Welcome to the Swamp
A family of four took off in a small plane from Baures in northern Bolivia heading to the city of Trinidad on Wednesday. Around an hour into the flight, the pilot reported “technical problems” “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. The pilot later told local media that an engine failure had prompted an emergency landing near the Itanomas River. Pilot Andres Velarde said that the plane had suddenly started to lose altitude and he had been forced to land the craft in a swamp near a lagoon. The five that had been on board stood on top of the plane and were “surrounded by alligators that came within three meters of us.” Velarde added that he believed petrol leaking from the plane had kept the predators at bay. They also saw an anaconda in the water, he said. While awaiting rescue, they ate 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. Central and South America are home to caimans, a relative of alligators. On Friday, the five people were rescued after the small plane was found by local fishermen in Bolivia’s Amazonas region around 36 hours after the aircraft was reported missing.
Bolivian news outlets reported: Four adults and one child have been found alive after surviving nearly two days in alligator-infested waters following a plane crash in Bolivia. After fishermen discovered the craft, a helicopter was sent to transport the survivors to hospital. The Ministry of Defense said in a statement, per La Razón, “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 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. In footage posted by the outlet, the survivors are seen being transported to helicopters on stretchers by emergency responders after being rescued.
“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,” per BBC Nws. One survivor, Mirtha Fuentes, told local media of her emotional disbelief after surviving the plane crash. “We all cried with happiness because we were alive, with bruises, but alive and very lucky, thanks to God and the pilot’s quick thinking and intelligence,” she told Unitel. Bolivia’s defense ministry and civil defense activated a search and rescue operation, but the first 24 hours were hindered by “adverse weather conditions,” the ministry said. Multiple flights passed over the survivors but failed to spot them, local media reported.
Swampy jokes
What is the loneliest swamp in Louisiana?
Bayou Self.
What do you call a swamp-dwelling reptile with a legal degree?
A litigator!
A bog, a marsh, and a fen go into a bar. The bartender says,
Wow, I’m swamped.
The news out of Washington has me feeling like Shrek.
I miss the good old days, when all we had was a swamp.
June 20th Birthdays
1957 – Nicole Kidman, 1996 – Serayah McNeill, 1981 – Tika Sumpter, 1945 – Anne Murray
1949 – Lionel Richie, 1990 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, 1952 – John Goodman, 1942 – Brian Wilson