In the 1954 the world famous writer Ernest Hemingway (55 years old at the time) and his fourth wife Mary Welsh they survived two plane crashes occurred within a few days of each other in Ugandathe first of which was on January 23, 1954, in an unfortunate coincidence due to a combination of problems technicians And human errors. Following the two incidents, Hemingway wrote to his lawyer Alfred Rice a four-page letter about the incident, which was sold in Los Angeles in 2023 For $237,055.
In fact, that year the writer gave it to his wife for Christmas a holiday in Africa. Their tour included visiting Belgian Congo, Kenya and Rwanda and the January 23 they decided to hire an airline pilot to take a small scenic tour above the Murchison Fallsin Uganda. Unfortunately the single-engine Cessna on which they were on board yes crash, falling onto the shores of the Nile. The causes are not entirely clear to date: according to some newspapers, how PBS and it Smithsonianthe medium he accidentally hit the telegraph cableslosing control. Instead, according to what was reported by Guardian the cause of the accident was to be found in an attempt to emergency landing necessary to avoid one flock of ibises.
The trio, fortunately, he managed to escape without any particular injuries and decided to spend the night camping outside the wreckage – even though the local press had already spread the news of theirs premature death. During this brief time in the jungle (as Hemingway later confirmed) they rationed beer And whiskey and they were rescued following day from a tourist boat that gave him a lift to the nearby port of Butiaba. From there they were supposed to take a rescue plane but, unfortunately for them, this second flight also did not go as planned.
This second aircraft during takeoff crashed on the runwayprobably due to a technical problem, subsequently catching fire. The pilot he managed to abandon the vehicle by breaking a glass and dragging it with him Mary Welshwho suffered broken two ribs. Hemingway, however, too corpulent to open the window, was forced to open the door with his head, fracturing his skull and suffering a concussion.
Despite everything, both spouses recovered within a few months, except for the writer’s brain damage which accompanied him for the rest of his life.
