Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 crashed on approach to Nha Trang Airport on 14 November 1992 during

Cyclone Forrest Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Forrest, also referred to as Tropical Storm Forrest while in the western Pacific basin before its Thai crossover, was a powerful tropical cyclone that prompted the evacuation of 600,000 people in Bangladesh in ...

. The aircraft was a

Yakovlev Yak-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 (; NATO reporting name: Codling) is a regional jet designed in Soviet Union by Yakovlev. The trijet's maiden flight was in 1966, and it was in production from 1967 to 1981. It was introduced to service in 1968, with export mo ...

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

VN-A449, a three-engined jet airliner built in the Soviet Union in 1976. One passenger survived, while the other 24 passengers and six crew were killed.

Event

The aircraft was on a domestic scheduled flight from

Tan Son Nhat International Airport Tan Son Nhat International Airport is an international airport serving Ho Chi Minh City, the List of cities in Vietnam, most populous city in Vietnam. The airport is located in the Tân Bình district within the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan ...

to Nha Trang Airport. On approach to Nha Trang Airport during bad weather, it descended below a safe altitude and hit trees along a ridge of Ô Kha mountain, crashed, and was destroyed. It took rescuers eight days to find the wreckage of the plane but one passenger had survived.

Sole survivor

Annette Herfkens was the sole survivor of the crash. She survived eight days with multiple injuries and sustained herself only on rainwater. Some passengers survived the initial impact but died before they could be rescued. Herfkens' fiancé, who was travelling with her, died instantly upon impact. In 2014, Herfkens published the memoir recounting her experiences: ''Turbulence: A True Story of Survival''. It has "...received great applause from tsaudience..." and critical acclaim from

Deepak Chopra Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...

, ''

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'' and other authors. Herfkens writes and speaks about the gains that come with loss. Nine years after the crash her son was diagnosed with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

; she now also works with parents of autistic children. Herfkens lives in New York City with her family. She is the sister of Dutch diplomat

Eveline Herfkens Eva Leonie "Eveline" Herfkens (; born 9 January 1952) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (PvdA) and activist. Private life and education Eva Leonie Herfkens was born on 9 January 1952 in The Hague in the Netherla ...

Related deaths and aftermath

On 22 November 1992 a Vietnamese

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

helicopter was sent from

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

carrying rescue workers for Flight 474, but it crashed near Ô Kha mountain on the same day. All seven people aboard were killed. Almost a year after the accident, family members in the UK demanded an investigation after receiving news that the bodies were returned to the wrong families.09 August 1993 article
in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1992 Accidents and incidents involving the Yakovlev Yak-40 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1992 Aviation accidents and incidents in Vietnam 1992 in Vietnam November 1992 in Asia Vietnam Airlines accidents and incidents