1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,958 [Dan reading on-screen text] 2 00:00:08,458 --> 00:00:11,083 [upbeat music] 3 00:00:14,042 --> 00:00:16,208 - Imagine this ordeal. 4 00:00:16,208 --> 00:00:19,875 You are trapped in an upside down ship 5 00:00:19,875 --> 00:00:22,000 at the bottom of the ocean 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:23,333 for three days 7 00:00:24,583 --> 00:00:28,125 - Every breath he takes puts him a step closer 8 00:00:28,125 --> 00:00:30,375 to being unable to breathe. 9 00:00:31,750 --> 00:00:36,542 - How about free falling 33,000 feet without a parachute? 10 00:00:39,833 --> 00:00:41,292 - She's alive. 11 00:00:41,292 --> 00:00:43,500 She fell over 33,000 feet in a damaged airplane 12 00:00:43,500 --> 00:00:47,250 that had been ripped apart by a bomb and is alive. 13 00:00:47,250 --> 00:00:49,667 - Or having to crawl through 200 miles 14 00:00:49,667 --> 00:00:52,667 of wilderness after being mauled by a grizzly. 15 00:00:54,208 --> 00:00:57,542 - This engenders in him a need for revenge. 16 00:00:57,542 --> 00:01:00,667 He wants to live to kill these two people. 17 00:01:00,667 --> 00:01:03,208 - These are the survival stories, so surprising. 18 00:01:03,208 --> 00:01:05,667 They're truly unbelievable. 19 00:01:06,667 --> 00:01:09,292 [upbeat music] 20 00:01:18,958 --> 00:01:23,083 - Being lost in the desert is usually a death sentence, 21 00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:25,542 so an ultra marathon Mauro Prosperi 22 00:01:25,542 --> 00:01:27,875 finds himself in this very situation 23 00:01:27,875 --> 00:01:32,292 he's forced to ask himself just how far am I willing 24 00:01:32,292 --> 00:01:34,500 to go to survive? 25 00:01:38,875 --> 00:01:40,042 - There's an event that's 26 00:01:40,042 --> 00:01:41,375 thought of as one of the most, 27 00:01:41,375 --> 00:01:42,958 if not the most grueling 28 00:01:42,958 --> 00:01:44,167 running events in the world 29 00:01:44,167 --> 00:01:45,875 and it's called the Marathon des Sables 30 00:01:45,875 --> 00:01:50,042 and it's about 155 miles over the course of six days 31 00:01:50,042 --> 00:01:52,833 through the desert in Southern Morocco. 32 00:01:52,833 --> 00:01:56,292 - This is the most dangerous race on planet earth. 33 00:01:57,708 --> 00:02:02,292 You are running sometimes more than 26 miles a day 34 00:02:02,292 --> 00:02:05,667 where temperatures can get up to 120 degrees. 35 00:02:05,667 --> 00:02:08,417 In order to do the race, you actually have to sign paperwork 36 00:02:08,417 --> 00:02:10,042 that tells the race committee 37 00:02:10,042 --> 00:02:12,292 where to send your body if you don't make it. 38 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:16,375 - It's been described as racing through hell for a week 39 00:02:16,375 --> 00:02:19,542 and people pay $5,000 for the privilege, 40 00:02:19,542 --> 00:02:21,167 - [Dan] But don't expect luxury to come 41 00:02:21,167 --> 00:02:22,708 with that price. 42 00:02:22,708 --> 00:02:24,875 Participants receive only two liters 43 00:02:24,875 --> 00:02:27,042 of water per day at each checkpoint. 44 00:02:27,042 --> 00:02:28,917 - Because of the high temperature 45 00:02:28,917 --> 00:02:32,208 reaching almost 120 degrees, the need for water 46 00:02:32,208 --> 00:02:35,042 and the need for food is exponentially higher 47 00:02:35,042 --> 00:02:37,292 than it would be be with your average person 48 00:02:37,292 --> 00:02:39,208 just doing day-to-day tasks. 49 00:02:40,542 --> 00:02:43,917 - [Dan] By day four runners are in the home stretch 50 00:02:43,917 --> 00:02:47,583 in seventh place, Mauro's having the race of his life 51 00:02:47,583 --> 00:02:50,583 until there's a sudden turn in the weather 52 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,792 - When this sandstorm hits the sand is actually boiling hot. 53 00:02:59,792 --> 00:03:03,958 So you've got all of these razor sharp little sand granules 54 00:03:03,958 --> 00:03:06,125 that Mauro's now breathing in 55 00:03:09,250 --> 00:03:11,833 - Because he is a marathoner, a competitor 56 00:03:11,833 --> 00:03:16,083 and kind of a badass Prosperi decides to continue 57 00:03:16,083 --> 00:03:20,417 to soldier forward, not realizing 58 00:03:20,417 --> 00:03:24,750 that they have paused the race due to this sandstorm. 59 00:03:26,667 --> 00:03:28,042 When the dust clears 60 00:03:28,042 --> 00:03:32,708 and visibility returns, he has wandered severely off course 61 00:03:33,792 --> 00:03:35,875 - [Dan] When night falls on day four, 62 00:03:35,875 --> 00:03:39,000 all the runners have checked in with race officials 63 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,667 except Mauro Prosperi. 64 00:03:41,417 --> 00:03:43,333 He camps alone that night 65 00:03:43,333 --> 00:03:45,875 planning to backtrack at first light, 66 00:03:45,875 --> 00:03:47,500 but there's one problem. 67 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:49,958 - This sandstorm has now erased 68 00:03:49,958 --> 00:03:51,583 all of the markers on the trail. 69 00:03:53,458 --> 00:03:55,542 At this point, Mauro is now climbing up 70 00:03:55,542 --> 00:03:58,333 to the tallest sand dune that he can possibly find 71 00:03:58,333 --> 00:04:00,417 so he can get a better point of reference. 72 00:04:02,167 --> 00:04:04,708 - He's on top of the dune for most of the day 73 00:04:04,708 --> 00:04:07,667 when suddenly a rescue helicopter flies over. 74 00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:12,250 - So Mauro does exactly what he's been briefed to do. 75 00:04:12,250 --> 00:04:13,958 He pulls out his little flare 76 00:04:15,333 --> 00:04:17,500 and he fires it up at the helicopter, 77 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:20,792 but unfortunately it's in broad daylight 78 00:04:20,792 --> 00:04:24,583 and these pen gun flares give out a very small signal 79 00:04:24,583 --> 00:04:27,333 so the helicopter doesn't see it. 80 00:04:27,333 --> 00:04:29,208 - [Dan] Mauro spends a long second night 81 00:04:29,208 --> 00:04:30,417 alone in the desert. 82 00:04:30,625 --> 00:04:33,417 By morning, he's reached a terrifying conclusion. 83 00:04:33,417 --> 00:04:36,750 He'll have to rescue himself. 84 00:04:36,750 --> 00:04:40,708 - He walks for most of the day, he's tired, he's hungry, 85 00:04:40,708 --> 00:04:43,792 and worst of all, he drinks last of his water. 86 00:04:43,792 --> 00:04:47,042 - He gets so thirsty that his tongue begins to swell 87 00:04:47,042 --> 00:04:50,542 and he reaches into his pack where he's got some wet wipes 88 00:04:50,542 --> 00:04:54,542 and he's sucking on the wet wipes for the moisture. 89 00:04:54,542 --> 00:04:57,792 He's so dehydrated that when he sees a structure, 90 00:04:57,792 --> 00:04:59,750 he thinks it's a mirage and he gets there 91 00:04:59,750 --> 00:05:02,125 and it's not a mirage, it's a Bedouin shrine. 92 00:05:02,125 --> 00:05:05,625 He's been in the sun for six days now, so he sets up camp. 93 00:05:07,250 --> 00:05:09,583 - At this point. Mauro is so desperate 94 00:05:09,583 --> 00:05:11,417 to get some fluids in his body 95 00:05:11,417 --> 00:05:13,500 that he ends up drinking his own urine. 96 00:05:15,542 --> 00:05:17,917 And for those of us that have been trained in survival, 97 00:05:17,917 --> 00:05:22,542 we know that drinking your own urine is a big negative. 98 00:05:22,542 --> 00:05:23,583 - Drinking your own urine 99 00:05:23,583 --> 00:05:24,917 does you more harm than good 100 00:05:24,917 --> 00:05:26,042 because even though urine is 101 00:05:26,042 --> 00:05:29,042 mostly water, this is toxins 102 00:05:29,042 --> 00:05:30,208 that your body has filtered 103 00:05:30,208 --> 00:05:32,083 through the kidneys to get rid of. 104 00:05:32,083 --> 00:05:34,458 You're also introducing some salts 105 00:05:34,458 --> 00:05:37,417 and in the long run it will make you more thirsty. 