What I survived

What I Survived explores extraordinary true stories of people who lived through the unthinkable. Each episode begins with who these people were before everything changed, then takes listeners inside the moment their lives were pushed to the edge: shipwrecked at sea for weeks, held captive by terrorists, falling 15,000 feet after a parachute failure, held in Indian prison for 10 years and other extreme, life-or-death situations.Through first-hand accounts, we follow the ordeal as it unfolded, the split-second decisions made under unimaginable pressure, and the sheer will it took to survive. Then comes what happens after: the physical and psychological recovery, and the long process of rebuilding a life forever altered.From the creator of award-winning podcasts One Minute Remaining and Wanted comes... What I Survived Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 1972, the Robertson family set sail on what should have been the adventure of a lifetime aboard their schooner, Lucette. But when killer whales attacked and sank their vessel in the Pacific Ocean, Dougal Robertson, his wife Lyn, their three sons, and a family friend found themselves adrift in a tiny life raft hundreds of miles from land, with minimal supplies and no hope of rescue.What followed was 38 harrowing days lost at sea, battling dehydration, starvation, and the psychological breaking point that comes with complete isolation in one of the most hostile environments on Earth. With no GPS, no modern technology, and no communication with the outside world, the Robertsons were forced to survive on rainwater, raw fish, and turtle blood while drifting through an area of ocean larger than most countries.This is the true story of one family's fight for survival against impossible odds. How they caught food with their bare hands. How they rationed every drop of water. The unthinkable conversations they had about what they'd be willing to do if rescue never came. And the remarkable resilience that kept them alive when most would have perished.From the moment the whales struck to their miraculous rescue over a month later, this is the complete account of the Robertson family shipwreck one of the most extraordinary survival stories in maritime history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 1972, the Robertson family set sail on what should have been the adventure of a lifetime aboard their schooner, Lucette. But when killer whales attacked and sank their vessel in the Pacific Ocean, Dougal Robertson, his wife Lyn, their three sons, and a family friend found themselves adrift in a tiny life raft hundreds of miles from land, with minimal supplies and no hope of rescue.What followed was 38 harrowing days lost at sea, battling dehydration, starvation, and the psychological breaking point that comes with complete isolation in one of the most hostile environments on Earth. With no GPS, no modern technology, and no communication with the outside world, the Robertsons were forced to survive on rainwater, raw fish, and turtle blood while drifting through an area of ocean larger than most countries.This is the true story of one family's fight for survival against impossible odds. How they caught food with their bare hands. How they rationed every drop of water. The unthinkable conversations they had about what they'd be willing to do if rescue never came. And the remarkable resilience that kept them alive when most would have perished.From the moment the whales struck to their miraculous rescue over a month later, this is the complete account of the Robertson family shipwreck, one of the most extraordinary survival stories in maritime history told by the man that lived through the experience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June 1972, the Robertson family set sail on what should have been the adventure of a lifetime aboard their schooner, Lucette. But when killer whales attacked and sank their vessel in the Pacific Ocean, Dougal Robertson, his wife Lyn, their three sons, and a family friend found themselves adrift in a tiny life raft hundreds of miles from land, with minimal supplies and no hope of rescue.What followed was 38 harrowing days lost at sea, battling dehydration, starvation, and the psychological breaking point that comes with complete isolation in one of the most hostile environments on Earth. With no GPS, no modern technology, and no communication with the outside world, the Robertsons were forced to survive on rainwater, raw fish, and turtle blood while drifting through an area of ocean larger than most countries.This is the true story of one family's fight for survival against impossible odds. How they caught food with their bare hands. How they rationed every drop of water. The unthinkable conversations they had about what they'd be willing to do if rescue never came. And the remarkable resilience that kept them alive when most would have perished.From the moment the whales struck to their miraculous rescue over a month later, this is the complete account of the Robertson family shipwreck one of the most extraordinary