three pieces.

The wings, the fuselage, and the
cockpit.

Then I looked at my left, and there I
saw my fiancé still trapped in his feet.

He was dead.

In shock, grief -stricken, and with her
legs and hips broken, Annette painfully

pulls herself out of the wreckage.

Only to find that every passenger on
board has perished.

Except her.

It all seems impossible.

In this plane crash, Annette was the
only survivor of 31 people. She's the

only one that survived.

Did it have to do with just the
randomness of her being in the right

hit the ground in just the right place?

that had just the right structural
integrity based on how they crashed, or

it be something else?

When we hear stories of survival, we
sort of imagine, can I learn from that?

Could I do that?

And many times we can't.

Maybe they're lucky, or maybe there's
just some X factor that we'll never

get our heads around.

We know the safest place is to sit on a
plane.

and we know generally our seatbelts will
save us in the event of a crash, but

this was the one instance where the
seatbelt not being attached saved her.

could have predicted that? There's too
many variables at play.

Miles from civilization, injured and
alone, Annette finds herself in an

unbearable predicament, but somehow from
somewhere deep inside her.

She finds a way to survive.

I felt this enormous energy lifting me
up.

I would just be quiet.

And listen to my instinct. Just make it
complete quiet.

You breathe out all the way.

And then you listen to this other voice
we all carry inside of us.

I completely felt that things will work
out.

What's interesting to me about this case
is that Annette attributes her survival

to hearing this mysterious voice.

I can only imagine what that must have
been like.

A plane has crashed in the Vietnam
jungle.

You have a broken hip.

You're surrounded by wreckage, dead
bodies, and here you have this voice

you, don't lose hope.

I just listened to that voice and I
acted on it.

And it said, make a plan, divide it in
achievable steps.

And when you achieve one of those steps,
congratulate yourself. That's exactly

what I did.

I realized that I was going to need some
water.

So I looked at the...

wing of the plane, insulation material,
or some kind of foam.

So I figured that could work as a
sponge.

And then I made seven little bowls, and
I lined them up for it to rain.

And then it rained, and it poured.

And then I was very happy to see this
little bowl filling up with water.

Tasted like the best champagne, as you
can imagine.

She was able to survive the plane crash,
but maybe what was even more remarkable

is that she was able to survive eight
days in the jungle with no prior

jungle training or experience and no
conditioning to be in the jungle.

Of course, being the only survivor, it's
an incredible story. But then the

survival happens because you hear a
voice directing you through it.

It just shows.

how we know very little about what
happens in these kind of encounters and

situations.

On the afternoon, on the eighth day, out
of nowhere, men came up the mountain.

And they showed me a passenger list.

And I had to point out my name.

And I just realized how amazing it was
that they actually found me.

It may have been random chance, that
allowed Annette to live through the

horrific crash.

But what was the so -called voice that
gave her the guidance she needed to

survive?

A lot of people, when they get into
dangerous situations, they'll say that

had a voice tell them that they needed
to do this, they needed to do that.

We don't really know, scientifically,
where these inner voices that tell you

get out of the dangerous situation are
coming from.

Is it some kind of deep -seated electro
-biochemical force that's

innate in the brain that suddenly gets
activated?

Or is it something that comes from
outside?

Is it faith from an outside power that
brings that energy to the person who's

desperate need?

Whether or not you view yourself as
strong and capable,

You have the potential to tap into these
things and get in tune with these

strengths, with these capabilities,
whether you know it or not.

Maybe there is something to this inner
voice telling them the right way, and

maybe some people have a better inner
voice than others.

And maybe there's just some dumb luck
involved.

It's possible that it's just one of
those unexplained mysteries that we're

going to figure out.

We all have that voice inside of us.

That we can listen to.

Any extreme situations, it's always
there to help you.

Just listen to that voice. Be silent.
It's there. It's there.

Did the mysterious voice that guided
Annette Herfkins to safety come from her

subconscious?

Or did she hear something that was far
more mysterious?

We may never know for certain.

But perhaps further clues about
extraordinary powers of survival lie in

story of a man who reportedly escaped a
mile -high death trap because of

his faith in God.