106 00:05:37,417 --> 00:05:39,458 - [Dan] As dehydration sets in, 107 00:05:39,458 --> 00:05:44,000 Mauro takes extreme measures and goes a little batty. 108 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,083 - He climbs up on the roof thinking he might be able 109 00:05:46,083 --> 00:05:50,458 to signal someone, and there he finds a colony of bats, 110 00:05:52,250 --> 00:05:54,125 so still desperately thirsty. 111 00:05:54,125 --> 00:05:55,708 He uses his pocket knife 112 00:05:55,708 --> 00:05:58,583 to cut off their heads and drink their blood. 113 00:06:00,833 --> 00:06:02,333 - At this point, Mauro is no different 114 00:06:02,333 --> 00:06:03,708 than a desert animal. 115 00:06:03,708 --> 00:06:06,500 He's gone from a marathon runner to a predator. 116 00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:08,625 This is something he couldn't have imagined doing 117 00:06:08,625 --> 00:06:10,000 just a few days earlier, 118 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,500 but yet his survival instinct has kicked in 119 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:16,792 - The bat blood has delayed death for now. 120 00:06:16,792 --> 00:06:20,708 Then on day seven while escaping the midday heat, 121 00:06:20,708 --> 00:06:22,750 there's finally a glimmer of hope. 122 00:06:25,625 --> 00:06:28,417 - Suddenly he hears a plane coming, 123 00:06:29,417 --> 00:06:33,333 so he has already written SOS 124 00:06:33,333 --> 00:06:36,083 and help into the sand with his feet, 125 00:06:36,083 --> 00:06:38,875 and he builds a signal fire. 126 00:06:38,875 --> 00:06:41,625 - But almost as soon as he gets the fire lit, 127 00:06:41,625 --> 00:06:43,458 another sandstorm hits, 128 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,375 - And again, another rescue attempt fails, 129 00:06:48,375 --> 00:06:51,708 and this proves to be his breaking point. 130 00:06:53,042 --> 00:06:56,875 - He figures that he'll die on his own terms. 131 00:06:56,875 --> 00:07:00,417 He writes a message to his family in charcoal, 132 00:07:00,417 --> 00:07:02,625 his wife will get his policeman's pension. 133 00:07:02,625 --> 00:07:05,583 He takes out his knife, he slits his own wrists 134 00:07:05,583 --> 00:07:08,458 and he lays down in the sand ready to die. 135 00:07:18,125 --> 00:07:21,292 - But to Mauro's great surprise, he wakes up 136 00:07:21,292 --> 00:07:23,333 and he's still alive. 137 00:07:23,333 --> 00:07:25,208 - [Dan] Fate, science, or just plain luck 138 00:07:25,208 --> 00:07:29,958 saved Mauro Prosperi that day, so he decides to push on. 139 00:07:33,042 --> 00:07:35,250 - He's walking through this desert all day, 140 00:07:35,250 --> 00:07:37,333 120 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. 141 00:07:37,333 --> 00:07:41,417 I can only imagine that every single step at this point 142 00:07:41,417 --> 00:07:44,333 takes every ounce of strength that Mauro has. 143 00:07:44,333 --> 00:07:46,292 - [Dan] It's now day eight in the desert, 144 00:07:46,292 --> 00:07:48,250 three of them without water. 145 00:07:48,250 --> 00:07:52,583 Then something miraculous appears on the horizon. 146 00:07:52,583 --> 00:07:54,750 - He finds a puddle 147 00:07:54,750 --> 00:07:57,250 that's left over from a dried up riverbed. 148 00:07:57,250 --> 00:07:58,708 He lays down next to the puddle 149 00:07:58,708 --> 00:08:00,458 and he tries to drink some water, 150 00:08:00,458 --> 00:08:02,458 but he vomits it up immediately. 151 00:08:04,125 --> 00:08:08,208 His throat is so dry that he can't even swallow. 152 00:08:08,208 --> 00:08:10,375 He lays by that water 153 00:08:10,375 --> 00:08:13,417 and just sips it bit by bit all day 154 00:08:13,417 --> 00:08:16,000 and all night trying to get his body used to 155 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,333 taking in a little bit of water at a time. 156 00:08:19,042 --> 00:08:21,708 - [Dan] The next day, Prosperi leaves the oasis 157 00:08:21,708 --> 00:08:25,625 and spies what to him is a beautiful sight. 158 00:08:25,625 --> 00:08:28,792 - He sees goat droppings in the sand. 159 00:08:28,792 --> 00:08:31,292 - If there's goat droppings, there's gotta be goat herders 160 00:08:31,292 --> 00:08:34,083 and if there's goat herders, there's gotta be food, 161 00:08:34,083 --> 00:08:36,292 water, survival, rescue. 162 00:08:36,292 --> 00:08:39,667 So Mauro gets rejuvenated with this sense of hope 163 00:08:39,667 --> 00:08:42,042 and he starts identifying footprints 164 00:08:42,042 --> 00:08:44,750 and he ends up finding this little girl 165 00:08:44,750 --> 00:08:47,125 and he cries out to the little girl 166 00:08:47,125 --> 00:08:51,667 and she sees this European man absolutely torn to pieces. 167 00:08:51,667 --> 00:08:53,875 So she does what any little girl would do. 168 00:08:53,875 --> 00:08:56,208 She takes off in the opposite direction. 169 00:08:57,792 --> 00:09:02,417 To Mauro's good fortune the little girl notifies her family, 170 00:09:02,917 --> 00:09:06,542 and after wandering through the Sahara for nine days, 171 00:09:06,542 --> 00:09:08,250 Mauro is finally saved. 172 00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:12,042 - [Dan] In the nine days he was missing 173 00:09:12,042 --> 00:09:13,250 Mauro wandered more than 174 00:09:13,250 --> 00:09:15,542 180 miles off course 175 00:09:15,542 --> 00:09:17,042 through some of the planet's 176 00:09:17,042 --> 00:09:19,625 most dangerous terrain. 177 00:09:19,625 --> 00:09:21,375 - He's brought to an Algerian hospital 178 00:09:21,375 --> 00:09:23,292 where doctors take care of him. 179 00:09:23,292 --> 00:09:25,458 He's lost 33 pounds 180 00:09:25,458 --> 00:09:28,375 and he needs four gallons of fluid 181 00:09:28,375 --> 00:09:30,708 to replace what he's lost. 182 00:09:30,708 --> 00:09:32,708 - [Dan] It takes Mauro two years 183 00:09:32,708 --> 00:09:35,042 to recover from the damage his body endures 184 00:09:35,042 --> 00:09:37,292 during his improbable fight for survival. 185 00:09:38,958 --> 00:09:42,750 Once healthy, he does something even more unbelievable 186 00:09:44,083 --> 00:09:47,292 - Just to show he bears no ill will towards this desert 187 00:09:47,292 --> 00:09:48,833 that almost killed him 188 00:09:48,833 --> 00:09:53,750 in 1998, Mauro returns to compete in the race again, 189 00:09:53,750 --> 00:09:56,417 and then does it six more times after that, 190 00:09:56,417 --> 00:09:58,042 a glutton for punishment. 191 00:10:05,042 --> 00:10:06,917 - Flight attendant Vesna Vulovic's story of survival 192 00:10:06,917 --> 00:10:10,708 is so close to impossible that many call it a miracle. 193 00:10:13,625 --> 00:10:15,875 - This particular day in 1972, 194 00:10:15,875 --> 00:10:18,833 flight 367 takes off bound 195 00:10:18,833 --> 00:10:21,417 for Copenhagen aboard which is a 196 00:10:21,417 --> 00:10:26,625 23-year-old flight attendant by the name of Vesna Vulovic. 197 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,333 - One minute Vesna's doing her flight attendant duties 198 00:10:30,333 --> 00:10:31,917 at 33,000 feet. 199 00:10:31,917 --> 00:10:33,792 The next minute a bomb goes off. 200 00:10:33,792 --> 00:10:35,875 [thunderous explosion] [screaming] 201 00:10:35,875 --> 00:10:37,792 The plane is blown into multiple pieces. 202 00:10:37,792 --> 00:10:39,792 [metal creaking and cracking] 203 00:10:39,792 --> 00:10:42,375 Passengers are getting sucked out of the aircraft 204 00:10:42,375 --> 00:10:44,083 and it begins to take a free fall. 205 00:10:45,208 --> 00:10:47,833 This took place in the 70s during the Cold War, 206 00:10:47,833 --> 00:10:51,125 and some sources say that this was a briefcase bomb. 207 00:10:53,667 --> 00:10:55,708 - [Dan] It's unclear who is responsible, 208 00:10:56,875 --> 00:10:58,708 but what is certain is Vesna is not supposed to be 209 00:10:58,708 --> 00:10:59,708 on this plane. 