First Sergeant Vasiliki Plexida
recounts the miracle she received when the helicopter she was boarding crashed
in a ravine
On the
morning of April 19, 2017, a Huey UH-1H helicopter of the Hellenic National
Defense with a crew of five executing a planned flight from Larissa to Kozani
crashed in the area of Sarantaporos, Elassona, Greece. Immediate rescue
operations retrieved the bodies of four of the crew (Lieutenant Ioannis
Tzanidakis, Colonel Thomas Adamou, Major Demosthenes Goula, and Lieutenant
Konstantinos Hatzis.) Fifth crew member (First Sergeant Vasiliki Plexida) was
located injured but in a stable and non-critical condition. She is being
transported to 424 General Military Hospital in Thessaloniki.
The above is
an unofficial translation of the brief issued by the Hellenic National Defense
on April 19, 2017, which can be found in the following link: http://www.geetha.mil.gr/el/briefing-el/press-el/6004-ptwsh-elikopteroy-toy-sx.html
First
Sergeant Vasiliki Plexida’s account of her miraculous rescue by Virgin Mary is
very moving. She recounts that this
was a planned flight and that the military helicopter took off from
Stefanovikeio Airport at 7:20 a.m. Within minutes, while she was occupied
registering [data], completing the helicopter’s file, suddenly, she lifted her
head up and saw that they were in a ravine. She says:
“I heard a
‘bang!’. The helicopter hit [the mountainside] and I remember bashing [against
something], my head, my body being thrust back and forth. I immediately did the
sign of the cross and asked Virgin Mary’s help. I immediately saw her alive.
She descended in front of me dressed in a red cloak and uprooted me. She lifted
me up [along] with my seat and the floor. This is really difficult. Same as a
surgical procedure given that it is attached with 1,200 rivets. She snatched me
and She uprooted me. I felt the upward movement, the pull. She brought me out
[of the helicopter]. This happened after I experienced the first collision, the
first bangs.
And the
helicopter continued to topple, cranks and everything falling in mid-air.
Virgin Mary
placed me at [the base of] an evergreen oak tree in the far back and to the
left in relation to the scene of the accident, with my back half-turned, [thus]
not allowing me to have any images of the accident and our colleagues.
Aircrafts
and helicopters were looking for us all morning but could not locate us. It was
impossible to find us given that the passage [the ravine] had difficult access
and nobody could see us from above. Only if someone arrived on foot [they would
see us].
As we later
learned, Virgin Mary guided the helicopter so that [as it toppled] it hit the
central hydro (electricity) pole and in doing so, sliced it. (Translator’s
Note: This, we understand, caused a power outage in the area, which allowed
hydro workers to find the missing helicopter while they were searching for the
damage that caused the outage). The neighbouring villages complained of the
power outage and D.E.H. (Hellenic Electric Company) sent out an employee [to
locate and inspect the damage]. Also, Virgin Mary did not allow the power cable
to fall and touch the ground [after the pole was sliced] because if it did, all
the mountain, which was drenched with fuel would have caught fire. And we would
all have caught fire. When we went [back to the site of the accident] for the
unveiling of the monument, it seemed as though the hydro cable was miraculous
being held up by an unseen hand – something which cannot be explained.
For two and
a half hours, Virgin Mary kept me company. She held me in her arms (I was
seated in my seat all the time). She was holding me exactly as She is portrayed
on the icon of Virgin Mary the Acrotyriani (Monastery of Virgin Mary the
Evagelistria, on the Island of Serifos) and she was cuddling me as if I were a
baby. To me, all this time seemed as if it were but one second but it was
actually two and a half hours. The accident happened at 7:50 a.m. and they
found me at 10:30 a.m. All these hours, I was with Virgin Mary. But I did not
have any sense of the time, [or] of the place, nothing. She had me in Her arms
and She said ‘hush, why are you afraid? I am here with you. I will send
[people] to find you’. She spoke to me slowly, She was making me calm, She was
giving me courage because I was in shock and she was saying, ‘please don’t be
afraid, I am here.’ And so, after two and a half hours, the employee from
D.E.H. [Hellenic Electric Company] came. Afterwards, he told me that he had come
out there to see what had caused the power outage and when he came and
encountered the scene, he felt there was something holy there with me. He said
he sensed it. He felt awe and did the sign of the cross. He also said that
Virgin Mary gave him strength too, in order to dispense first aid. He also told
me that he found me seated on the [helicopter] seat with Virgin Mary’s icon on
me.
