Brazilian pilot survives 38 days in Amazon after crash
BRASILIA: Antonio Sena was flying a single-prop Cessna 210 over the Brazilian Amazon when the engine suddenly stopped, leaving him minutes to find ...
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BRASILIA: Antonio Sena was flying a single-prop Cessna 210 over the Brazilian Amazon when the engine suddenly stopped, leaving him minutes to find a spot in the jungle to crash-land.
He survived with no injuries, but was stranded in the middle of the world's largest rainforest - the start of a 38-day trek he says taught him one of the biggest lessons of his life.
Sena, 36, was hired to fly a cargo run from the northern town of Alenquer to an illegal gold mine in the rainforest, known as the "California".
Flying at an altitude of about 1,000m, he knew when the engine stopped halfway there he would not have much time.
He managed to bring the plane over a valley, and landed as best he could.
READ: Amazon hurtles toward death spiral as deforestation jumps in 2020
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Antonio Sena says he finds meaning in the fact he was saved by a family that lives "in harmony" with the rainforest, after working for people who are destroying it. (Photo: AFP)
Covered in gasoline, he grabbed whatever seemed useful - a backpack, three bottles of water, four soft drinks, a sack of bread, some rope, an emergency kit, a lantern and two lighters - and got out of the plane as fast as possible.
It exploded not long after.
That was Jan 28.
The first five days, he told AFP in an interview at his home in Brasilia, he heard rescue flights overhead, searching for him.
But the vegetation was so dense the rescuers didn't see him.
After that, he heard no more engines, and assumed they had given him up for dead.
"I was devastated. I thought I would never make it out, that I was going to die," he said.
He used what battery he had on his cell phone to find where he was with GPS, and decided to walk east, where he had spotted two air strips.
JAGUARS, CROCODILES, ANACONDAS
He followed the morning sun to stay on course, and dredged up what he remembered of a survival course he had once taken.
"There was water, but no food. And I was vulnerable - exposed to predators" like jaguars, crocodiles and anacondas, he said.
He ate the same fruits he saw the monkeys eating, and managed to snag three precious blue tinamou bird eggs - the only protein of his entire ordeal.
"I had never seen such untouched, virgin rainforest," he said.
"I discovered the Amazon isn't one rainforest, it's like four or five forests in one."
The thought of seeing his parents and siblings again kept him going, he said."
. Generally they won't bother you though.
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