Havana, Cuba, 1969.

After ten years of Fidel Castro's tight
-fisted communist rule, The island

nation's economy is in chaos.

Food shortages and a government
-mandated seven -day work week only

heighten the Cuban people's sense of
desperation and despair.

Many attempt to flee Castro's oppressive
regime only to be caught, imprisoned,

or killed.

But for 17 -year -old Armando Zuccarz,
the chance for freedom and a better life

are worth the risk.

The political climate in Cuba in 1969
was at the peak of the oppression.

There was no freedom of speech, no
freedom of religion. They controlled

everything. My friend Jorge came to me
with the idea of leaving, but we didn't

know how.

I didn't want to do it on the raft.

because there were a lot of people dying
in the process, very dangerous.

My first plan was that we would leave in
a real world on our plane.

And I said, well, you're crazy.

No, no, no, no. But then, the next day,
I was thinking about it. Next day, I

went and I called him back and said,
hey, let's talk about this.

The plan was indeed dangerous.

If they were caught, it meant prison, or
worse.

If they weren't, they might die trying.

But after some careful reconnaissance,
Armando believed that he and his friend

could pull it off.

And on the morning of June 4, 1969,
their bold plan would be put into

Iberia Flight 904 was scheduled to
depart Havana at 6 .30 p .m.

arriving in Madrid, Spain, nine hours
later.

The DC -8 airplane was already taxiing
to the end of the runway when Armando

his friend crawled through the tall
grass bordering the runway, ready to

break.

I saw my friend Horace Nerv start taking
over on him. I said to him, this is it,

let's go.

Start running.

And look.

I saw it went there. I looked back. It
was still sitting over there.

I climbed up on myself.

And at that moment, the wheels started
moving.

It was a half -pounding moment.

And as it goes, it started taking off.

I saw that the ground started separating
from me.

When the wheels started coming, then it
got too close because I was obstructing

the wheels to complete the function.

This is a story from the pilot. He told
me later that he saw my function on the

dashboard. So he just called from the
tower.

Are you having any problems?

He said, yes, but wheels are not
retracted.

So I'm going to try them out one time.
If they don't get fixed, I'll come back

and land again.

The flood closed.

There was no room to move around.

I said, the plane got higher. It started
getting a little chill in there.

And I didn't have no coat.

Logged inside the wheel well and
dangerously outside the pressurized

the airplane, Armando began falling out
of consciousness as the air outside

screamed by at nearly 600 miles an hour.

Normally, the cruising altitude on a
trip as far as Havana to Madrid you'd

probably be up around 37 ,000 to 39 ,000
feet.

At 37 ,000 feet, for somebody who has
just experienced a rapid decompression,

your time of useful consciousness is as
little as eight seconds.

At that altitude, you're going to be
around temperatures that are minus 45 to

degrees Fahrenheit.

I watched this breathless. I couldn't
take it no more. I said, this is it for

me. I'm done.

That's what I convinced myself to God. I
said, I'm going to have God.

I'm coming.

Nine hours after taking off in Havana,
Iberia Flight 904 landed in Madrid.

And as the captain stood on the tarmac
saying goodbye to his passengers,

Armando's unconscious body fell from the
wheel well onto the ground with a

sickening thud.

They found me with ice in my face, my
hands, and the clothes were frozen.

Stiff. No heartbeat, no pulse, no
breathing.

They opened my eyes and they were blank.

So they gave me out for dead.

And suddenly, I said, what is this?

And one of them turned around and said,
oh my goodness, it's alive.

They asked me, where are you from?

I said, I'm from Havana, Cuba.

They said, yeah, but we found you
outside the plane.

I said, yeah, that's exactly what I was
outside the plane.

They said, it can't be. It is
impossible.

Incredible as it seems, for Armando,
surviving in a mile -high death trap was

indeed possible.

But how?

Medically, you're not dead until you're
warm and dead.

Armando was found without vital signs.

He was hypothermic.

I think what happened is because of the
severe hypothermia is cardiac function

decreased, the blood flow to the brain
and organs decreased.

