“She survived because she never gave up.”
It’s difficult to imagine the horrifying reality of a fiery plane crash — but imagine enduring that ordeal with a tiny baby in tow.
That’s exactly what one brave teenaged mother did — before miraculously keeping herself and her child alive for four days in the dense Colombian jungle.
María Nelly Murillo and her baby boy were travelling from Chocó province to the city of Quibdó in the South American country when the small plane in which they were flying caught fire.
Colombian air force spokesperson Colonel Rodrigo Zapata told CNN the pilot died in the crash, while 18-year-old Ms Murillo was left with burns, stranded in thick jungle with her one-year-old son Yudier Moreno.
According to local media, the brave young mother survived on coconut water from the coconuts the plane had been carrying — a move that kept her hydrated enough to keep breastfeeding to nourish her vulnerable son.
It’s also reported she may have met some indigenous people who offered assistance, although full details of her ordeal continue to emerge.
BBC News reports the small Cessna plane on which the pair were travelling disappeared from civil aviation authorities’ radar about 20 minutes into the 30-minute flight. When the pilot failed to respond to calls, a search plane was despatched.
Arriving at the crash site, the rescuers found coconut shells near the plane, a discarded flip flop in the jungle, and baby Yudier’s birth certificate near a tree.
These were small but important clues that Ms Murillo was still alive, seemingly left to trace the young woman’s path through the dence jungle.
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A desperate search continued for two days, until Ms Murillo reportedly heard calls from the rescue helicopter and returned to the crash site. BBC news reports that on Wednesday, rescuers finally located the desparate pair about 500 from the site of the crash, on the banks of a river.
The pair were airlifted to a Quibdo hospital where, incredibly, her baby boy was found to be unharmed. Ms Murillo, despite suffering painful burns, is also in a stable condition.
Related: The seven-year-old who survived a plane crash.
“It’s a miracle,”Colombian air force spokesperson Colonel Héctor Carrascal told Agence France-Presse of the incredible incident. “It is a very wild area and it was a catastrophic accident.”
He added of Yudier: “His mother’s spirit must have given him strength to survive.”
Also see: Friday morning’s news in under five minutes.
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