Everyone on board — three women, a child, and the 29-year-old pilot — was rescued from their perch atop the capsized plane in “excellent condition,” said Wilson Ávila, director of the emergency operations center in the Beni region.
The single-engine aircraft was flying from the town of Baures to the north-central city of Trinidad, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) away, when it encountered trouble.
Andrés Velarde, the 29-year-old pilot, told local media from his hospital bed that the plane began to lose altitude and he was forced to make an emergency landing in a swamp near a lagoon.
The five found themselves “surrounded by alligators that came within three meters of us,” Velarde said, adding he believed leaking kerosene from the plane may have deterred the predators. He also said they saw an anaconda in the murky waters.
For food, they survived on a local cassava flour that one of the passengers had brought.
“We couldn’t drink water and we couldn’t go anywhere else because of the alligators,” Velarde said.
The group was rescued after being spotted by local fishermen and taken to a hospital.
Air taxis are commonly used in the Beni region due to a lack of paved roads and the poor condition of existing ones.
RHM/
