CNN
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Five people were rescued from a swamp where crocodile was soaked almost two days after the plane crashed in the Amazon jungle of Bolivia.
A small aircraft carrying the pilot, three women and one child, crashed on Wednesday, but the group was not rescued until Friday morning, the Bolivian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
None of the groups were seriously injured and survived with chocolate and cassava powder during the ordeal.
The plane took off from Bath, north of Bolivia, and was detained for Trinidad, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, an hour after takeoff, the pilot reported technical issues before all contact with the aircraft was lost.
The pilot, identified by local media as 27-year-old Pablo Andre Verardo, was able to make an emergency landing but landed near a crocodile nest, he told local outlet Unitel.
“We fell into the swamp and there was a nest of alligators right next to it. But thanks to the fuel that spilled from the aircraft, it was completely unfrightened and scared them, but they didn’t approach us to attack us.”
One survivor, Mirtha Fuentes, spoke to local media about her emotional distrust after surviving the plane crash. “We all cried happily because we were all alive, and we had bruises, but thanks to the quick thinking and intelligence of God and the pilot, we are very fortunate to be alive,” she told Unitel.
Bolivian Ministry of Defense and civil defense have stimulated search and rescue operations, but the first 48 hours were hampered by “adverse weather conditions,” the ministry said. Local media reported that multiple flights passed survivors but were unable to find them.
The group survived with rationed food recovered by pilots from submerged planes, the pilot told Unitel before being discovered by fishermen early Friday morning.
The five survivors were airlifted to Trinidad by Bolivian Air Force rescue helicopters, the Ministry of Defense said.
“Thanks to our professional work, five rescued individuals are alive at this time, including children. We are making every effort to bring them into a safe area and provide medical consultations that they need,” Bolivian President Lewis Ark said in a statement.
