I don't know if they're lucky or unlucky. Five passengers survived a plane crash, only to learn they had crash-landed in an alligator-infested swamp. The five were forced to survive for 36 hours on top of the plane.
The plane had crash-landed in the Amazon after making an emergency landing. Fortunately, fishermen eventually found the plane, which had been missing for at least two days. Despite their situation, Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department's emergency operations center, described the survivors in "excellent condition."
This comes after Bolivia launched a search and rescue for the missing plane. The aircraft disappeared from radar after suffering an engine failure. The aircraft crash-landed into the Itanomas River. Survivor Andres Velarde explained that the pilot chose to put the plane down in the swamp after the aircraft started to lose altitude.
Plane Crash Turned Survival Story
Unfortunately, the survivors weren't out of danger yet. They were stranded in an alligator-infested swamp. As the survivor described, they were "surrounded by alligators that came within three metres of us." Additionally, an anaconda swam by them in one tense moment as well. So how did they survive the dangers?
Well, Velarde believed gas leaking from the aircraft kept the animals away from them. As far as supplies, they ate local cassava flour.
"We couldn't drink water, and we couldn't go anywhere else because of the alligators," Velarde said. Fortunately, they survived the lack of drinkable water and the alligators as well. After being discovered, the survivors were airlifted out of the swamp. The fishermen went and got help for the trapped survivors.
This brings to a close their amazing story of survival. Ruben Torres, Director of the Beni Region Health Department, opened up about their survival. He said there had been "a lot of speculation about the case." He also said that people had many theories on the plane crash. Now, they can put an end to all those.
"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," he told Reuters.
