“The flight was going normally when suddenly the engine stopped, it just stopped,” says Antônio Sena, 36, who survived 36 days in the Amazon rainforest after his plane crashed at the end of January.
He was rescued by helicopter on March 7, more than a month after the small plane he was piloting crashed in Para state.
Slightly injured, the young man survived by eating the bread he took with him and drinking rainwater.
“Where I was there was water but no food.
I was vulnerable and exposed to predators, ”he told AFP.
After several days without signs from the rescuers, the pilot admitted to being afraid: "I was emotionally devastated, it was the only time I thought that I could not get out, that I could die".
Antonio then decides to abandon the carcass of the plane after a week, and to travel 28 km in the forest in search of help.
After weeks of wandering in the forest, he is finally taken in by a family of nut pickers.
“The fact of being found precisely by a family of nut pickers, people who work together, who do not harm the forest in any way - we see that they live in community, it's beautiful - it was magic. for me ".
His rescuers warn the authorities, who came to pick him up by helicopter.
The pilot has since been able to find his relatives.
