Miracle survival: How five, including a child, survived 36 hours in an alligator-infested swamp in Amazon

Stranded for 36 hours on a crashed plane surrounded by alligators in the heart of Amazon – how did the five people survive the unimaginable before being rescued by the authorities? A puzzler, isn’t it? 

 

It was the local fishermen in Bolivia’s Amazon region, who spotted the small plane in the river first and alerted the authorities on Friday. The plane has gone missing for around 48 hours. Among the survivors included a child, three women and the 29-year-old pilot. 

 

Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department's emergency operations centre, said all the survivors were rescued in "excellent condition". 

 

After the plane went missing from the radar of the Beni Department in central Bolivia, authorities launched a rescue operation on Thursday. The plane was en route to Trinidad from Baures in northern Bolivia when the pilot noted the engine failure. 

 

While recalling the harrowing experience, the pilot Andres Velarde said that the plane suddenly started losing altitude and had to make an emergency landing. The emergency landing took place near the Itanomas River.

 

The passengers onboard survived the landing and had to get out of the plane to avoid sinking. “They stood on top of the plane and were surrounded by alligators that came within three metres of us,” he said. 

 

Velarde told reporters that he believed that it was the petrol leaking from the plane that kept the predators at bay. “We also an anaconda in the water,” he said.

 

While awaiting rescue, they ate the local cassava flour one of the passengers had brought. "We couldn't drink water and we couldn't go anywhere else because of the alligators," Velarde said.

 

A chopper was sent to transport the survivors to the hospital after fishermen spotted the craft. 

 

World