Erika Delgado, a survivor of the 1995 American Airlines Flight 965 crash that killed 151 people, has spoken about her harrowing experience and lengthy recovery. The plane, en route from Miami to Cali, Colombia, crashed into a mountain near Buga, leaving only four survivors, including Delgado and her father.
Delgado, then six years old, was on her first flight with her family for a reunion in Colombia. She recalls fighting with her brother over the window seat before the crash. Waking up the next morning, she was buried from the waist down in the wreckage, having been trapped for 13 hours. Her mother, brother, and cousin were among those killed.
Rescuers used parts of the plane to create a stretcher and carried her down the mountain. In hospital, she was told her family members had died. Delgado spent years in a wheelchair and was told she might never walk again, but she eventually regained mobility through painful nerve recovery.
She later found closure through an investigative documentary by ex-pilot Tristan Loraine, which suggested longstanding faults with the aircraft type. Now a mother herself, Delgado says the accident shaped her into someone who does not take anything for granted.