210 00:11:00,917 --> 00:11:03,292 She's not even supposed to be a flight attendant. 211 00:11:04,542 --> 00:11:06,292 - She has chronic low blood pressure 212 00:11:06,292 --> 00:11:07,708 and that should disqualify her 213 00:11:07,708 --> 00:11:10,000 from that kind of an occupation. 214 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,208 - Because you could potentially pass out 215 00:11:12,208 --> 00:11:13,375 when you get to altitude. 216 00:11:14,708 --> 00:11:18,500 - But Vesna is so determined to get her dream job. 217 00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:21,917 She figures out a workaround for her medical exam. 218 00:11:21,917 --> 00:11:23,417 - Vesna is quite ingenious. 219 00:11:23,417 --> 00:11:26,417 She really only needs to have normal blood pressure 220 00:11:26,417 --> 00:11:27,792 during the time of screening. 221 00:11:27,792 --> 00:11:30,750 - In order to bypass this screening, 222 00:11:30,750 --> 00:11:33,167 she drinks five or six cups of coffee, 223 00:11:33,958 --> 00:11:35,458 jacks her blood pressure up, 224 00:11:35,458 --> 00:11:39,125 jacks her heart rate up, goes in, passes the test. 225 00:11:39,125 --> 00:11:40,792 - [Dan] And there is another reason 226 00:11:40,792 --> 00:11:44,042 why Vesna should not be on this specific flight. 227 00:11:45,542 --> 00:11:47,917 It's supposed to be her day off. 228 00:11:47,917 --> 00:11:50,875 - Apparently there's a lot of Vesnas around at the time 229 00:11:50,875 --> 00:11:53,917 because there's a different Vesna that was slated 230 00:11:53,917 --> 00:11:56,417 to do the flight attendant duties on that day, 231 00:11:56,417 --> 00:11:58,000 but she didn't show up. 232 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,000 - It was actually meant to be someone else's shift, 233 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,708 but Vesna decides, hey, it's going to Copenhagen. 234 00:12:02,708 --> 00:12:05,042 It's a city I've always wanted to see. 235 00:12:05,042 --> 00:12:07,375 I'll take the shift even though it's not supposed 236 00:12:07,375 --> 00:12:11,833 to be mine, and it turns out to be a fateful decision. 237 00:12:12,833 --> 00:12:14,333 - When the bomb goes off, 238 00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:15,750 [thunderous explosion] 239 00:12:15,750 --> 00:12:18,833 Vesna happens to be behind the drink cart 240 00:12:18,833 --> 00:12:22,375 and as the plane starts taking a free fall, 241 00:12:22,375 --> 00:12:25,958 the cart pins Vesna to the back of the aircraft. 242 00:12:27,167 --> 00:12:29,792 At this point, Vesna loses consciousness 243 00:12:29,792 --> 00:12:31,875 and she's passed out. 244 00:12:31,875 --> 00:12:34,208 - She free falls 33,000 feet. 245 00:12:34,208 --> 00:12:37,375 That's six miles pinned between the food cart 246 00:12:37,375 --> 00:12:39,667 and the fuselage of the plane. 247 00:12:39,667 --> 00:12:41,042 - [Dan] It may be the first time 248 00:12:41,042 --> 00:12:43,333 that airplane food saves someone's life, 249 00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:45,708 but the unlikely circumstances continue. 250 00:12:46,833 --> 00:12:49,750 - As a halo jumper in special operations 251 00:12:49,750 --> 00:12:53,000 I'm jumping from typically 13,000 feet, 252 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,250 so I get about 60 seconds of free fall. 253 00:12:55,250 --> 00:13:00,125 Vesna is traveling from 33,000 feet in a dead free fall. 254 00:13:01,875 --> 00:13:04,583 So this is gonna take her about three minutes 255 00:13:04,583 --> 00:13:06,583 until she hits the ground 256 00:13:06,583 --> 00:13:09,708 - And during that time, she's still in the tail section. 257 00:13:09,708 --> 00:13:13,167 This forms a kind of rigid cage around her 258 00:13:13,167 --> 00:13:15,292 that will somewhat protect her, 259 00:13:15,292 --> 00:13:18,083 and the tail section has a surface area 260 00:13:18,083 --> 00:13:22,000 which will slow down the descent to some extent, 261 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,167 it is like the world's worst parachute. 262 00:13:24,167 --> 00:13:27,167 - [Dan] Then another unbelievable coincidence. 263 00:13:29,958 --> 00:13:33,208 - The wreckage lands at such an angle 264 00:13:33,208 --> 00:13:35,833 that she doesn't really absorb 265 00:13:35,833 --> 00:13:39,042 all the impact and she's alive. 266 00:13:39,042 --> 00:13:41,208 She fell over 33,000 feet without a parachute 267 00:13:41,208 --> 00:13:43,333 in a damaged airplane that had been ripped apart 268 00:13:43,333 --> 00:13:45,417 by a bomb and is alive. 269 00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:51,042 - However, her list of injuries is extensive. 270 00:13:51,042 --> 00:13:53,875 She has a skull fracture, a cerebral hemorrhage. 271 00:13:53,875 --> 00:13:56,250 She has multiple fractured vertebrae. 272 00:13:56,250 --> 00:13:58,917 She has both legs that have been fractured 273 00:13:58,917 --> 00:14:01,125 and a fractured pelvis as well. 274 00:14:01,125 --> 00:14:04,333 This is actually quite amazing that this is all 275 00:14:04,333 --> 00:14:06,208 that she has injured. 276 00:14:06,208 --> 00:14:09,292 - The fact that she has low blood pressure 277 00:14:09,292 --> 00:14:13,792 ultimately becomes one of the factors in saving her life. 278 00:14:13,792 --> 00:14:16,750 - Because her blood pressure is so low, 279 00:14:16,750 --> 00:14:18,625 she doesn't bleed out as fast as somebody 280 00:14:18,625 --> 00:14:20,625 who had normal blood pressure. 281 00:14:20,625 --> 00:14:22,542 - People theorize that essentially 282 00:14:22,542 --> 00:14:24,042 her low blood pressure 283 00:14:24,042 --> 00:14:25,875 is what keeps her heart from exploding. 284 00:14:25,875 --> 00:14:28,042 It's like an underfilled water balloon. 285 00:14:28,042 --> 00:14:30,208 Had she had normal blood pressure 286 00:14:30,208 --> 00:14:33,083 with that rapid depressurization of the cabin 287 00:14:33,083 --> 00:14:35,292 and the impact with the earth, 288 00:14:35,292 --> 00:14:39,042 that easily could have made her heart explode in her chest. 289 00:14:39,042 --> 00:14:42,375 - [Dan] While she miraculously survives the impact, 290 00:14:42,375 --> 00:14:45,375 she needs immediate medical attention. 291 00:14:45,375 --> 00:14:48,167 - Somehow the first person to come along 292 00:14:48,167 --> 00:14:51,667 to check out the wreckage, they hear her screaming, 293 00:14:51,667 --> 00:14:53,333 they see her. 294 00:14:53,333 --> 00:14:57,417 - And it so happens that he is a former World War II medic 295 00:14:57,417 --> 00:15:00,042 and he's seen a lot of battlefield trauma. 296 00:15:00,042 --> 00:15:03,542 So he's able to take care of Vesna until help arrives 297 00:15:03,542 --> 00:15:05,250 and she's brought to a hospital. 298 00:15:07,708 --> 00:15:11,208 - Vesna is in a coma for a few weeks 299 00:15:11,208 --> 00:15:14,875 after the accident when she finally awakes, 300 00:15:14,875 --> 00:15:17,542 she's partially paralyzed. 301 00:15:17,542 --> 00:15:20,042 - Ten months after the accident, 302 00:15:20,042 --> 00:15:23,083 Vesna actually regains her ability to walk 303 00:15:23,083 --> 00:15:25,375 and for the rest of her life, she's got a limp. 304 00:15:25,375 --> 00:15:27,875 But the fact that she's now walking less than a year later 305 00:15:27,875 --> 00:15:29,000 is unbelievable. 306 00:15:30,375 --> 00:15:32,458 - The Guinness Book of World Records 307 00:15:32,458 --> 00:15:37,208 awards Vesna the highest fall without a parachute. 308 00:15:37,208 --> 00:15:38,708 You can't really train for that. 309 00:15:38,708 --> 00:15:40,708 I'm guessing like if you don't get it the first time, 310 00:15:40,708 --> 00:15:42,250 you don't get it. 311 00:15:42,250 --> 00:15:43,875 - [Dan] Even more astonishing, 312 00:15:43,875 --> 00:15:46,125 Vesna wants to keep flying. 