Ernest Hemingway’s Accident Prone Journey
In 1954, Ernest Hemingway took his fourth wife Mary Welsh to Africa. He chartered a sightseeing plane to show her the Belgian Congo and Murchison Falls. While flying low over the trees, the plane struck a utility pole and crash-landed in heavy brush. Hemingway suffered a concussion. His wife broke two ribs.
That night they camped in the bush waiting for a response to their distress call. A passing plane saw the crash and reported no survivors. Word spread around the world that Hemingway was dead. The next day, Hemingway and his wife were picked up by a bush pilot. Amazingly, the second plane caught fire and exploded during takeoff. Hemingway slammed his upper body and head against the exit door to escape. He suffered burns and a concussion severe enough to cause leaking cerebral fluid.
The injured travelers were driven to an Entebbe hospital. Hemingway joked with journalists and spent weeks recuperating and reading his erroneous obituaries. Restless and bored, he left the hospital and took Mary and his son Patrick on a fishing trip to Kenya. A bush fire broke out and Hemingway helped extinguish the flames. He suffered burns on his legs, torso, lips and arms. He was also diagnosed with two crushed vertebra, a ruptured liver and spleen and a broken skull.