There are reports in cases of people
being found in the snow and ice, frozen

without any vital signs that have made a
full recovery.

There's a thing called a mammalian
response. If we reach certain...

Cold temperatures, our bodies shut down.

Instead of degrading and dying, it just
goes into hibernation. Well, this is

what happened to Armando.

When he gets up to the 30 ,000 -foot
atmosphere and he has no air to breathe,

just a tiny amount of air, he goes into
hypothermia.

And then when the plane lands, his body
starts to warm up, and then he comes

back to.

Could Armando's amazing story of
survival really be attributed to the act

being frozen and then defrosted back to
life?

Or might there be another, even more
profound explanation?

The doctors said over and over and over,
they said, there's no way you can be

here alive.

It's impossible.

God intervened.

That's my only explanation, because I
was against all odds.

If it wasn't my beliefs and my faith, I
wouldn't be here talking to you.

Was Armando's incredible survival due to
divine intervention, as he claims?

Or is it possible that the power of
belief itself gave him the strength he

needed to survive against all odds?

It would seem that the answer is
ultimately a matter of faith.

However... There are other people who
have been able to live through freezing

temperatures not by looking to a higher
power, but by indulging in the spirits

of an earthly nature.

Southampton, England, April 10, 1912.

RMS Titanic sets out on her maiden
voyage bound for New York.

Billed as unsinkable, The more than 46
,000 -ton vessel offers passengers the

very latest in transatlantic comfort.

But what the men, women, and children on
board don't know, and could never

suspect, is that Titanic will not reach
its intended destination.

The Titanic had 2 ,208 on board, 891 of
whom were crewed.

The Titanic was not just the largest and
most luxurious.

ocean liner at the time, but it was also
seen as a kind of industrial miracle.

It was the largest moving object in
human history.

It was four days into its voyage.

Very late in the evening, about 20
minutes before midnight, the lookout

a growler iceberg in its path.

Iceberg, get ahead, sir!

Iceberg, get ahead, sir.

And unfortunately, the ship was going
too fast.

They tried to turn the ship, but the
iceberg struck along the

starboard bow, bashing in the riveted
steel plates that comprised the

Titanic's hull.

The Titanic was proclaimed unthinkable
because it had 16 so -called watertight

compartments, except only the first
forward four compartments at the bow.

and four compartments at the stern were
truly watertight.

And this was the fatal flaw because the
iceberg breached more than the first

four compartments.

And the order was given to man the
lifeboat.

It's endlessly repeated that there
weren't enough lifeboats in the Titanic.

And strictly speaking, it's true.

Every passenger and every crew member
had a different moment when they began

move from complete defeat to concern and
finally to panic.

As panic spreads across the decks of the
Titanic, male passengers scramble to

place their wives and children on
lifeboats.

Many unfortunate souls choose to take
their chances by jumping overboard into

the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.

They didn't live long.

That is, with the remarkable exception
of one man.

Charles Jockin, the ship's chief baker.

Charles Jockin was asleep in his bunk
when the Titanic hit the iceberg, and

where his quarters were, were a part of
the ship that felt the collision quite

significantly, so he sat up with a jolt
and realised that there had been a

fairly serious collision for the ship,
and he went up on deck to see.

When he heard that the order for
lifeboats... had been given, he returned

cabin and poured himself a tumbler full
of liquor.

And he drank a half tumbler full.

Then he went back up on deck and helped
to supervise the loading of lifeboat. He

helped load lifeboat 10.

After that lifeboat was loaded, he went
back to his cabin and had another nip or

two so that he was really quite well lit
as it got later in the night.

At about 2 .10, passengers reported
hearing a thickening roar.

And that was the bulkhead giving way
under this incredible stress from the

incoming ocean.

After the Titanic broke in two, Jocken
himself climbed onto the stern railing,

not far from the flagpole.

And as the ship sank, he rode it down
like an elevator.

The water temperature was...

between minus one and minus two Celsius,
or about 28 Fahrenheit, which is below

freezing.

Jocken then jumped or was washed
overboard, depending on one's

it, into the water and eventually
reached one of the overturned lifeboats.

