Thirty-three years ago, Dutch-born Annette Herfkens was swept away on what was supposed to be the ultimate romantic escape.
Her longtime partner, William — the man she’d loved for 13 years — had convinced her to take a much-needed break from their high-powered lives.
William was the head of the Vietnam branch of Internationale Nederlanden Bank and Annette was a trader. After six long months of working in different countries, they finally carved out time for each other.
This trip was meant to be their reunion — a chance to reconnect and recharge. The plan? Start in bustling Ho Chi Minh City, then head to the dreamy coastal resort of Nha Trang for sun, sand, and serenity.
But along with 23 other passengers on Vietnam Airlines Flight 474, their journey would take a devastating turn,.
A gut feeling before takeoff
As a lifelong claustrophobe, Annette Herfkens felt a wave of dread as she stepped onto the Yakovlev Yak-40 on November 14th, 1992. The old, Soviet-built jet was supposed to carry her and her fiancé to the sunny beaches of Nha Trang.
Her partner, whom she called “Pasje,” tried to soothe her nerves with a white lie: the flight would be just 20 minutes.
But when 40 minutes passed and they were still airborne, panic set in.
“Pasje looked at me with fear. ‘Of course, a shitty little toy plane drops like this!’ I said, reaching for his hand. ‘It’s just an air pocket — don’t worry.’ But he was right to worry. We dropped again. Someone screamed. It went pitch-black. Seconds later, we made impact,” Herfkens recalled to the New York Post.
Waking up in a nightmare
When she regained consciousness, the Vietnamese jungle roared around her.
A stranger’s body was draped over her. Nearby, van der Pas remained strapped in his seat — smiling, motionless. Gone.
“That’s where you have fight or flight,” she said. “I definitely chose flight,” Annette told The Guardian.
Her memories of escaping the wreckage are a blur. “It must have been excruciating pain to get out of there,” she said. “So I must have crawled out of the plane and lifted myself down. And then I must have crawled another 30 yards.”
She was badly injured — a shattered hip, broken leg, collapsed lung, and bone protruding from her jaw. But she was alive. And not alone.
Surrounded by the dead
Because the early hours after the crash, Annette wasn’t the only survivor.
Annette heard groans, cries. A Vietnamese businessman even gave her clothing after her skirt tore. But slowly, one by one, the voices faded into silence.
Soon, she was surrounded only by the dead.
To survive, she used yoga breathing to manage her lung injury — “mindfulness before we all knew the word,” she called it.