313 00:15:46,125 --> 00:15:48,958 That doesn't stop the airline from grounding her. 314 00:15:48,958 --> 00:15:50,542 - The airline gives her a desk job 315 00:15:50,542 --> 00:15:52,875 because she stands as a reminder that planes 316 00:15:52,875 --> 00:15:54,750 because she stands as a reminder that planes 317 00:15:54,750 --> 00:15:57,583 and people can fall out of the sky. 318 00:16:04,375 --> 00:16:05,792 - We've all heard the story of Jonah and the whale, 319 00:16:05,792 --> 00:16:08,083 even Pinocchio and the whale, 320 00:16:08,083 --> 00:16:11,583 but what about the story of Paul Templer and the hippo? 321 00:16:14,167 --> 00:16:16,750 - So there's a river guide named Paul Templer 322 00:16:16,750 --> 00:16:17,958 who's taking a group of tourists 323 00:16:17,958 --> 00:16:20,250 down the Zambezi River in Africa. 324 00:16:20,250 --> 00:16:24,833 He spots a group of hippos bathing in the river, 325 00:16:24,833 --> 00:16:26,250 but hippos are no joke. 326 00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:30,750 About 500 fatalities a year are caused by hippos. 327 00:16:30,750 --> 00:16:33,125 - Hippos can weigh four tons. 328 00:16:33,125 --> 00:16:35,708 They have jaws that open 180 degrees 329 00:16:35,708 --> 00:16:38,625 and they have teeth that are a foot and a half long, 330 00:16:40,083 --> 00:16:43,375 so they're extremely vicious when they feel threatened. 331 00:16:43,375 --> 00:16:46,375 - [Dan] These particular hippos aren't at all happy. 332 00:16:46,375 --> 00:16:48,500 When the group gets a little too close. 333 00:16:50,167 --> 00:16:52,583 - The hippo overturns one of the canoes 334 00:16:52,583 --> 00:16:56,917 and one of the guides is catapulted out into the water. 335 00:16:56,917 --> 00:17:00,042 - Paul goes back to save his fellow tour guide, 336 00:17:00,042 --> 00:17:02,375 but suddenly everything goes black. 337 00:17:02,542 --> 00:17:03,500 [screaming] 338 00:17:04,458 --> 00:17:07,125 - His legs are kicking in the air. 339 00:17:07,125 --> 00:17:11,042 He's inhaling the smell of of putrid rotten egg. 340 00:17:11,042 --> 00:17:12,375 The hippo's breath. 341 00:17:13,625 --> 00:17:17,000 In a panic, he grabs onto one of the hippo's tusks 342 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000 and wrenches himself out. 343 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,208 He surfaces and swims for shore, 344 00:17:21,208 --> 00:17:23,083 but this time he's hit from below. 345 00:17:24,042 --> 00:17:25,750 - This time he grabs him sideways. 346 00:17:25,750 --> 00:17:27,750 So Paul's legs are hanging out 347 00:17:27,750 --> 00:17:30,583 one side of the hippo's mouth and his head and shoulder 348 00:17:30,583 --> 00:17:32,542 are hanging out of the other side of his mouth 349 00:17:32,542 --> 00:17:35,042 and the hippo swings him around like a ragdoll, 350 00:17:35,042 --> 00:17:37,292 and then finally he just shakes him loose. 351 00:17:37,583 --> 00:17:39,292 [siren wails] 352 00:17:39,292 --> 00:17:42,917 When Paul reaches the hospital, he's got 38 bites. 353 00:17:42,917 --> 00:17:45,792 The hippo has punctured his face, his neck, 354 00:17:45,792 --> 00:17:48,167 his spinal column, and his lung, 355 00:17:48,167 --> 00:17:52,042 and has shredded his left arm from the elbow down 356 00:17:52,833 --> 00:17:54,292 and has to be amputated. 357 00:17:55,542 --> 00:17:57,250 - Although Templer loses his arm, 358 00:17:57,250 --> 00:17:59,417 he does keep his sense of humor. 359 00:17:59,417 --> 00:18:02,667 He titles the book, he writes about his hippo encounter, 360 00:18:02,667 --> 00:18:04,583 "What's Left of Me." 361 00:18:04,583 --> 00:18:06,792 The hero of our next story doesn't have 362 00:18:06,792 --> 00:18:08,708 quite the same upbeat attitude. 363 00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:14,208 - In 1823, Hugh Glass 364 00:18:14,208 --> 00:18:16,208 and 15 other men 365 00:18:16,208 --> 00:18:17,708 are going up the Missouri River. 366 00:18:20,042 --> 00:18:22,208 The fur trade is huge money for them, 367 00:18:23,375 --> 00:18:25,208 but North America is a very 368 00:18:25,208 --> 00:18:27,292 treacherous place to be. 369 00:18:27,292 --> 00:18:30,083 We've got warring Native Americans, 370 00:18:30,083 --> 00:18:32,250 you've got these dangerous animals, 371 00:18:32,250 --> 00:18:35,208 - [Dan] And on this unfortunate August Day 372 00:18:35,208 --> 00:18:36,958 Glass will come face-to-face 373 00:18:36,958 --> 00:18:39,458 with one of these terrifying threats. 374 00:18:42,208 --> 00:18:44,292 - Hugh Glass is out in front exploring 375 00:18:44,292 --> 00:18:46,167 and he sees these two bear cubs. 376 00:18:47,167 --> 00:18:49,292 But he's not thinking, oh, how cute. 377 00:18:49,292 --> 00:18:53,375 He's thinking There's a terrifying giant mama bear 378 00:18:53,375 --> 00:18:56,708 and she is very close to where he stands right then. 379 00:18:56,708 --> 00:18:57,875 - He hears a noise 380 00:18:58,625 --> 00:19:00,750 [deep growling] 381 00:19:03,500 --> 00:19:06,417 [ferocious growl] [screaming] 382 00:19:06,417 --> 00:19:09,083 and all of a sudden finds himself out of nowhere 383 00:19:09,083 --> 00:19:12,250 getting mauled by this massive grizzly bear. 384 00:19:13,583 --> 00:19:17,667 The bear all 400 pounds of her pins Hugh down 385 00:19:17,667 --> 00:19:21,333 and rips open his trachea, his windpipe. 386 00:19:21,333 --> 00:19:25,542 So at this point, his screams sound even more horrifying. 387 00:19:25,625 --> 00:19:28,542 [screaming] 388 00:19:30,208 --> 00:19:32,667 - Everyone hears this horror show. 389 00:19:34,833 --> 00:19:38,250 They come running to Glass or what's left of him. 390 00:19:39,792 --> 00:19:43,250 - His scalp is missing, his windpipe is exposed, 391 00:19:43,250 --> 00:19:44,250 his leg is torn up. 392 00:19:44,250 --> 00:19:45,708 There's blood everywhere. 393 00:19:45,708 --> 00:19:49,042 They assume that he is not of the living. 394 00:19:49,042 --> 00:19:50,833 [dramatic music] 395 00:19:50,833 --> 00:19:52,208 [choking] 396 00:19:52,208 --> 00:19:55,667 - But Hugh Glass is somehow still alive. 397 00:19:57,542 --> 00:20:00,458 - So the expedition leader, Andrew Henry, asks 398 00:20:00,458 --> 00:20:04,042 for two volunteers to stay with Glass, wait until he dies, 399 00:20:04,042 --> 00:20:05,542 and then bury him. 400 00:20:05,542 --> 00:20:07,583 After that, they can catch up to the expedition. 401 00:20:07,583 --> 00:20:11,417 - Enticed by the promise of cash two men volunteer. 402 00:20:11,417 --> 00:20:12,667 - Two famous frontiersmen 403 00:20:12,667 --> 00:20:15,583 by the name of Fitzgerald and Bridger 404 00:20:15,583 --> 00:20:18,375 step up to the job and stay with Hugh. 405 00:20:18,375 --> 00:20:21,000 - [Dan] But what was supposed to be a 24 hour chore 406 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,167 drags on and on. 407 00:20:23,167 --> 00:20:27,750 - Five days later, Hugh Glass is not dead. They get scared. 408 00:20:27,750 --> 00:20:30,833 - Fitzgerald and Bridger are worried they'll be attacked. 409 00:20:30,833 --> 00:20:32,500 They take Glass's weapons, ammo, 410 00:20:32,500 --> 00:20:34,375 and supplies, and they leave him. 411 00:20:34,375 --> 00:20:35,958 The guy's practically in pieces. 412 00:20:35,958 --> 00:20:37,708 How much longer can he live? 413 00:20:37,708 --> 00:20:40,833 - Bridger and Fitzgerald expect the answer to be 414 00:20:40,833 --> 00:20:45,708 not much longer, but Glass has other plans. 415 00:20:45,708 --> 00:20:48,250 - So Hugh Glass regains consciousness 416 00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:49,667 and he doesn't have his gun. 417 00:20:49,667 --> 00:20:52,542 His ammunition, he's defenseless. 418 00:20:52,542 --> 00:20:56,417 - This engenders in him a need for revenge. 419 00:20:56,417 --> 00:20:59,458 He wants to live to kill these two people, 420 00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:01,500 and that gives him the strength to do 421 00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:03,083 what it takes to survive. 