US officer stranded in Iran says he climbed 7,000ft with broken bones for rescue operation
A US Air Force officer has spoken about his “modern-day miracle” of surviving in a remote area of Iran for two days with severe injuries while waiting for a rescue operation.
The serviceman, referred to by his callsign ‘Dude 44 Bravo’, was flying in the back seat of an F-15 fighter jet to carry out strikes on Iranian industrial facilities when the plane was struck down on 2 April.
He likened the experience to “getting hit by a freight train” and ejected from the jet – but soon made a daunting discovery.
“At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” the officer said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Sunday.
Bravo broke his back, an arm and a shoulder and sprained his ankle after crashing to the ground at high speed.
But he managed to climb up a ridgeline 7,000 feet (2,100 metres) high and move away from the crash site as he told himself to “never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV”.
A massive rescue operation involving dozens of US military aircraft and hundreds of troops was launched to rescue both Bravo and the jet’s pilot, Alpha, who also survived the crash.
While Alpha was rescued in a risky daytime raid, Bravo was harder to reach and remained on the ground for around 50 hours after the crash with almost no food or water.
He said seeing rescuers approach his hiding place as “one of the greatest moments of my life.”