

Neerja Bhanot, the braveheart flight attendant was never run away from a crisis
Neerja Bhanot, a Rajesh Khanna fan, found herself daydreaming about scenarios in which she played a role. In one such hypothetical situation, she asked her mother to recommend a plan of action in the event of a hijacking.
Her mother told her, “Agar aisa kuch hua toh bhaag jaana (If something like this ever happens, escape).”
To which a confident Neerja replied, “Mummy, tumhari jaisi maa hongi toh desh ka kya hoga? Mar jayungi lekin bhagungi nahin” (If all mothers think like you, then what will happen to the country? I’d rather die than run away).”

On September 5, 1986, Bhanot died while protecting passengers on Pan Am Flight 73, which had been hijacked during a stopover in Karachi.
But the ‘Heroine of the Hijack’ had already been through a lot.
She was the darling of her family, which included two brothers, and was born on September 7, 1963, in Chandigarh to Harish and Rama Bhanot. She studied in Chandigarh before moving to Mumbai, where she became a model, endorsing brands such as Binaca toothpaste, Forhans, and Godrej.
Bhanot married a marine engineer at the age of 19 and moved to Sharjah, UAE. After two months of abuse, including starvation, verbal taunts, and threats, she left her husband, returned to Mumbai, and decided to become a flight attendant.
On that fateful September day, Bhanot was named senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73, which was flying from Mumbai to the United States.
During a stopover in Karachi, four armed Palestinian men from the Abu Nidal Organization hijacked the plane, which was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. Bhanot quickly alerted the cockpit crew by using hijack code, allowing American pilots to escape and, as a result, ground the plane.
The enraged hijackers demanded that she collect the passports of the passengers. Bhanot and her crew hid the passports under the seats and in the trash chute after determining that the hijacker’s primary targets were Americans.

Her calming presence is also said to have kept the passengers’ and crew members’ anxieties under control for 17 hours as she served sandwiches and beverages and tried to boost morale, even as terrorists killed a passenger and threw him out of the plane.
When the hijackers decided enough was enough and opened fire, Bhanot worked quickly to evacuate as many passengers as she could through the emergency exit. She was killed while protecting three American children from terrorists.
Because of Bhanot’s foresight, 42 of the 44 Americans on board were saved. The survivors of the attack gave her the title of “Heroine of the Hijack.”
Bhanot’s legacy
Bhanot’s calm courage and quick instincts earned him a slew of posthumous awards, including India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra. She was the award’s first female and youngest recipient. According to her citation, “her loyalties to the passengers of the aircraft in distress will forever be a lasting tribute to the finest qualities of the human spirit.”

Her story continues to inspire young women, and Bhanot’s family used Pan Am funds to establish the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust in her honor. The trust honors Indian women who have overcome social injustice and airline crew members who go above and beyond in a crisis.
Among other honors, Pakistan bestowed the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat award on Bhanot, and the Indian Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor in 2004.
Ram Madhvani directed a biopic starring Sonam Kapoor as Neerja in 2016. The biopic is a stylized thriller with a few touching glimpses into Bhanot’s personal life, particularly her relationship with her mother (Shabana Azmi). The film also received a number of honors, including the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

A little girl survived a 1-hour submersion in freezing creek water
On June 10, 1986, two-and-a-half-year-old Michelle Funk fell into an icy creek and was submerged for 66 minutes. When rescuers pulled her out of the water, she was not breathing, had no pulse, and appeared lifeless. The doctors used various techniques to rewarm her blood and bring her back to life. She was successfully resuscitated and went on to lead a healthy life.

Passenger with No Flying Experience Lands Plane in Florida: A Real-Life Aviation Miracle
A passenger with no flying experience landed a twin-engine plane in Florida after the pilot died mid-flight. With guidance from air traffic control, he safely touched down—a real-life aviation miracle caught on radar and radio.

Lafayette pizza delivery driver who saved 5 from burning house
Nicholas Bostic a 25-year-old pizza delivery man from Lafayette, Indiana, ran into a burning house to rescue four children, who told him there is one more inside. He ran back inside, he found the six-year-old girl, jumped out of a window, carried her to a cop who captured the moment on his bodycam.

Kenyan Innovator Creates Smart Gloves That Translate Sign Language Into Audible Speech
In 2023, a Kenyan inventor Roy Allela invented smart gloves that can convert sign language movements into audio speech, for his six years old niece who was born deaf.

24-year-old burglar beaten by retired boxer victim
A 24-year-old knife-wielding burglar attempted to get into the home of a 72-year-old senior in Oxford, England, in 2009, but was left battered, bruised, and pinned to the ground. Frank Corti, the elderly, turned out to be a former boxing champion.

Who invented the three-point seat belt?
While employed by Volvo in 1959, Swidish engineer Nils Bohlin created the three-point safety belt. Volvo first had the design patented, but soon as they discovered its importance as a new safety measure, they made the patent open to everyone. Millions of lives were genuinely spared by Volvo’s gift to the world.