422 00:21:03,083 --> 00:21:04,375 [screaming] 423 00:21:04,375 --> 00:21:06,542 - [Dan] That means tending to his injuries. 424 00:21:06,542 --> 00:21:10,375 Glass reaps the bandages that seal his exposed trachea, 425 00:21:10,375 --> 00:21:13,125 then examines his badly broken leg. 426 00:21:13,125 --> 00:21:16,000 - So, one of the utterly amazing things that Glass does is 427 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,875 that he sets his own fracture, 428 00:21:17,875 --> 00:21:19,375 which we call a reduction. 429 00:21:19,375 --> 00:21:20,542 [crunching] [screaming] 430 00:21:20,542 --> 00:21:23,208 Every time I reduce fractures in patients, 431 00:21:23,208 --> 00:21:26,292 I thank all the gods that there are, 432 00:21:26,292 --> 00:21:27,875 that we have pain medication. 433 00:21:27,875 --> 00:21:30,583 It really, really hurts. 434 00:21:30,583 --> 00:21:34,542 - [Dan] Then Glass heads out on his hands and knees. 435 00:21:34,542 --> 00:21:36,708 - He's crawling toward Fort Kiowa 436 00:21:36,708 --> 00:21:40,208 which is 200 miles away in South Dakota. 437 00:21:40,208 --> 00:21:41,708 That's the nearest settlement. 438 00:21:41,708 --> 00:21:45,250 He crawls on for about two weeks, and during that time, 439 00:21:45,250 --> 00:21:47,833 the fracture in his leg is beginning to heal 440 00:21:47,833 --> 00:21:51,458 and that allows him to actually stand up. 441 00:21:51,458 --> 00:21:55,500 - After this six-week journey, Hugh arrives to Fort Kiowa. 442 00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:58,333 He's got one thing on his mind and that's revenge. 443 00:21:59,500 --> 00:22:03,208 However, none of the trappers are there anymore. 444 00:22:03,208 --> 00:22:05,833 So Hugh takes six months to recover, 445 00:22:08,458 --> 00:22:10,542 and then he catches up to Bridger 446 00:22:10,542 --> 00:22:11,958 down at the Bighorn River. 447 00:22:12,792 --> 00:22:13,708 "Why'd you leave me? 448 00:22:13,708 --> 00:22:16,375 Why'd you take my supplies?" 449 00:22:16,375 --> 00:22:19,792 Bridger tells you that it was all Fitzgerald's idea. 450 00:22:19,792 --> 00:22:22,375 Bridger is the youngest of the frontiersmen at the time, 451 00:22:22,375 --> 00:22:24,208 rumored to be just a teenager. 452 00:22:24,208 --> 00:22:27,417 So Hugh decides to have mercy on Bridger lets him live 453 00:22:27,417 --> 00:22:29,458 and goes off and search for Fitzgerald. 454 00:22:30,750 --> 00:22:31,958 - [Dan] But as luck would have it, 455 00:22:31,958 --> 00:22:33,792 Fitzgerald is now in the army 456 00:22:33,792 --> 00:22:37,292 and an officer prevents Hugh's shot at revenge. 457 00:22:37,292 --> 00:22:38,833 Both men survive. 458 00:22:40,583 --> 00:22:42,708 - The story of Hugh Glass inspires the movie 459 00:22:42,708 --> 00:22:44,917 " The Revenant, " with Leonardo DiCaprio, 460 00:22:44,917 --> 00:22:49,417 and it becomes this ultimate story of survival and revenge. 461 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:54,167 - The Hollywood version, it's a great movie by the way, 462 00:22:54,167 --> 00:22:57,500 takes some creative liberties, focusing less on the mercy 463 00:22:57,500 --> 00:22:59,542 and more on the revenge. 464 00:22:59,542 --> 00:23:01,500 Coming up, a survival story 465 00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:03,833 that's deep, really deep. 466 00:23:07,667 --> 00:23:09,542 - Life is full of annoying little things, isn't it? 467 00:23:09,542 --> 00:23:13,333 Like rush hour traffic or losing your wifi connection. 468 00:23:13,333 --> 00:23:15,250 But what if something that feels like 469 00:23:15,250 --> 00:23:18,750 an inconvenience ends up saving your life? 470 00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:27,000 - Harrison Okene is a 25-year-old cook 471 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,042 and he's aboard this ship called the Jascon-4. 472 00:23:30,042 --> 00:23:33,375 It's about 18 miles west of the coast of Nigeria, 473 00:23:33,375 --> 00:23:34,750 out in the Gulf of Guinea. 474 00:23:35,875 --> 00:23:39,042 Harrison and his crew mates have this policy, 475 00:23:39,042 --> 00:23:40,417 whenever you go to bed, 476 00:23:40,417 --> 00:23:41,875 you gotta lock yourself in the cabin 477 00:23:41,875 --> 00:23:44,333 because there's issues with piracy there off 478 00:23:44,333 --> 00:23:45,750 the coast of Nigeria, 479 00:23:45,750 --> 00:23:47,792 and all over the coast of Africa for that matter. 480 00:23:49,958 --> 00:23:52,792 [thunder rumbling] 481 00:23:53,875 --> 00:23:55,292 - So everyone's locked inside the room, 482 00:23:55,292 --> 00:23:57,042 it's a security precaution. 483 00:23:57,042 --> 00:23:59,292 But Harrison, he wakes up in the middle of the night, 484 00:23:59,292 --> 00:24:01,083 he decides to leave his room 485 00:24:01,083 --> 00:24:02,292 and use the restroom. 486 00:24:02,292 --> 00:24:04,042 As in the restroom, 487 00:24:04,042 --> 00:24:06,333 he feels something hit the side of the boat. 488 00:24:06,417 --> 00:24:08,750 [wave crashes] 489 00:24:08,750 --> 00:24:11,333 - And all of a sudden this rogue wave smashes 490 00:24:11,333 --> 00:24:12,792 against the Jascon-4. 491 00:24:15,458 --> 00:24:18,958 And we're talking a wave 20, 30 plus feet tall. 492 00:24:18,958 --> 00:24:19,750 - [Dan] Within seconds, 493 00:24:19,750 --> 00:24:21,958 the Jascon-4 is knocked sideways 494 00:24:21,958 --> 00:24:24,625 and seawater quickly floods the ship. 495 00:24:24,625 --> 00:24:26,042 While his crew mates are drowning 496 00:24:26,042 --> 00:24:27,500 in their locked quarters, 497 00:24:27,500 --> 00:24:29,708 Harrison has a fighting chance. 498 00:24:31,708 --> 00:24:35,625 - A wall of water forces Harrison down a hallway 499 00:24:35,625 --> 00:24:39,208 into a small tiny room that is adjacent 500 00:24:39,208 --> 00:24:41,292 to an officer's quarters. 501 00:24:41,292 --> 00:24:45,833 At this point, the boat is completely upside down, 502 00:24:45,833 --> 00:24:48,917 so the ceiling is now the floor. 503 00:24:48,917 --> 00:24:52,000 He's fortunate enough to find an air pocket. 504 00:24:54,708 --> 00:24:56,917 - [Dan] Harrison finds safety for the moment, 505 00:24:56,917 --> 00:24:59,458 but let's not celebrate just yet. 506 00:24:59,458 --> 00:25:01,083 - The boat is starting to sink. 507 00:25:02,708 --> 00:25:06,042 Now he's down a hundred feet below sea level, 508 00:25:06,042 --> 00:25:10,625 stuck at the bottom of the ocean in his air pocket. 509 00:25:10,625 --> 00:25:14,500 If that's not bad enough, the cold water is 50 degrees. 510 00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:15,917 You have no wetsuit, 511 00:25:15,917 --> 00:25:18,000 you're not gonna survive in it very long. 512 00:25:19,333 --> 00:25:20,750 - [Dan] Though Harrison doesn't know it, 513 00:25:20,750 --> 00:25:22,958 rescue operations are underway, 514 00:25:22,958 --> 00:25:25,625 but it will take hours before divers reach the ship. 515 00:25:26,792 --> 00:25:28,708 - For open circuit dive operations 516 00:25:28,708 --> 00:25:31,083 for a depth of about a hundred feet, 517 00:25:31,083 --> 00:25:34,583 you are looking at a maximum bottom time of about 10 518 00:25:34,583 --> 00:25:36,542 to 15 minutes tops. 519 00:25:36,542 --> 00:25:38,375 So you can only imagine that these divers, 520 00:25:38,375 --> 00:25:40,292 they don't have a whole lot of time 521 00:25:40,292 --> 00:25:42,583 to search the ship, number one. 522 00:25:42,583 --> 00:25:44,958 Number two, it's gonna be very dark down there. 523 00:25:44,958 --> 00:25:46,958 And number three, they probably didn't have any time 524 00:25:46,958 --> 00:25:49,833 to familiarize with how the ship was structured. 525 00:25:49,833 --> 00:25:51,875 - Divers go down, they start hammering on the side 526 00:25:51,875 --> 00:25:56,583 of the hull of the ship, hoping to hear survivors. 