1H Mission Impossible got nothing on this

It was late February 1969, and I was playing the courier role again. My mission this time was to hitch a ride on a twin-engine Caribou that had just picked up an A team from B-32 Special Forces camp in Tay Ninh East. After we dropped the A team off, we would then continue to Cu Chi, where I would deliver my documents to the 25th Division G-2. (Military Intelligence) It was a good assignment and I looked forward to flying into the cooler air. The countryside in Tay Ninh Province was beautiful from above; the foliage and the shades of yellow and green were mesmerizing. On this trip, we had sixteen Americans on the plane: twelve Special Forces, the flight crew, and me. The rest of the plane had ammo and supplies for the A Team’s camp.
The takeoff was uneventful, but when we reached around 2,000 feet, the left engine caught on fire, followed by a loud explosion, which blew pieces of the engine against the wing and fuselage. Immediately the whole aircraft went into a violent and rapid oscillating which caused our cargo to go bouncing across the floor of our aircraft. The flames quickly spread over the wing where the fuel tanks were located and when I looked through my window, all I could see were flames. As the plane made a steep left bank, I could see the extent of the damage; it looked like the engine had exploded. The plane then went into a steep spiral dive as the pilots tried to gain control and put the fire out. I did a glance around the plane and, surprisingly, everyone appeared calm, but I did notice we all were holding onto the webbing in our seats. With the left wing on fire and the plane full of ammunition, I envisioned a huge explosion when we crashed into the jungle.
Remarkably, the pilots regained control of the plane when we were at around three hundred feet. The plane was clipping the treetops until we made a hard, gear-up landing, sliding across three rice paddies before hitting a dike and settling on the left wing. The tail ramp had lowered during the descent and as soon as the aircraft came to a full stop, everyone exited the plane…in seconds. I ran around fifty yards from the plane expecting a big explosion at any moment, but when I looked back, I was surprised to see the flight crew had stayed with the aircraft and extinguished the fire. I stood in the rice field for what seemed like minutes thankful to be alive. As I made my way back to the aircraft, the Special Forces team had already set up a perimeter to protect the aircraft until help arrived.
The pilots’ extraordinary skill and bravery saved our lives, but luck also played a role in our survival. We were climbing towards our cruising altitude and were still at a low altitude when the engine exploded and caught the wing on fire. If we would have been at cruising altitude, I might not be writing this.
Another lucky day in Vietnam!