Jenni Rivera Brother Juan Experiences Emergency Plane Landing, Says He Feared Meeting Sister's Fate

Juan Rivera, brother of the late Jenni Rivera was on his way to the People en Español Festival in San Antonio, Texas, to participate in a tribute to "La Diva De La Banda," when the plane where he was traveling had to flight back to Los Angeles to make an emergency landing. "One of the engines wasn't working properly, it was burning oil, and all the smoke was spreading inside the cabin, so we had to make an emergency landing," said Rivera in an interview with Primer Impacto.

Juan revealed that even before his sister's deadly plane accident, he was afraid to fly, so this experience was beyond terrifying for him. "It was unbelievable. I've always been scared to fly, so every time I have to go on a plane, I try to fall asleep immediately and usually never wake up until the plane lands. I don't know what happened this time, I'm not sure what was that made me wake up, but I did, and saw the cabin full of smoke."

Although he was scared, he was thankful for the work the flight crew did by keeping everyone calm. "Flight attendants were always there, making sure everyone was ok, they did a wonderful job. But they were looking out the windows and making sure the plane wasn't catching fire in the middle of the flight. That was shocking," Juan added.

However, having lived through the horrific accident that took Jenni's life, Juan did think he was about to die just like his sister. "When I thought about my sister's accident, I always wondered if she was scared in her last moments. God gave me an answer, because you think about your kids, in what they're going to do without you, and my wife was with me, so it was scarier. I did think about my sister, I thought, 'God, why are you taking me the same way you took her?'"

Luckily for everyone, the plane was able to make a successful emergency landing, and no one got hurt during the scary situation. Juan was later able to fly to San Antonio and participate in his sister's tribute with his niece, Chiquis Marin, Jenni's daughter.