527 00:25:56,583 --> 00:25:58,458 And Harrison hears it. 528 00:25:58,458 --> 00:26:01,000 He's shouting, banging back against the hull. 529 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,583 [indistinct scream] 530 00:26:02,583 --> 00:26:04,875 The divers work their way around the ship, 531 00:26:04,875 --> 00:26:08,042 listening as they go, they hear nothing. 532 00:26:08,042 --> 00:26:10,333 They give up, convinced there are no survivors, 533 00:26:10,333 --> 00:26:11,917 and they return to the surface. 534 00:26:12,958 --> 00:26:15,167 - Once the sounds of the hammering stop, 535 00:26:15,167 --> 00:26:18,208 Harrison realizes that he's in extreme danger. 536 00:26:19,458 --> 00:26:20,833 - Every breath he takes 537 00:26:20,833 --> 00:26:23,250 puts him a step closer 538 00:26:23,250 --> 00:26:25,333 to being unable to breathe 539 00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:29,708 because he inhales oxygen, he exhales carbon dioxide, 540 00:26:29,708 --> 00:26:33,875 so the oxygen density in his air pocket is going down 541 00:26:33,875 --> 00:26:37,625 every moment with every breath that he takes. 542 00:26:37,625 --> 00:26:40,125 - [Dan] And if the lack of oxygen doesn't kill him, 543 00:26:40,125 --> 00:26:41,208 the cold will. 544 00:26:42,750 --> 00:26:46,208 He knows he has to move or die. 545 00:26:47,625 --> 00:26:50,708 - He just so happens to have some rope with him. 546 00:26:50,708 --> 00:26:52,583 So Harrison starts to get bold. 547 00:26:55,083 --> 00:26:57,750 - He decides to tie a rope to himself 548 00:26:57,750 --> 00:26:59,958 and to his current location. 549 00:27:01,167 --> 00:27:04,042 He decides to swim off in total darkness 550 00:27:04,042 --> 00:27:06,250 to go find a larger pocket of air. 551 00:27:11,375 --> 00:27:15,958 - So Harrison is taking these little sorties outside 552 00:27:15,958 --> 00:27:17,042 of the room, 553 00:27:17,042 --> 00:27:20,375 swimming roughly 25 meters would take him 554 00:27:20,375 --> 00:27:22,875 in between 20 and 30 seconds. 555 00:27:22,875 --> 00:27:25,042 He knows he's only got so much time 556 00:27:25,042 --> 00:27:27,000 before he's gotta go back to the room. 557 00:27:30,125 --> 00:27:32,958 - Just at the moment when he's about to run out of oxygen 558 00:27:32,958 --> 00:27:36,708 and head back, he decides to swim a little bit further, 559 00:27:42,042 --> 00:27:44,583 and that's where he pops up in the engineer's room 560 00:27:44,583 --> 00:27:46,625 where there's a bigger pocket of air. 561 00:27:47,583 --> 00:27:50,375 - The fact that Harrison actually finds 562 00:27:50,375 --> 00:27:51,875 the engineering room 563 00:27:51,875 --> 00:27:55,625 that has an additional air pocket is an absolute miracle. 564 00:27:55,625 --> 00:27:58,042 - Using a hammer that he's found, 565 00:27:58,042 --> 00:28:01,292 he pulls off some of the wood paneling from the walls, 566 00:28:02,667 --> 00:28:05,917 and using an air mattress that he's found, 567 00:28:05,917 --> 00:28:08,542 he creates a makeshift platform 568 00:28:08,542 --> 00:28:12,208 so he could at very least keep his upper body outside 569 00:28:12,208 --> 00:28:17,167 of the water, slowing the possibility of hypothermia. 570 00:28:17,917 --> 00:28:19,375 - [Dan] At this moment, 571 00:28:19,375 --> 00:28:21,292 Harrison has been trapped for more than 24 hours. 572 00:28:21,292 --> 00:28:24,958 While staving off hypothermia may seem like a small victory, 573 00:28:24,958 --> 00:28:27,208 he's still not out of the woods. 574 00:28:27,208 --> 00:28:28,542 - If you can believe it, 575 00:28:28,542 --> 00:28:33,750 then things actually go from super bad to super worse. 576 00:28:34,667 --> 00:28:36,167 The sharks have come 577 00:28:36,167 --> 00:28:40,208 and he can hear them swimming around the boat 578 00:28:40,208 --> 00:28:44,667 and eating the bodies of his crew mates, 579 00:28:44,667 --> 00:28:49,000 and he knows that if they find him, he's next. 580 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,833 - [Dan] As a terrified Harrison listens to sharks, 581 00:28:53,833 --> 00:28:56,208 divers return to collect bodies. 582 00:28:57,500 --> 00:29:00,708 - There are six divers that get tasked with the job. 583 00:29:00,708 --> 00:29:02,417 Once they enter the vessel, 584 00:29:02,417 --> 00:29:04,542 they finally find the cabin area 585 00:29:04,542 --> 00:29:06,542 and they're able to start extracting 586 00:29:06,542 --> 00:29:08,208 the deceased crew members. 587 00:29:09,292 --> 00:29:11,083 - [Dan] After two days and 14 hours 588 00:29:11,083 --> 00:29:13,208 in almost complete darkness, 589 00:29:13,208 --> 00:29:17,208 Harrison sees a mysterious glow in the water. 590 00:29:17,208 --> 00:29:19,667 - The divers are going in and out of the wreckage, 591 00:29:19,667 --> 00:29:23,375 and as they're coming in on one last pass, 592 00:29:26,708 --> 00:29:28,125 it's Harrison. 593 00:29:30,875 --> 00:29:32,208 - [Diver] What's your name? - Harrison. 594 00:29:32,208 --> 00:29:34,333 - You could only imagine what it's like 595 00:29:34,333 --> 00:29:38,375 to be diving a hundred feet below recovering bodies 596 00:29:38,375 --> 00:29:41,875 and all of a sudden a body comes and recovers you. 597 00:29:41,875 --> 00:29:44,417 But Harrison's not getting out of this just yet. 598 00:29:46,042 --> 00:29:49,167 - Now that they've found Harrison alive, 599 00:29:49,167 --> 00:29:51,958 they have to be careful to not kill him 600 00:29:51,958 --> 00:29:54,292 in trying to save him. 601 00:29:54,292 --> 00:29:56,750 - [Dan] Harrison has been 100 feet below sea level 602 00:29:56,750 --> 00:29:58,375 for nearly three days, 603 00:29:58,375 --> 00:30:01,875 so he'll have to be brought to the surface, slow and steady. 604 00:30:03,208 --> 00:30:06,167 - When the body tissues have absorbed all that nitrogen, 605 00:30:06,167 --> 00:30:08,583 once they start to relieve the pressure 606 00:30:08,583 --> 00:30:10,208 and those bubbles form 607 00:30:10,208 --> 00:30:13,667 and they come out of the tissues, they can go anywhere. 608 00:30:13,667 --> 00:30:16,042 If they go to your heart, they could stop your heart motion. 609 00:30:16,042 --> 00:30:18,542 If they go to your brain, they can cause a stroke. 610 00:30:18,542 --> 00:30:22,792 Major, major problems if you don't handle this correctly. 611 00:30:23,833 --> 00:30:26,000 - The solution for Harrison comes 612 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,083 when they bring him this pressurized suit 613 00:30:28,083 --> 00:30:32,000 and then slowly ascend so that he can adapt 614 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,167 to the changing pressures and not suffer any catastrophes. 615 00:30:39,042 --> 00:30:40,833 And one of the strangest facts 616 00:30:40,833 --> 00:30:43,000 of this whole experience, 617 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:44,667 when they get him to the surface, 618 00:30:44,667 --> 00:30:48,417 he's been at the bottom of the ocean for 62 hours. 619 00:30:48,417 --> 00:30:51,208 He thinks he's only been down there for 12 hours. 620 00:30:51,208 --> 00:30:54,208 He's essentially lost two days in his mind. 621 00:30:54,208 --> 00:30:57,333 Somehow, time has become compressed for him. 622 00:30:59,417 --> 00:31:01,000 - After this whole ordeal, 623 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,833 instead of being terrified to return to the ocean again, 624 00:31:03,833 --> 00:31:07,333 Harrison decides to become a commercial diver. 625 00:31:07,333 --> 00:31:10,083 - And the man who presents Harrison Okene 626 00:31:10,083 --> 00:31:13,333 with his diploma upon graduation, 627 00:31:13,333 --> 00:31:15,458 none other than the diver who rescued him. 628 00:31:21,833 --> 00:31:23,417 - What's more terrifying than death itself? 