Four adults and one child have been found alive after surviving nearly two days in alligator-infested waters following a plane crash in Bolivia.
On Friday, May 2, the five people were rescued after the small plane was found by local fishermen in Bolivia’s Amazonas region around 48 hours after the aircraft was reported missing, Bolivian news outlets La Razón and Red Uno and BBC News reported.
The plane took off from Baures in northern Bolivia heading to the city of Trinidad at 12:00 noon local time on Wednesday, April 30.
The pilot reported “technical problems” around an hour into the flight, “before all contact with the aircraft was lost,” La Razón reported.
A search and rescue operation was launched to find the missing passengers on Thursday, May 1.
Among the survivors were three women, a child, and the 29-year-old pilot.
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They were found in “excellent condition,” Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department’s emergency operations centre, told BBC News.
The passengers were found “huddled together on the fuselage of the small plane” after surviving there for more than 40 hours, Red Uno stated on Instagram.
In footage posted by the outlet, the survivors are seen being transported to helicopters on stretchers by emergency responders after being rescued.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement, “On Friday, May 2, at 7:20 a.m., an Eco Charlie EC-145 helicopter took off from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Equipped with a crane, tracking technology, and specialized equipment from the SAR-FAB (Bolivian Air Force Search and Rescue Service), this unit headed to the municipality of Baures. The search was reinforced in the area delimited by the previous flights.”
Aerial work and ground tracking helped to locate the missing aircraft.
Pilot Andres Velarde said the plane crashed in an emergency landing after having engine failure. He tried to land the aircraft near the Itanomas River, however, the plane lost altitude and he was forced to land in the swamp
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The five people remained on top of the plane to avoid alligators.
Pilot Velarde told BBC News that they were “surrounded by alligators that came within three meters of us.”
He added: “We couldn’t drink water and we couldn’t go anywhere else because of the alligators.”
Velarde said he believes the alligators stayed away as petrol was leaking from the plane into the water.
Ruben Torres, director of the Beni Region Health Department, said, “I am really happy because in the end all the institutions joined together to be able to find the missing people and save those lives.”