Crash pilot’s 38 days lost in the Amazon
A Brazilian pilot who crashed in the heart of the Amazon rainforest survived 38 days before reaching safety.
Antonio Sena, 36, was on his maiden flight taking diesel to gold miners illegally camped in a protected area. From Alenquer he flew at 1000 metres above the forest canopy, but the single engine on his 48-year-old Cessna 210L failed. He directed the plane towards a line of palm trees, calculating that a river might be near by. As he descended, he sent a mayday message. His crash was cushioned by the tree canopy and he escaped serious injury, jumping from the wreck before the aircraft burst into flames.
All he had with him was a penknife, a torch, two lighters and a phone with barely any power.
For several days he camped by the charred wreckage, hoping that the crash site would be visible from the air. On several occasions he saw a search plane overhead. He tried to scream and wave at the pilots, to no avail.
‘‘They flew right over, but couldn’t see me,’’ he told the New York Times .He had no option but to walk to safety, a journey of 30km through thick jungle that took him a month.
A navigation application on his phone gave him an indication of the nearest river before the battery died. Then he used the position of the sun to help him head east.
He would walk in the morning and set up camp at night, usually on higher ground because he knew that predators such as jaguars were most likely to hunt near water. His main fear was from rampaging spider monkeys, which he said would besiege his shelter.
‘‘They are very territorial,’’ he said. ‘‘I never want to cross their path again.’’
He survived on a bright pink jungle fruit called the breu, which he had seen the monkeys eating and assumed was safe for him. He gathered birds eggs too.
After four weeks, and having lost 25kg, he was beginning to doubt he would survive. Then he heard the sound of a chainsaw in the distance.
‘‘God, make them use this chainsaw again,’’ he would pray before going to sleep. Close to giving up and still far from the nearest settlement he stumbled on a camp of villagers who were collecting brazil nuts. They had not been so deep in the forest for years but had gone there because of financial pressure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Using their radio they messaged Sena’s family to say that he was alive.