He claimed he was floating in the water
four times longer than the maximum

survival for other passengers or crew.

who hit the water after the ship sank.

He was in the Atlantic for a lot longer
than other survivors were.

Jockin paddled around for a while and
eventually came across the overturned

collapsible lifeboat and at least 28 men
found refuge there and survived on the

back. Jockin said he paddled up to the
lifeboat and was rebuffed.

They said, no more men you'll think of.

Of the 2 ,208 passengers and crew who
sailed upon the Titanic on its maiden

voyage, only 712 survived.

1 ,496 perished.

Among the survivors was Charles Jockin,
who, after floating in 28 -degree water

for nearly two hours, managed to stay
alive.

But how?

He should have been a candidate to have
his legs amputated. There should have

been severe damage, and there wasn't.

Jocken reached New York in relative good
health. He went back to his career not

long afterward.

And when they asked him later, what do
you think it was that allowed you to

survive, he said that the alcohol warmed
his blood and kept him alive.

But no medical science shows that this
is the case. In fact, it's believed that

alcohol actually makes it worse.

if you're encountering a situation of
hypothermia.

Experts say that when you drink alcohol,
something called vasodilation occurs,

and the blood goes to your skin, which
is why your face turns red if you drink

lot. So that when you actually are
plunged into cold water, you're more

susceptible to hypothermia. You actually
would die more quickly if you were

drunk.

Alcohol is a toxin. Perhaps it drives
your body temperature up because your

immune system has to kick in and start
fighting off a toxin.

That's one possibility.

The other possibility is that the
alcohol in his system just kept him calm

that he didn't panic and was able to
survive longer because he kept a cool

about it.

So stories like Charles Jockin cause us
to question.

Was he different from normal people?

How could he have survived temperatures
like that for that long?

We don't really know the answers to
this, and maybe we'll never know.

Did Charles Jockin possess some unique
physiology that helped him survive one

the darkest days in maritime history?

Or was it liquor and luck that saved
him?

The same question could be asked of
another ocean disaster, where a sailor

managed to escape being trapped at the
bottom of the sea.

December 6th, 1941.

As World War II rages throughout Europe,
British Royal Navy submarine HMS

Persis is patrolling the waters off the
coast of Greece.

With both German and Italian forces
occupying Greece and the threat of

underwater mines lurking, it is a
dangerous mission.

HMS Perthia is a 260 -foot submarine.

She's on a mission sailing from Malta to
Alexandria.

HMS Perthia has carried 58 crew and two
passengers.

One of those two passengers is a sailor
by the name of John Capes. He had

hitched a ride aboard the submarine so
that he could return to his home base in

Alexandria, where the Perseus was
scheduled to dock after its mission was

complete.

During the night, the submarine comes up
to charge its batteries so that it can

operate underwater during the day.

And they go along very slowly, keeping a
very, very sharp lookout.

At approximately 10 p .m., the crew of
the Perseus was awakened by a violent

explosion.

And everyone on board scrambled for
their lives.

She hit a mine, which made a big hole in
the bows of the vessel, so that it sank

very, very fast.

The bottom junkheads happened to be in
the safest place on the boat.

place that was furthest away from the
explosion.

Capes is suddenly jolted awake.

He kind of gets himself together,
realizing what happened, and he goes

to see what he can find.

With only moments to spare, Capes has to
act fast.

Fortunately, he finds a potential
lifeline in the form of an emergency

suit. which is designed to protect
sailors against the effects of water

pressure.

Exiting the submarine at a depth of some
170 feet, Capes and one of the crew's

sailors desperately attempt to make
their way to the surface.

As if surviving both the explosion and
death by drowning weren't enough, the

tremendous weight of the water leaves
them vulnerable to a potentially fatal

condition dreaded by deep -sea divers.

known as the bends.

The bends is similar to opening up a can
of soda. When you open up a can of

soda, the gas that's in the liquid,
which is carbon dioxide, all of a sudden

starts releasing, bubbling to the top of
the can of soda.

So the nitrogen that's in the body does
the same thing.

So when you swim too fast, the nitrogen
that's built up in the body tries to

escape.