survival stories in maritime history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the odds of surviving a fall from 15,000 feet in the air? It's the equivalent of plummeting from half the height of Mount Everest. The answer should be zero and yet, somehow, Brad lived to tell the story.At 22 years old, Brad was the kind of person who lit up every room, outgoing, gregarious, full of life. So when his family gave him a belated birthday present of a tandem skydive, it seemed like the perfect thrill for someone who embraced adventure. But what happened next was every skydiver's nightmare.The main parachute would fail to open properly, then the reserve chute tangled with the first. Brad and his instructor spun violently through the air like rag dolls caught in a vortex, hurtling toward the ground at 80 kilometers per hour with no way to stop. They hit the earth with devastating force.Against all odds, they both survived. But survival came at a brutal cost. Brad's spine was broken. His neck torn. And the invisible wounds, the severe depression, the PTSD, the psychological trauma of falling through the sky knowing you're about to die, those scars ran even deeper.This is the story of what happened when Brad's parachutes failed. But more than that, it's the story of what happened after.Find Brads book hereIf you or someone you know is struggling, help is avaliable:Australia Lifeline: 13 11 14 | lifeline.org.au Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 | beyondblue.org.au Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 | suicidecallbackservice.org.auNew Zealand Lifeline NZ: 0800 543 354 | lifeline.org.nz Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 Need to Talk: Free text or call 1737 | 1737.org.nzUnited Kingdom Samaritans: 116 123 | samaritans.org PAPYRUS (under 35s): 0800 068 4141 | papyrus-uk.org Mind: 0300 123 3393 | mind.org.ukUnited States 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 | 988lifeline.org Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 | crisistextline.orgFor a broader international list covering additional countries, hotpeachpages.net Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, by four armed terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization. What followed was a 16-hour ordeal of terror that would end with 20 passengers dead and more than 100 injured. Michael Thexton was on that flight, heading home after the devastating loss of his brother Peter, who had died weeks earlier on a Broad Peak climbing expedition in the Karakoram. Held at gunpoint, pulled to the front of the plane, and facing what he believed were his final moments, Michael made one desperate plea to his captor—a plea that would unexpectedly save his life. This is Michael's first-hand account of survival, grief, and the extraordinary choice he made when facing death. Hear the untold story of Pan Am Flight 73 from someone who lived through one of aviation's most violent hijackings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, by four armed terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization. What followed was a 16-hour ordeal of terror that would end with 20 passengers dead and more than 100 injured. Michael Thexton was on that flight, heading home after the devastating loss of his brother Peter, who had died weeks earlier on a Broad Peak climbing expedition in the Karakoram. Held at gunpoint, pulled to the front of the plane, and facing what he believed were his final moments, Michael made one desperate plea to his captor—a plea that would unexpectedly save his life. This is Michael's first-hand account of survival, grief, and the extraordinary choice he made when facing death. Hear the untold story of Pan Am Flight 73 from someone who lived through one of aviation's most violent hijackings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, by four armed terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization. What followed was a 16-hour ordeal of terror that would end with 20 passengers dead and more than 100 injured.Michael Thexton was on that flight, heading home after the devastating loss of his brother Peter, who had died weeks earlier on a Broad Peak climbing expedition in the Karakoram. Held at gunpoint, pulled to the front of the plane, and facing what he believed were his final moments, Michael made one desperate plea to his captor—a plea that would unexpectedly save his life.This is Michael's first-hand account of survival, grief, and the extraordinary choice he made when facing death. Hear the untold story of Pan Am Flight 73 from someone who lived through one of aviation's most violent hijackings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan, by four armed terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization. What followed was a 16-hour ordeal of terror that would end with 20 passengers dead and more than 100 injured.Michael Thexton was on that flight, heading home after the devastating loss of his brother Peter, who had died weeks earlier on a Broad Peak climbing expedition in the Karakoram. Held at gunpoint, pulled to