the destroyed jet s wreckage spills over the top of a ridge. tragically if the jet had gained just 200 more feet in altitude they would have cleared the mountain. unconscious and seriously wounded, mercedes is trapped overnight in the wreckage. she finally comes to early the next morning. i was just asking god, you know, please give me a second chance. i just want to get off this mountain. just please, send people to save us. her prayers are answered when she hears a helicopter. i remember that two of the other survivors were jumping up and down and waving their arms. mercedes is too badly injured to get up but uses a shiny scrap of metal to alert rescuers to their location. i told them, i can t leave without my parents. mercedes doesn t know it yet
full power and tilts the nose up so much a stall warning erupts in the cockpit. there s mayhem in the cabin. i just remember hearing people crying and screaming and i was terrified. mercedes mother and father help prepare her for the worst. through all of that chaos i remember hearing my mom s voice, her voice calmed me down because she was actually praying. i was holding on to my dad s hand at the same time. [ siren sound ]. pull up. 12 seconds after the warning alarm goes off, the sound of splintering trees shatters the silence on a mountainside at 8900 feet. trees impale the jet s hull as 17,000 pounds of fuel explode on impact. it was just the loudest scariest sound i d ever heard. the destroyed jet s wreckage spills over the top of a ridge.
scariest sound i d ever heard. the destroyed jet s wreckage spills over the top of a ridge. tragically if the jet had gained just 200 more feet in altitude they would have cleared the mountain. mercedes is trapped overnight in the wreckage. she finally comes to early the next morning. i was just asking god, you know, please give me a second chance. i just want to get off this mountain. just please, send people to save us. her prayers are answered when she hears a helicopter. i remember that two of the other survivors were jumping up and down and waving their arms. mercedes is too badly injured to get up but uses a shiny scrap of metal to alert rescuers to their location. i told them, i can t leave without my parents. mercedes doesn t know it yet