Every
helicopter has an icon of Virgin Mary on the dashboard. Everything that was
recovered from the accident (except for the icon) was found at the front/right
side of the helicopter wreckage as per the laws of physics. But nobody can
explain how I got to where they found me [left/back]. Also, my things were
placed one next to the other beside me with mathematical precision. And Virgin
Mary’s icon [from the dashboard] was found on me.
Our cellular
phones were all ringing – all five. When mine rang again, the D.E.H. employee
answered it. He gave the message to the headquarters and the Super Puma
[helicopter] came to rescue me. We went to Thessaloniki. I received treatment
at the 424 General Military Hospital. The rescuers from the Super Puma told me
that I was very calm and tranquil. And that I was conscious because I answered
everything they asked me, exactly as things were. [At the hospital], they
placed me on the gurney to take me for tests and later, when I had recovered a
little, a doctor said to me ‘I endured a lot because of you. We were pulling
your cross, the wooden cross from your neck to remove it in order to do the MRI
and you suddenly got up and you grabbed me from the neck.’ I don’t recollect
this event but if the doctor said it happened, then it did.
They did
[many] tests. 15 different medical specialists were gathered for my case and
could not believe what they saw. Of course, as my medical file states, my
injuries were very serious and were critical for my life, post-hospitalization.
The fractures were all very serious. My cranio-encephalic lesions were
dangerous for the brain. I had fractures on the spinal column. One, in
particular, was very critical because it had a hematoma right next to the
spinal cord. The doctors said they feared for partial paralysis from the waist
down. I had fractures on the bones of the left eye socket, the zygomatic bone,
and the leg. The fractures on my sternum were very dangerous too as doctors
worried about my heart. A hematoma in my brain was very dangerous for my
cranial nerves. The first day I was in the intensive care unit (ICU) doctors
were worried about the hematoma and were very reserved. The following day,
Virgin Mary appeared to me in ICU and she took away all the pain. The hematoma
was reabsorbed and the doctors could not believe [it happened] in less than 24
hours. I never had pain, I did not take any pain medication. My husband would
visit me in the ICU and bring me the miracle-working oil of Virgin Mary. The
second day I was in the ICU, my husband had been allowed to stay for only five
minutes. And he worried that he had to leave me but I said to him ‘don’t you
see, Virgin Mary is here. I am not alone’.
[In the
ICU], Virgin Mary said to me ‘I want you to preach the miracle that you
received so that everyone’s faith may become stronger [to be able to face] the
events of the latter days that are coming’. And I promised her to do so.
The doctors
initially said that I would stay [in hospital] for four months, then they said
for two months. In the end, with Virgin Mary’s grace, I remained in hospital
for only two and a half weeks.
The miracle
I received is manifold. It starts with the greatest miracle of my rescue and
goes all the way to my speedy recovery. Six and a half months later, not only
would I not have been here (translator’s note: First Sergeant Vasiliki Plexida
is recounting the miracle in front of an audience) but I would also not have
been the way I am. And I owe it all to Virgin Mary who never forgets us. We
forget them [God, Virgin Mary, our saints]. Faith is the biggest weapon we
have. And when we ask for their help with faith and real repentance, they are
there and they don’t forget us.
And I give
glory to Virgin Mary and I will thank her all my life.”
The above translation is based on the
testimony of First Sergeant Vasiliki Plexida as she recounts her miraculous
rescue and recovery. The Greek version of her testimony can be found in the
presentation on the following link:
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