Against all the odds: 11 incredible stories of human survival

Source: MORE HERE.

A young soldier was the ONLY survivor of a plane crash in Algeria this week that left 77 dead.

Tragic: 77 people were killed when this military transport plane came down in Algeria

A young soldier was the ONLY survivor of a plane crash in Algeria this week that left 77 dead.

The passengers were on board a military transport plane which came down in Oum El Bouaghi province, 300 miles east of the capital Algiers.

The soldier, who was understood to be in a critical condition, was the only survivor.

He is just the latest in a series of incredible stories of human survival.

Outback to safety

Matthew Allen  

A teenager feared dead after he went missing for two months miraculously turned up in the Australian bush.

Matthew Allen, 18, was discovered partially blind and covered in leeches and insect bites by two hikers nine weeks after he walked out on his family on a "survival mission".

He had lost 30-40kg since disappearing from the family home north of Sydney on November 27, 2013 and was suffering from gangrene.

Big match horror

Emergency: Fabrice Muamba is carried off the field  

After collapsing on the pitch during an FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur Bolton player Fabrice ­Muamba’s heart stopped beating for 78 minutes.

The footballer’s amazing recovery after doctors said that “in effect, he was dead during that time”, has been called a medical miracle.

A model patient

Katrina Burgess was told by doctors she may never walk again after surviving a 70mph car crash on the M5 in Somerset with a broken neck and back, two punctured lungs, broken pelvis, left leg and ribs.

Surgeons saved the 17-year-old’s life and reconstructed her using 11 metal rods and dozens of pins and screws after the accident in 2009.

Astonishingly, within five months of the crash, the teenager from Weymouth, Dorset, recovered and even signed a modelling deal.

A clean recovery

Window cleaning brothers Alcides and Edgar Moreno fell 47 stories when the cable securing their cleaning platform snapped in 2007.

They had not been wearing safety harnesses as they washed the New York apartment building’s windows and after falling 500 feet Edgar, 30, was killed instantly.

Married father-of-three Alcides, then 37, was left in a coma with multiple ­fractures of his ribs, right arm and both legs as well as damage to his spinal cord.

Alcides not only made a full recovery but was able to walk again. Dr Philip Barrie, from New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said: “If you’re a believer in miracles, this would be one. I’ve seen it all – or at least I think I have – until something like this happens.”

Back from the brink

Mum-of-four Lorna Baillie was declared “technically dead” after suffering a massive heart attack.

Her family were brought in to say goodbye as doctors waited for her heart to stop beating.

But within 45 minutes of being told Lorna, 49, could not be revived, her family noticed signs of breathing and she was rushed into intensive care.

Eldest daughter Leanne Porteous said: “My dad said, ‘Lorna, come back. I love you’, and then just like that, she was there again.”

The former auxiliary nurse, from East Lothian, is still ­recovering from last month’s heart attack.

Leanne said: “It has been a whirlwind of emotions for our family. Dr David Farquharson, medical director of NHS Lothian, said: “This type of recovery is extremely rare.”