Czech plane crash survivor returns to Gander
CBC News | Posted: September 16, 2014 6:32 PM | Last Updated: September 16, 2014
Czechoslovakian Airlines Flight 523 burst into flames after takeoff 47 years ago
A survivor of one of the worst plane crashes in Newfoundland's history has returned to the site for closure.
Czechoslovakian Airlines Flight 523, which was bound for Cuba, took off from the Gander airport's runway on Sept. 5, 1967. Within seconds, the plane burst into flames.
Only 32 of the 69 people on board survived.
After surviving such a horrific crash, Alena Zimova never thought she would return to central Newfoundland.
Zimova said she remembers every detail of that crash, including her skin catching fire.For her 80th birthday, Zimova's family gave her a trip to visit Gander from Ontario to revisit the crash site, and meet those who saved her life.
"You just wished that the death would come fast, because I did not expect that anybody could get out of that alive," she said.
Jack Pinsent was working alone in air traffic control the night that it happened.
You just wished that the death would come fast, because I did not expect that anybody could get out of that alive. - Alena Zimova
"On the frequency, one of the fire guys calling me, he says, 'Send doctors, send morphine. We need doctors, we need morphine!' I said, 'Oh my god ... there's survivors,'" Pinsent said.
"When you look at the photos of the crash site, you got to say, 'How did anybody ever walk away from that?' And there were people who actually walked away from it, not without any help at all, just walked away," Pinsent said.
He said he didn't think anyone would survive that crash.
"It's unbelievable, because the airplane practically vaporized."
Zimova was plagued with nightmares, and she still fears flying.
But she said revisiting Gander and meeting her rescue team and the doctors that helped her has brought some closure to the event.
"It was just extremely emotional and I didn't have enough words in which to thank them for everything, what they did for me. It was just incredible," she said.