Smart girl saves her family more than 100 people in 2004 tsunami
In 2004, a 10-year-old girl saved her family and 100 other tourists from the Asian tsunami because she had learned about the giant waves in a geography lesson, it has emerged.

The beauty and uniqueness of Fukang Meteorite
This Fukang meteorite is around 4.5 billion years old and weighs more than 2,000 pounds. It was discovered in China in 2014 and is assumed to have formed when our solar system initially formed.

Paramedic Rescues Doctor Who Saved Him 30 Years Earlier
In 1981, a doctor helped save the life of a 3.2 pounds premature baby boy. Thirty years later, the boy, who had grown up to be a firefighter-paramedic, helped in saving the same doctor from a car accident.

A man joins a search operation without realizing he is the missing person
Beyhan Mutlu, a Turkish national, was reported missing by local media and unintentionally joined search teams looking for himself in a forest. He was drunk and lost in the woods when he ended up in a group with others looking for himself.

The Crystal Maiden of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave
Located in Belize, there is a cave where the remnants of ancient Maya human sacrifices can be witnessed. However, reaching the back of the cave system requires swimming, wading through a cave river, and crawling through narrow, uneven rocky passages in darkness. Once there, visitors can walk among the numerous corpses of sacrifice victims, including The Crystal Maiden, an 18-year-old whose skeleton has become calcified to the point of sparkling.

The accidentally discovery of Riace bronzes
Stefano Mariottini was snorkeling off the coast of Monasterace near Riace in 1972 when he noticed a human hand sticking out of the sand and called the police, thinking it was a corpse. It was actually two statues of "Warriors from Riace" - 5th century BC Greek bronze statues.

Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first ultra-accessible amusement park
Gordon Hartman was heartbroken when his special needs daughter, Morgan, was rejected by a group of children playing by the hotel poolside. He then set out to build a place where all children can play together. This led to the development of the world’s first ultra-accessible amusement park, Morgan’s Wonderland

The actions of a 7-year-old girl protected her mother from bullets
A 7-year-old girl jumped in front of her mother to save her from a man who was attempting to kill her in 2007. She was shot six times and survived, as well as saving her mother.

Elvita Adams jumps from the Empire State Building and amazingly survived
Elvita Adams once tried to commit suicide by jumping off the empire state building. She Jumped from the 86th floor but was blown back to 85th floor by a strong gust of wind.

Woman survives skydiving accident, discovers she's pregnant
2005, a woman performing her first solo skydive jump survived a parachute malfunction which caused her to slam face first into a parking lot at 50 MPH. During surgery doctors discovered she was pregnant. She made a full recovery and the baby was fine.

chand baori stepwell in Rajasthan India, Ancient cooling technique
This Chand Baori stepwell in Rajasthan, India is over 1200 years old. It’s called Chand Baori. The air at the bottom of the well is 5-6 degrees cooler than at the surface, so in addition to being a water source, it was used as a community gathering place where locals could escape the heat.

A man who was saved from committing suicide 16 years ago now assists people dealing with mental health issues
Kevin Berthia traveled to the Golden Gate Bridge in 2005 to commit suicide. He ended up spending 92 minutes on the edge of the bridge talking to officer Kevin Briggs about his life. In much better circumstances, they cross paths at the same bridge ten years later.

The incredible story of a plane that lost its roof in mid-flight and the light signal that saved 94 lives.
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243 was on the way to Honolulu from Hilo when a huge portion of the upper part of the fuselage blew off the airplane.

Unique Dining table with a hole for your cat to peek and join you dinner.
Dinos, a Japanese internet shop, has launched a new range of cat furniture, which includes this oak table with a hole in the middle and a perch underneath. It places your cat companion in the center of the table, making your cat the main focus of your meal, as it should be, because cats are the true proprietors of “your” home.

Self-taught William Kamkwamba built a windmill for his town
A Malawian teenager who taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring power to his village. He then went on to build a second, larger windmill to power irrigation pumps. He did this all from books he read in the library.

Hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar turning phasing out their local money in 2015
Hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar made it one of the lowest valued currencies in the world. So the country abandoned it in 2009, and switched to using foreign money. In 2015, to complete the process of phasing out their local money, the government offered to exchange it at a rate of one US dollar for 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.

How hero parrot saved little girl who was choking on her breakfast
In 2008 Quaker parrot Willie alerted his owner Megan Howard when the little girl she was babysitting began to choke. Howard was in the bathroom when the parrot repeatedly yelled "Mama! Baby!" flapping his wings. Megan rushed and performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving her life. Willie received the Red Cross Animal Lifesaver Award.

Frank Lentini, The Three-Legged Sideshow Performer
Francesco Lentini was a man with three legs, four feet, sixteen toes, and two sets of functional male genitals. He worked for the circus and lived to be 78 years old.

Before "The Rock," There Was "Rocky Maivia"
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWF persona was Rocky Maivia, a face (good guy). The audience rejected him due to his cheesy character, with chants of “Die, Rocky, die!”. After this, he became a heel (villain), referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” and insulting the audience.