And this can bubble out into any of the
organs, including the heart, the brain,

the lungs. It can cause malfunction.

It can also kill you.

Even though his escape suit was not
rated to handle water pressure deeper

100 feet, John Capes' will to survive
was formidable.

In spite of everything, including the
bandits, he made it to the surface

alive.

Quite a swim. I think it was about six
miles or so swimming. He reaches a

rocky beach, manages to drag himself
ashore, and collapses.

It's amazing that John Cape's lungs did
not explode,

or at least hemorrhage badly as he was
surfacing. Maybe this guy was just lucky

enough that he was resilient enough.

to survive.

Against all odds, John Capes escaped
what should have been a death sentence.

He defied everything we know about both
human physiology and the laws of

physics. But how?

So in the British Navy, for a long, long
time, there had been an alcohol ration

every day, and the rum was 95 % proof.

And in order to settle his nerves, John
Capes took a big swig out of his rum

bottle. So I guess by the time that John
Capes was actually leaving the

submarine, he was more than a little bit
drunk.

Actually, drinking alcohol might have
helped him out. It could have lowered

blood pressure a little bit, and it
could have actually kept him calm.

Both of those are things that you may
need in this type of situation. You need

to remain calm in an emergency.

And your blood pressure was going to get
really high at some point. And so if

you have a way to artificially bring it
down some, I suspect that helped.

Unfortunately, John Capes' story was so
remarkable, so inexplicable, that many

people didn't believe it was true.

They even went so far as to question
whether or not he had ever been on the

submarine in the first place.

People didn't believe that you could
survive that escape from.

170 feet, so there were all sorts of
people cast doubts on John Capes.

And it wasn't until nearly 50 years
later when divers discovered the wreck

Muth Party that there was the hatch
opened and John

Capes' story was at last validated and
his behaviour and his

courage was rewarded.

How did John Capes summon the courage he
needed to overcome seemingly

insurmountable odds and make it out of
the submarine alive?

It's hard to imagine how anyone could
find the nerve to do what Capes did.

But the fact is that somehow he managed
to defy death.

But remarkably, there are those who have
not only survived a deadly

circumstance,

They actually attract danger again and
again and again.

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, July
1969.

Park Ranger Roy Sullivan is driving
south along Skyline Drive when suddenly

bolt of lightning strikes him through
the open windows of his truck.

Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning
driving along a mountain road. He wasn't

hurt that much.

He was lucky.

Lightning can cause all kinds of damage
to a person.

It can injure one's nerves.

It can cause headaches that last for
many, many months, if not years.

And, of course, a lightning strike can
be fatal.

The blast burned off Roy's hair.

and left a black burn mark on his ranger
hat.

One out of every ten people struck by
lightning dies.

Those who survive often suffer
debilitating lifelong injuries.

But somehow, Roy Sullivan walked away
relatively unscathed.

But what's even more remarkable is that
between 1942 and 1977, Roy

Sullivan... was struck by lightning on
six more occasions and survived.

Each and every time.

Roy Sullivan was in the Guinness Book of
Records for having been the person who

was hit the most in his lifetime by
lightning.

He was dubbed the human lightning rod,
spark ranger, and lightning man.

There are a number of factors that
increase Sullivan's odds of being

He was outdoors, not only on tops of
mountains, but on lookout towers, moving

around a lot in open spaces.

But the fact that he was hit seven times
and didn't die is incredible.

Lightning is one of the most devastating
forces on Earth.

A single bolt can carry more than 100
million volts of electricity and is five

times hotter.

in the surface of the sun.

So how was Roy Sullivan able to survive
such destructive power?

Seven times.

Well, according to some experts, it
might have been because certain people's

bodies are more resistant to being
electrocuted.

The human body is not the greatest
conductor for electricity.

But in these cases, maybe there are
compounds in their bloodstream that do

increase their ability to generate
energy or hold energy.

For example, someone who has a higher
degree of iron in their bloodstream

potentially conduct lightning a little
bit better.

Is it possible that Roy Sullivan
possessed some physical or genetic trait

allowed him to both attract lightning?

and withstand surges of electricity that
could otherwise kill a normal human?

