A group that found themselves stranded in alligator-infested waters following an emergency plane landing was rescued on Friday after 36 hours.
Five people were found atop the small plane, which disappeared from the radar of the Beni Department in central Bolivia.
The survivors — comprising three women, a child, and their 29-year-old pilot — were located by fishermen in Bolivia’s Amazonas region on Friday and were in “excellent condition,” according to Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department’s emergency operations center, as reported by the BBC.
Although alligators were less than 10 feet away, the plane’s fuel that was leaking into the water may have kept the predators at bay.
“We couldn’t drink water and we couldn’t go anywhere else because of the alligators,” pilot Andres Velarde told the outlet.
The aircraft experienced engine failure, forcing it to perform an emergency landing in a swamp near the Itanomas River during a flight from Baures in northern Bolivia to Trinidad.
During the harrowing experience, the passengers ate local cassava flour that one had brought for the ride.
