In 1992, Annette Herfkens was at the pinnacle of her life. A successful Wall Street trader, she was embarking on a long-awaited romantic vacation with her fiancé, William, to the coastal resorts of Vietnam. It was meant to be a celebration, a reunion after six months of working in different countries. But the journey aboard Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 ended in a catastrophic crash in the dense Vietnamese jungle, a tragedy that would claim the life of her beloved and test her own will to survive in the most harrowing way imaginable.
When Annette regained consciousness, the world had turned into a nightmare. The roar of the jungle replaced the hum of the aircraft engine, and a stranger’s body lay across her. Her fiancé, still strapped in his seat nearby, was gone. Despite devastating injuries—a shattered hip, broken leg, collapsed lung, and a jaw torn open—her survival instinct kicked in. She managed to crawl from the wreckage, moving thirty yards away from the plane, into an environment where she was completely alone.
For eight days, Annette Herfkens was the sole survivor amidst the wreckage and the deceased. The world, convinced there were no survivors, had already published her obituary. Yet, in the heart of the jungle, she fought to live. She used yoga breathing to manage her collapsed lung, a technique she later called “mindfulness before we all knew the word.” To stave off dehydration, she collected rainwater using insulation torn from the plane’s wings, an act that left her elbows so damaged they later required skin grafts.
Her rescue on the eighth day was a miracle that no one expected, not even the Vietnamese police team who arrived carrying only body bags. The return to normal life was a struggle of its own; she attended her fiancé’s funeral in a wheelchair and returned to her high-pressure banking job within months. But the trauma lingered, a silent companion she had to learn to live with. She later married the close friend, Jaime Lupa, who had refused to give up hope and had promised her father he would bring her home.
Today, Annette Herfkens has forged a new life as an author and inspirational speaker. She believes her survival was not just luck but the result of a resilient mindset honed since childhood. Every year, she marks the eight-day anniversary of her ordeal, not with sorrow, but by treating herself. Her story, detailed in her book “Turbulence,” is a powerful testament to the human spirit’s capacity to endure profound loss and find a way to not just survive, but to truly live again.
