Justin Rutabyama survived Uganda Airlines flight 775 crash in Rome in October 1988.
Being a staunch Catholic, before heading to London Gatwick Airport to catch her flight, she went to church and said a prayer.
Inside the plane, she was allocated a seat right at the back where she sat with her little baby on her lap.
But for some reasons before they took off, the air hostess, out of concern, told her, ” You have a little baby you can’t squeeze yourself here. Let me offer you a better seat at the front.” So she moved.
The plane took off from London Gatwick Airport, destined for Entebbe Uganda via Rome Italy.
During the first leg of the flight, she put her baby to sleep on the next seat and said her night prayers with her rosary in her hands.
Then, as they descended into Rome, the pilot started having difficulties in landing the plane because of poor visibility.
Although the other passengers started panicking as the plane aborted landing twice, Rutabyama remained calm with her eyes closed.
In fact, according to her, when the plane crashed , she didn’t even realise it. She thought they had hit turbulence and kept her eyes closed.
She only realised that they had crashed when she opened her eyes and saw fire. The plane had split into two and caught fire. But even then, she was so frozen to get out of her seat.
When she eventually came to her senses, she unbuckled herself from the seat and tried to save her baby, who was trapped in the wreckage and crying.
She tried her best to save the baby, but because of the intense fire and smoke, she gave up and jumped out of the wreckage to save her life.
