If the plane falls into the sea, how do passengers survive?

The search for 239 passengers and crew on Malaysia Airlines airline MH370 lost on the Southeast Asian coast last Saturday (March 8) is still ongoing. Although there has been no new progress, the authorities and the military of neighboring countries have been working together to find this aircraft.

Suppose the plane had fallen into the sea, how could the people on the plane survive the sea?

Survive the plane crash

The first thing to care about when the plane falls into the sea is how to survive the fall. And this survival ability is surprisingly high. According to the US National Traffic Safety Commission (NTBS), the proportion of passengers who survived a plane crash fell to more than 95% . Experts have noted a few passengers who can do it to improve survival, such as wearing appropriate clothing and footwear.

'Imagine you have to run out of a burning plane. In that case, will your flip flops help you run faster? What about your high heels? ' , Cynthia Corbett, a human factor expert at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shared.

A Malaysian Airlines aircraft.(Photo: livescience).

Studies have shown that those who sit behind the wing have 40% more chance of surviving than those sitting at the head of the plane , and the seats next to the path near the emergency exit are places. the safest.

The first 90 seconds after a collision is the most important time: If you calm down and escape quickly from the plane, your chances of survival will be much higher. Some passengers may fall into a panic that cannot remove the seat belt. NTBS data showed that many plane crash victims were found in their seats, still wearing seat belts.

'The main thing is to know what to do, even if not instructed. Some people just sit and wait for instructions, and if they don't hear anything, they will sit there and wait for the disaster to come down , 'Corbett said.

Fish, turtles and birds

Any plane crashed into the sea is an example of special cases, because anyone who survives will also face the continued existence of the sea, on a lifeboat or semi-submersible boat. half floating on the water.

Lifeboats will increase their survivability significantly, because they are less likely to suffer from stamina due to constant water clapping, as well as being difficult to attack by sharks, and they also attract fish and birds, precious food sources. In addition, lifeboats are often equipped with first aid supplies, drinking water, flares and curtains to protect customers from outside impacts. But the problem lies in: not every plane has a lifeboat.

The FAA requires aircraft to provide lifeboats for all passengers when making long-distance flights, usually from 50 miles (81 km) or more. However, in some cases, the FAA does not require certain flights to have a lifeboat, for example, the aircraft has life jackets for all passengers and does not fly over 25,000 feet (7.6 km). At this point it is not clear whether the Malaysian Airlines airline's flight 370 is equipped with a lifeboat.

Survive on the sea

Even those who are fortunate enough to be able to reach the lifeboat also face daunting challenges, namely dehydration and starvation.

It will take days to find the falling plane or any survivor.(Photo: theeasterntribune.com).

The human body needs water to survive, and very few people can survive more than a week without water. A person's temperature, humidity, body size and health can last or shorten their ability to survive without their water.

Last January, a man named Jose Salvador Alvarenga landed on the Marshall Islands coast after having spent 13 months on a 5000-mile (8000km) journey from Mexico. Alvarenga said he survived by drinking turtle blood and rainwater, and eating fish and birds caught.

'At sea, turtles, birds and fish are things that can be eaten without cooking. Poisoning by eating marine fish rarely occurs , 'said University of Medicine Medical Center Professor Claude Piantadosi.

Alvarenga also said that he had to drink his urine when there was nothing to drink, but this was not a good idea. ' Drinking urine means reloading the amount of salt your kidneys are trying to emit,' said Piantados.

When falling into the sea, a person without a lifesaver or something floating around will quickly wear out after a few hours, especially when immersed in cold water. Sharks are also a threat, although being attacked by sharks is not as common as many people think.

A more serious problem is heat loss, which occurs when the water temperature is about 60 degrees F (16 degrees C). Surface water temperature in the Gulf of Thailand, where the Malaysian airline's plane is likely to have fallen to about 80 degrees F (27 degrees C). This means that the chances of a passenger falling here will be higher.

But it will take days to find the falling plane or any survivor. In 2009, after the Air France plane flew into the Atlantic, it took five days to find the wreck and two years to find the black box. All crew and 229 passengers were killed.