By Peter Biggs

MILLIE FURLONG, a 23 year old resident of Prince George, was one of only 41 people who survived the September 16 crash of a DC9 passenger jet aircraft on the Thai resort island of Phuket. She escaped with minor injuries.

From a hospital in Phuket, Furlong recounted her final seconds in the plane to the Associated Press (AP). She spoke of a passenger in front of her covered in flames and another one bleeding from a head wound shouting: “My boyfriend. My boyfriend.”

“As soon as we hit, everything went dark and everything fell, I felt faint. You felt like you were going to pass out right away. I’ve never felt anything this intense,” she told the AP.

Millie’s mother, Faith Furlong, told BCCN her daughter was able to escape partly because of two fellow travellers, both English, who kicked out the window near her and helped her climb out and escape the smoke and flames that were quickly enveloping the plane.

Throughout this ordeal, both Millie and her mother have displayed a noticeable calm, which they credit to their Christian faith.

“A lot of the media have asked me, ‘How can you stay so calm,’” said Faith. “Millie has also shown a calmness and she’s tried to say, ‘Well, God is there.’”

Faith also told CBC’s Early Edition that she and Millie “are both strong Christians.”

Of the 123 passengers and seven crew, 89 perished. Both pilots were killed, Thailand’s deputy transport minister Sansern Wong-Chaum told the media. Five survivors were in critical condition, with burns to 60 percent of their bodies, hospital officials said.

Authorities have speculated that in the final seconds in approach to landing, the plane was hit by extreme wind shear in the midst of a storm – which caused a rapid and catastrophic descent. At press time, the plane’s black boxes were being examined.

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Faith said she felt an urge to pray for her daughter on the night of the crash.

“I was at a church retreat and during a break in the sessions I went upstairs to my room. I started to cry and I couldn’t figure out why. I had been thinking about my daughter in Thailand and so prayed for her.”

The following day she returned home with friends in the car and didn’t hear any news. On arriving at her church, St. Giles Presbyterian in Prince George, the pastor intercepted her at the door and took to a side room.

“I have some good news and some not so good news for you,” he said.

“I started to cry and at first thought the worse,” Faith recalled. When she heard the news she reassured the church staff that she was “all right” and stayed for the service. Later she was able to talk to Millie in the Thai hospital.

“She also told me that she just needs time to absorb everything and be with friends. With all the media attention, she wants to have a bit of space,” said Faith, who expects her to return to Canada soon.

Reflecting on the role of prayer in her daughter’s experience, Faith said she is not certain about the exact timing of her tears and prayers on the night of the accident.

“I think of my prayers as being before the crash. I had a friend, a ‘prayer warrior’ who also had a sense of foreboding and felt a need to pray for Millie around the time of the crash,” she said.

This has been a testing period in her life, she added, which makes her daughter’s survival even more poignant. Her husband passed away two years ago, and her mother died months later. Six months ago a much-loved brother-in-law also passed away.

That Millie, the youngest of three children, was spared makes her inexpressibly grateful, Faith said.

October 2007