Both she and Jack were injured, but alive – with the couple now left to navigate escaping from the wreckage.
The aftermath of the crash was horrific, with Joani recalling seeing one woman ‘cut in half’ by her seatbelt while another woman with curlers in her hair was on fire.
583 people would lose their lives in the crash (Central Press/Getty Images)
Leaning on survival skills picked up from her years working in law enforcement, Joani and her boyfriend scrambled to make their way off the destroyed airliner. Joani made it off the plane and sprinted as far away as she could while her boyfriend stayed behind to help an air stewardess deploy an escape raft. He would later flee for his life after a subsequent explosion decapitated the woman.
Joani recalled then seeing the plane explode like an ‘atom bomb’ before she and her boyfriend were taken to hospital, where she was able to make contact with her mother.
Joani has flown multiple times in the years since the crash, however the disaster is never far from her thoughts.
“It’s always on my mind when I get on a plane,” she said.