629 00:31:23,417 --> 00:31:27,375 Perhaps not dying, but being buried anyway. 630 00:31:27,375 --> 00:31:30,333 While it sounds like something out of a gothic novel, 631 00:31:30,333 --> 00:31:33,167 it's happened more often than we'd like to imagine. 632 00:31:33,417 --> 00:31:36,875 [dramatic music] 633 00:31:36,875 --> 00:31:38,542 - In the 18th and 19th centuries, 634 00:31:38,542 --> 00:31:39,792 there's this huge fear 635 00:31:39,792 --> 00:31:41,375 of being buried alive. 636 00:31:41,375 --> 00:31:42,792 - [Dan] Yes, some of this fear comes 637 00:31:42,792 --> 00:31:44,250 from works of fiction, 638 00:31:44,250 --> 00:31:46,917 and those are inspired by very real cases, 639 00:31:46,917 --> 00:31:48,542 and it's a real enough possibility 640 00:31:48,542 --> 00:31:50,667 for doctors to test for, 641 00:31:50,792 --> 00:31:52,500 well, death. 642 00:31:54,083 --> 00:31:58,042 - They devised a number of tests for physicians 643 00:31:58,042 --> 00:32:02,958 and morticians to ensure that a person is actually dead 644 00:32:03,625 --> 00:32:05,333 before they're to be buried. 645 00:32:05,333 --> 00:32:08,417 They are generally unpleasant experiences. 646 00:32:09,375 --> 00:32:11,792 - We're talking pliers on nipples, 647 00:32:11,792 --> 00:32:16,958 rinsing out the mouth with urine, and tobacco smoke enemas. 648 00:32:17,208 --> 00:32:19,583 I don't really know why regular enemas weren't enough, 649 00:32:19,583 --> 00:32:21,875 but the tobacco smoke enemas are where we landed on this. 650 00:32:21,875 --> 00:32:23,542 And yes, this apparently is where the phrase, 651 00:32:23,542 --> 00:32:25,875 "Blowing smoke up one's ass," comes from. 652 00:32:25,875 --> 00:32:28,208 - The thinking is that if they create something 653 00:32:28,208 --> 00:32:30,500 that is unpleasant enough 654 00:32:30,500 --> 00:32:34,417 and they subject a potentially dead person 655 00:32:34,417 --> 00:32:35,958 to said experience, 656 00:32:35,958 --> 00:32:38,333 the people who are not actually dead 657 00:32:38,333 --> 00:32:40,250 will respond to that treatment 658 00:32:40,250 --> 00:32:43,250 and then declare themselves as not being dead, 659 00:32:43,250 --> 00:32:46,125 and those who are dead won't mind. 660 00:32:46,125 --> 00:32:48,125 - [Dan] Thankfully, these tests are phased out 661 00:32:48,125 --> 00:32:51,042 in the early 20th century, so we'll never know. 662 00:32:52,375 --> 00:32:55,583 Could they have prevented the fate of one Angelo Hayes? 663 00:32:57,708 --> 00:32:59,917 - So it's 1937, we're in France, 664 00:32:59,917 --> 00:33:02,083 and Angelo Hayes, young guy, 665 00:33:02,083 --> 00:33:04,042 loves to ride his motorcycle 666 00:33:04,042 --> 00:33:07,042 and he does not like wearing a helmet. 667 00:33:07,042 --> 00:33:09,500 - And one day he's riding his motorcycle very fast, 668 00:33:09,500 --> 00:33:10,542 loses control of it, 669 00:33:10,542 --> 00:33:13,792 and he crashes headfirst into a brick wall. 670 00:33:13,792 --> 00:33:17,083 Hayes has so much head trauma and it's so gruesome, 671 00:33:17,083 --> 00:33:18,792 they won't even let his family see the body. 672 00:33:18,792 --> 00:33:20,500 They think it will be so distressing. 673 00:33:21,458 --> 00:33:24,083 - He suffers extensive facial injuries, 674 00:33:24,083 --> 00:33:26,208 and these injuries are so bad 675 00:33:26,208 --> 00:33:28,792 that his face is unrecognizable. 676 00:33:28,792 --> 00:33:30,958 He has no signs of life. 677 00:33:30,958 --> 00:33:33,292 He's declared dead at the scene 678 00:33:33,292 --> 00:33:37,208 and he is sent directly to the morgue. 679 00:33:37,208 --> 00:33:38,458 - So three days after the accident, 680 00:33:38,458 --> 00:33:41,208 his family buries him in their very small village 681 00:33:41,208 --> 00:33:44,375 of St Quinten de Chalais and he would still be there 682 00:33:44,375 --> 00:33:47,000 had it not been for a life insurance company 683 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,208 that gets a little suspicious. 684 00:33:49,208 --> 00:33:51,042 - [Dan] Two weeks before Angelo's accident, 685 00:33:51,042 --> 00:33:53,458 his family takes out a life insurance policy worth 686 00:33:53,458 --> 00:33:57,000 the equivalent of 200,000 in today's dollars, 687 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,250 a big policy for a 19-year-old in 1937. 688 00:34:01,292 --> 00:34:03,250 - It all seems a little bit suspicious, 689 00:34:03,250 --> 00:34:05,958 especially seeing as it was taken out just weeks before. 690 00:34:05,958 --> 00:34:08,042 The insurance company sends two investigators 691 00:34:08,042 --> 00:34:09,833 and they actually exhume his body. 692 00:34:09,833 --> 00:34:11,875 They open up the casket 693 00:34:11,875 --> 00:34:14,625 and it turns out this man is not dead. 694 00:34:19,542 --> 00:34:22,708 - He's not conscious, but he has a heartbeat, 695 00:34:22,708 --> 00:34:24,167 albeit very slow, 696 00:34:24,167 --> 00:34:28,583 and he also has a very reduced respiratory rate. 697 00:34:28,583 --> 00:34:30,083 - [Dan] Surviving the motorcycle crash 698 00:34:30,083 --> 00:34:32,042 is a miracle on its own, 699 00:34:32,042 --> 00:34:33,625 but being buried alive 700 00:34:33,625 --> 00:34:36,042 and not succumbing to such horrific injuries, 701 00:34:36,042 --> 00:34:39,542 even after three days, how is this possible? 702 00:34:39,542 --> 00:34:41,375 - He's in a coma and when you're in a coma, 703 00:34:41,375 --> 00:34:43,208 your metabolic rate is so low 704 00:34:43,208 --> 00:34:45,042 that you don't need much air to survive. 705 00:34:45,042 --> 00:34:46,458 So they promptly take him to a hospital 706 00:34:46,458 --> 00:34:48,125 and he makes a full recovery. 707 00:34:49,708 --> 00:34:53,250 - So being declared dead obviously has a profound effect 708 00:34:53,250 --> 00:34:55,583 on Angelo and he ends up inventing 709 00:34:55,583 --> 00:34:58,917 a whole other type of coffin just in case this happens 710 00:34:58,917 --> 00:35:00,208 to somebody else. 711 00:35:01,333 --> 00:35:04,333 - It includes a food locker, an oxygen supply, 712 00:35:04,333 --> 00:35:05,792 and a radio transmitter, 713 00:35:05,792 --> 00:35:09,583 so a person who is buried alive can call for help. 714 00:35:09,583 --> 00:35:12,625 The funny thing is for all the effort that he expended 715 00:35:12,625 --> 00:35:14,000 on designing this thing, 716 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,500 there's no evidence that anyone ever bought a single unit. 717 00:35:16,500 --> 00:35:17,167 there's no evidence that anyone ever bought a single unit. 718 00:35:17,708 --> 00:35:19,375 - [Dan] I guess that after being buried alive 719 00:35:19,375 --> 00:35:23,625 for three days, Angelo wasn't taking any chances. 720 00:35:27,375 --> 00:35:31,292 - Imagine a human frozen solid as a rock, 721 00:35:31,292 --> 00:35:33,417 who is then brought back to life. 722 00:35:33,417 --> 00:35:35,708 It's a storyline straight from the movies, 723 00:35:35,708 --> 00:35:37,917 but is it actually possible? 724 00:35:37,917 --> 00:35:39,375 I'd have said no, 725 00:35:39,375 --> 00:35:42,833 until I heard our next unbelievable story. 726 00:35:45,875 --> 00:35:49,250 - It is 1980 and a 19-year-old named Jean Hilliard 727 00:35:49,250 --> 00:35:50,708 is driving back home 728 00:35:50,708 --> 00:35:53,833 after a night out with friends in Minnesota 729 00:35:53,833 --> 00:35:55,792 and her car skids off the road 730 00:35:57,417 --> 00:35:59,708 and goes through a snowbank. 731 00:36:00,750 --> 00:36:04,250 - This is well before the advent of cell phones. 732 00:36:04,250 --> 00:36:06,583 She's in the middle of nowhere, 733 00:36:06,583 --> 00:36:08,792 but she knows that her friend Wally Nelson, 734 00:36:08,792 --> 00:36:12,750 lives not very far from where she has crashed her car. 735 00:36:12,750 --> 00:36:16,083 - And she decides that the best course of action is to walk, 736 00:36:16,083 --> 00:36:18,250 but there's one problem. 