A woman and her 1-year-old son were found alive in the jungle of western Colombia on Wednesday, five days after the small Cessna plane they were flying in crashed.
The plane was headed from Nuqui on the Pacific coast to Quibdo, the capital of Choco province, carrying fish and coconuts. About 20 minutes into the flight, it disappeared from radar, and search planes later found the wreckage, with the pilot deceased inside. Rescuers saw Maria Nelly Murillo, 18, and her son on the passenger list, but they were not inside the plane. They searched for them on foot and by helicopter, and called out Murillo's name from a loudspeaker, asking her to come back to the crash site if she was in the area.
Murillo and her son were found on the banks of a river about 500 meters from the crash site after she heard her name being called and started to make her way back to the plane. "It's a miracle," said Col. Hector Carrascal of the Colombian Air Force. Murillo was airlifted to the hospital, where she told her brother, Carlos, that she opened the cabin door after the crash and ran as fast as she could. "It was then that she remembered she had a baby and went back for him," he told BBC Mundo. Afraid the plane would explode, she walked along the river, drinking coconut water and collecting rain water to survive. Murillo sustained burns to her face, arm, and leg, and the baby is in good condition. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
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