Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Five people were saved after having spent 36 hours on a plane in a swamp affected by Alligator in the Amazon after it was forced to make an emergency landing, the local authorities said.
The small plane was found by local fishermen in the Amazonas region in Bolivia on Friday who was missing for 48 hours.
The survivors – three women, a child and the 29 -year -old pilot – were saved in “excellent condition,” said Wilson Avila, director of the Emergency Operations Center of the Beni Department.
A search and rescue mission was launched on Thursday after the plane had disappeared from the radar of the Beni department in Central Bolivia.
The pilot told the local media that a motorcycle error had led to an emergency landing near the Itanomas River during a flight of Baren in North Bolivia to the city of Trinidad.
Andres Velarde said the plane had suddenly started to lose height and he was forced to land the vessel in a swamp near a lagoon.
The five who had been on board were on top of the plane and were “surrounded by alligators who came within three meters from us”.
Velarde added that he believed that gasoline leaking from the plane had kept the predators at bay. They also saw an anaconda in the water, he said.
In anticipation of salvation, they ate local cassa flour that one of the passengers had taken.
“We couldn’t drink water and we couldn’t go anywhere else because of the alligators,” said Velarde.
After Vissers discovered the vessel, a helicopter was sent to transport the survivors to the hospital.
Ruben Torres, director of the health department of the Beni Region, said that there had been “a lot of speculation about the case” and “many theories” after the plane was missing.
“I am really happy, because in the end all the institutions merged to find the missing people and save those lives,” he said Reuters.