the front of the plane, and facing what he believed were his final moments, Michael made one desperate plea to his captor—a plea that would unexpectedly save his life.This is Michael's first-hand account of survival, grief, and the extraordinary choice he made when facing death. Hear the untold story of Pan Am Flight 73 from someone who lived through one of aviation's most violent hijackings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barry Hulse was living an ordinary life as a factory worker and father in Salford, Manchester, with one extraordinary passion—his love for Goa, India. He visited the coastal paradise so often that he and his mother pooled their money to buy an apartment there. It was his slice of heaven, thousands of miles from home.But in 2006, during what should have been a routine trip with a friend, Barry's life was destroyed. That friend—someone he trusted—secretly smuggled over 75,000 diazepam tablets into packages Barry was mailing back to the UK, putting Barry's name on every single parcel. Barry had no idea he'd just become a marked man in India.Three years later, in November 2009, when Barry returned to Goa, customs officers arrested him at Dabolim Airport. What followed was a nightmare that would consume nearly a decade of his life: three years and eight months on remand in Arthur Road Jail—one of India's most notorious and overcrowded maximum security prisons—before being sentenced to 20 years for a crime he insists he didn't commit.This is the true story of survival in a foreign justice system where Barry didn't speak the language, didn't understand the laws, and had no way to prove his innocence. Inside Arthur Road's walls, built in the 1920s and criticized for inhuman conditions, Barry was crammed into barracks designed for 80 prisoners but holding over 200. He witnessed violence, corruption, illness, and desperation. He contracted malaria and lost dramatic amounts of weight. He formed unlikely alliances with gangsters for protection. He endured the psychological torture of wearing a prison uniform with yellow stripes—a public mark of his conviction for seven-plus years.Through it all, Barry maintained his innocence. And somehow, against impossible odds, he survived. From Mumbai to Kolhapur, through multiple prison transfers, court battles, and the crushing isolation of being thousands of miles from home, Barry Hulse documented his journey in his powerful memoir, No Tension—a story of resilience, adaptation, and the unbreakable human spirit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kidnapped by the Taliban: How Documentary Filmmaker Sean Langan Was Taken Hostage in PakistanBritish documentary filmmaker Sean Langan had covered war zones for years—Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria. He was no stranger to danger. But in 2008, when he set out to make contact with the Haqqani Network in Pakistan's tribal regions, he was walking into something far more dangerous than he realized.This is the story of how Sean Langan was kidnapped by Taliban militants while trying to film a documentary about one of the world's most feared terrorist organizations. We explore his journey into Pakistan's lawless frontier, the role of fixers in war journalism, the deadly landscape for Western journalists between 2001 and 2008, and the moment everything went wrong.From Daniel Pearl to Nick Berg to Margaret Hassan—Western journalists, aid workers, and contractors were being kidnapped and executed at an alarming rate. Sean knew the risks. He'd seen the headlines. He'd reported on the stories. And he went anyway.This is Part 1 of Sean Langan's survival story: his life before his capture, how he became a war journalist and the psychology of taking risks in war zones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He Went Back to Meet the Taliban. This Time, He Wouldn't Leave.It's 2008. The War on Terror is in full swing. Pakistan's tribal regions—the lawless frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan—have become one of the most dangerous places on earth for Westerners. And Sean Langan is heading straight into them.He'd met the Taliban before, years earlier, and walked away. But this time was different. Post-9/11, the stakes were higher. The risks were greater. And the Haqqani Network—one of the most sophisticated and deadly terrorist organizations in the region—was operating with impunity in the very areas Sean wanted to film.This episode chronicles Sean's return to northern Pakistan and the tribal areas along the Afghanistan border. We follow his journey as he arranges meetings with Taliban contacts, gets picked up by his fixer, and begins to notice something is off. The atmosphere is different. The questions are more pointed. The looks are harder.He doesn't realize it yet, but he's already being assessed. Already being watched. Already in the initial stages of his kidnapping.This is Part 2: the moments before everything falls apart. When a documentary filmmaker walks knowingly into danger—and the door closes behind him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.