737 00:36:18,250 --> 00:36:20,417 It's minus 22 out 738 00:36:21,750 --> 00:36:24,250 and she's not exactly well-equipped for the weather. 739 00:36:24,250 --> 00:36:27,458 She's wearing cowboy boots and a light jacket 740 00:36:27,458 --> 00:36:30,083 - [Dan] That might be okay for a summer stroll, 741 00:36:30,083 --> 00:36:32,042 but not for temperatures cold enough 742 00:36:32,042 --> 00:36:33,917 to cause frostbite within minutes, 743 00:36:35,292 --> 00:36:36,792 - She might think that her friend's house 744 00:36:36,792 --> 00:36:39,875 is just a few minutes down the road, but that's by car. 745 00:36:39,875 --> 00:36:42,750 She's walking for over an hour. 746 00:36:43,875 --> 00:36:47,458 - Her body now is trying to minimize her heat loss 747 00:36:47,458 --> 00:36:49,750 and protect her as much as possible. 748 00:36:49,750 --> 00:36:53,542 It'll prioritize the critical organs needed for survival 749 00:36:53,542 --> 00:36:56,375 and direct her blood flow toward the heart, 750 00:36:56,375 --> 00:36:58,417 the brain, and the lungs. 751 00:36:58,417 --> 00:37:01,417 But after a while, even that is not enough, 752 00:37:01,417 --> 00:37:05,750 and these vital organs will start to shut down. 753 00:37:05,750 --> 00:37:08,625 - She makes it to her friend Wally's front yard, 754 00:37:08,625 --> 00:37:12,833 but before she can reach the porch, she passes out. 755 00:37:14,750 --> 00:37:17,000 - Wally discovers her the next morning 756 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:18,000 when he's coming out to go to work. 757 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,875 So it's about six hours 758 00:37:19,875 --> 00:37:22,875 that Jean has been out in this subfreezing temperature. 759 00:37:24,375 --> 00:37:27,917 - Her friend Wally sees this human shaped ice block 760 00:37:27,917 --> 00:37:30,542 in front of his house and he's horrified to see 761 00:37:30,542 --> 00:37:34,458 that it's his friend Jean with her eyes frozen open. 762 00:37:36,083 --> 00:37:37,750 - First, he thinks she's dead, 763 00:37:37,750 --> 00:37:42,375 but then he notices bubbles coming out of her nostril 764 00:37:42,375 --> 00:37:44,417 and so maybe there's hope. 765 00:37:44,417 --> 00:37:46,042 - He gets her to the hospital. 766 00:37:46,042 --> 00:37:49,042 The paramedics there don't even need a stretcher 767 00:37:49,042 --> 00:37:50,000 to carry her in. 768 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:51,958 She's literally stiff as a board 769 00:37:51,958 --> 00:37:54,875 and the doctors can't even start an IV on her. 770 00:37:54,875 --> 00:37:59,167 She's so solid that the IV needles break 771 00:37:59,167 --> 00:38:00,875 when they try to insert them. 772 00:38:00,875 --> 00:38:04,625 - The frostbite is so severe, her toes are jet black. 773 00:38:04,625 --> 00:38:06,458 - Her body temperature is so low 774 00:38:06,458 --> 00:38:09,208 that it doesn't register on a thermometer 775 00:38:09,208 --> 00:38:13,000 and her heartbeat has slowed down to eight beats a minute. 776 00:38:14,375 --> 00:38:17,583 They expect her to die and they use heating pads 777 00:38:17,583 --> 00:38:21,667 to try and thaw her out even if it's just for her dead body 778 00:38:21,667 --> 00:38:23,792 to get back to her parents for burial. 779 00:38:25,083 --> 00:38:29,458 - Eventually, Jean's body warms up and she returns to life. 780 00:38:29,458 --> 00:38:33,000 What's more amazing, she speaks. 781 00:38:34,417 --> 00:38:35,583 - And the first thing that's 782 00:38:35,583 --> 00:38:38,000 on her mind is being worried 783 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,208 that her dad might be pissed off 784 00:38:39,208 --> 00:38:42,417 that his Ford LTD is in a ditch somewhere. 785 00:38:42,417 --> 00:38:44,083 - [Dan] Her survival astounds 786 00:38:44,083 --> 00:38:45,667 the scientific community. 787 00:38:46,792 --> 00:38:50,708 - Jean Hilliard comes back from the precipice, 788 00:38:50,708 --> 00:38:53,375 from the edge of freezing to death, 789 00:38:53,375 --> 00:38:55,375 and because of her, 790 00:38:55,375 --> 00:38:58,292 medical professionals now state 791 00:38:58,292 --> 00:39:01,083 that they will not pronounce anyone dead 792 00:39:01,083 --> 00:39:05,125 until they are warm and dead, 793 00:39:05,125 --> 00:39:09,625 that as long as the body is frozen, there is still hope. 794 00:39:10,917 --> 00:39:14,708 - Six hours and frozen stiff, impressive for a human, 795 00:39:14,708 --> 00:39:18,083 but that's nothing for one strange animal 796 00:39:18,083 --> 00:39:20,333 recently unearthed in the Arctic. 797 00:39:22,375 --> 00:39:24,417 - Researchers are out collecting samples 798 00:39:24,417 --> 00:39:26,292 in the Siberian Permafrost 799 00:39:26,292 --> 00:39:29,958 and they find a little tiny frozen creature. 800 00:39:31,375 --> 00:39:33,708 But even though it's microscopic, it's very complex. 801 00:39:33,708 --> 00:39:37,167 It has a brain, it has a reproductive system, 802 00:39:37,167 --> 00:39:38,833 it has a gut. 803 00:39:38,833 --> 00:39:40,667 - [Dan] It is the bdelloid rotifer, 804 00:39:40,667 --> 00:39:42,458 and the one scientists discover reveals 805 00:39:42,458 --> 00:39:45,000 an unbelievable survival mechanism. 806 00:39:46,458 --> 00:39:49,792 - These kinds of rotifers have the ability to survive 807 00:39:49,792 --> 00:39:53,292 for very long periods of time in a dormant state, 808 00:39:53,292 --> 00:39:55,958 but this one breaks all the records. 809 00:39:55,958 --> 00:39:59,458 The scientists carbonate this particular bdelloid rotifer 810 00:39:59,458 --> 00:40:03,708 and find that it is 24,000 years old. 811 00:40:04,875 --> 00:40:07,833 - [Dan] Most astonishing of all, it's not dead. 812 00:40:07,833 --> 00:40:12,375 It's resting, and scientists are able to wake it up. 813 00:40:12,375 --> 00:40:13,708 - Once they're discovered 814 00:40:13,708 --> 00:40:16,250 and brought out of that freezing condition, 815 00:40:16,250 --> 00:40:18,458 all you have to do is add water. 816 00:40:18,458 --> 00:40:22,875 And in a few hours, these things start moving again. 817 00:40:22,875 --> 00:40:26,417 - This bdelloid rotifer was alive during the age 818 00:40:26,417 --> 00:40:29,667 of wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers. 819 00:40:30,917 --> 00:40:33,292 - No one really understands how they do this. 820 00:40:33,292 --> 00:40:35,542 It is crazy, but possibly someday 821 00:40:35,542 --> 00:40:36,792 when this is better understood, 822 00:40:36,792 --> 00:40:39,125 this can be applied to humans as well. 823 00:40:39,125 --> 00:40:40,417 - [Dan] This begs the question, 824 00:40:40,417 --> 00:40:43,583 could there be other mysterious creatures living 825 00:40:43,583 --> 00:40:46,458 in the permafrost, waiting to come back to life? 826 00:40:47,542 --> 00:40:51,542 - Permafrost is the perfect place 827 00:40:51,542 --> 00:40:53,667 to preserve ancient viruses. 828 00:40:55,083 --> 00:40:58,708 - In fact, the melting of the permafrost has been linked 829 00:40:58,708 --> 00:41:03,667 to anthrax outbreaks in reindeer populations in Siberia. 830 00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:05,750 The permafrost is melting, 831 00:41:05,750 --> 00:41:09,083 and that permafrost contains zombie viruses 832 00:41:09,083 --> 00:41:11,875 that have been dormant for ages 833 00:41:11,875 --> 00:41:15,917 and could potentially pose a serious risk to humans. 834 00:41:17,875 --> 00:41:20,542 - Now, that's scary to think about, 835 00:41:20,542 --> 00:41:22,708 but if these stories have anything to teach us, 836 00:41:22,708 --> 00:41:25,083 it's that humans and non-humans 837 00:41:25,083 --> 00:41:28,708 can survive seemingly impossible circumstances, 838 00:41:28,708 --> 00:41:32,667 no matter how unbelievable they may seem. 839 00:41:32,667 --> 00:41:33,958 [upbeat music fades]