Kechi Okwuchi (born October 29, 1989) is a Nigerian-American singer and motivational speaker. She was one of the two survivors in the

Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 (SO1145/OSL1145) was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight from Nigeria's capital of Abuja (ABV) to Port Harcourt ( PHC). At about 14:08 local time (13:08 UTC) on 10 December 2005, Flight 1145 from Abu ...

crash on December 10, 2005 and a finalist at the twelfth season of ''America's Got Talent'' in 2017.

Sosoliso plane crash

Okwuchi was one of the two survivors in the

crash on December 10, 2005 that claimed 107 lives, 59 of which were her school mates from

Loyola Jesuit College Loyola Jesuit College is a private Catholic secondary boarding school, located in Gidan Mangoro, Abuja, Nigeria. The school was founded by the Society of Jesus on October 2, 1996, and is named after the Society's founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. T ...

. She received third degree burns over 65% of her body and was given a 30% chance of survival. Okwuchi was air-lifted to

Milpark Hospital The Milpark Hospital is a private hospital in western Parktown, Johannesburg, in the area known as Milpark, and owned by Netcare Limited. It has a level 1 accredited trauma unit, and cardiology and cardio-thoracic services. It has 346 beds, of ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

for immediate medical attention and treatment, and later to

Shriners Hospitals for Children Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where she has undergone over a hundred reconstructive surgeries.

Life after plane crash

In 2015, Okwuchi graduated from the University of Saint Thomas, in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, with a First Class Degree. She was the student speaker at the Commencement Ceremony. Okwuchi was a speaker at TedxEuston where she gave a talk titled ''Girls- know thyself''. Kechi later went on to take part in the twelfth season of ''America's Got Talent'' in 2017 as a singer, and finished the competition as a finalist. She later participated in America's Got Talent: The Champions in 2019, where

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

gave her the golden buzzer, sending her straight to the final, but in the final she didn't come in the top 5. She has performed at sporting events, other events throughout the United States, South Korea and Nigeria. Okwuchi was chosen to headline Utah's 8th Annual Women of Worth Utah in 2019.

References

1989 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian singers Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents University of St. Thomas (Texas) alumni America's Got Talent contestants {{US-singer-stub