Perhaps a clue can be found by examining
another person who was struck by

lightning multiple times.

I'd love to tell about it.

Oologa, Oklahoma, 1978.

After a long day of competition, bull
rider Carl Mize is about to head home

he grabs the door handle of his truck
and is instantly hit.

by a powerful bolt of lightning.

Right when it happened, I knew I'd
struck the lightning, the flash of the

and the shock, you know, that went
through my arm and through my body.

And it knocked me back four or five foot
on my tail end. And I just jumped up

and tried to brush the mud off and got
in my truck and left.

Aside from some achy muscles, Carl was
left uninjured by the experience.

And like most people, he wasn't worried
about this happening again because he

believed the old adage that lightning
never strikes twice.

But between 1994 and 2006, Carl was
struck by lightning

an astonishing five more times.

For 39 years, I've worked at the
University of Oklahoma in the electrical

department in the utility shop.

and we take care of all the high
-voltage electricity.

So I often think there's got to be
something that, you know, attracts

to me because it's just unheard of to be
struck that many times.

After each incident, doctors who
examined Carl were shocked to discover

injuries were minor.

None of his internal organs suffered the
kind of significant damage normally

seen in victims of lightning strikes.

There's not a whole lot of people that
get struck by lightning, so doctors

really treat you as a guinea pig.

They actually had a man come down that
was an electrical engineer to

measure the DC voltage in my body.

A common person has six volts DC to run
your body.

Whenever they tested me, I had 1 .7 DC
volts in my body.

conductive than an average person.

And it makes me wonder, and even the
doctors have wondered too, could have

been what's kept me alive?

The stories of Carl Mize and Roy
Sullivan offer living proof that

indeed strike twice.

And it's a strange thought to know that
your body can both attract and protect

you from life -threatening danger.

But there are times when survival may
come down to simply grabbing whatever

can hold on to.

New York City, December 7th, 2007.

47 stories above the ground.

Brothers Alcides and Edgar Moreno step
onto a hanging platform to wash windows.

But when they start working, disaster
strikes.

One cable snap, I hold it out to the
platform.

Hey, my brother fell off.

Another cable snap and free fall. The
platform comes and free fall all the way

down.

Edgar plunges 472 feet onto a fence,
dying instantly.

But as emergency responders arrive on
the scene,

They approach the wreckage of the
scaffolding and are shocked to discover

Alcides is still alive.

Mr. Moreno actually fell with the
scaffolding and landed onto some garbage

in the alleyway.

Our rescue paramedics, they thought that
it was going to be a recovery, but when

they got to him, he opened his eyes and
took a breath.

Alcides was rushed to the hospital for
surgery.

Several of his vertebrae had been
crushed, and his skull was fractured,

his brain to swell.

He was given 24 pints of blood and put
into a drug -induced coma, undergoing 15

more surgeries.

But on January 18th, a mere six weeks
after his accident, Alcides was

from the hospital.

The medical staff from the hospital,
when they see that, wow, they say, this

is a miracle.

Any fall from greater than one and a
half times your own height is considered

potentially deadly.

So for someone to fall from this great a
height and live a productive life is

absolutely fascinating.

Statistically, falling from a height
greater than 40 feet is almost always

fatal. So how did Alcides Moreno survive
a fall from more than ten times that

high?

It's not the falling that kills you,
it's the stopping.

And so if there is a tree, bushes,
wreckage that's between you and what you

those factors contribute to survival.

And so the main factor that caused
Alcides Moreno to survive is that

that he was on.

He held on to that all the way down.

He didn't fall directly 47 stories
without anything cushioning his fall.

In just about any emergency, your
initial reactions are going to be a big

of your survival.

These can be the little things that make
the difference between life and death.

It shows everybody that...

They're capable of a lot more than we
realize.

It just takes these extraordinary
circumstances to show us that.

So, what can we learn from these
remarkable cases of people who were able

defy death?

While many survival stories involve a
fair amount of luck, it's also clear

in times of great danger, certain
individuals possess a powerful will to

Not fully understood.

And in all likelihood will remain
unexplained.