Jungle hides 46 crash survivors

Press, 7 September 1989, Page 1

Jungle hides 46 crash survivors

NZPA-Reuter - Sao Paulo Efforts to rescue 46 survivors of a plane crash in Brazil’s Amazon jungle were hampered by driving rain and dense smoke from burning trees, the Air Force Ministry said yesterday. The plane, a Varig Airlines Boeing 737, crash-landed on Monday, but it was two days later before one of the survivors struggled to a ranch and radioed that 46 of the 54 passengers and crew on board had survived.

Pilots trying to pinpoint the wrecked plane said torrential rain together with smoke from the burning of the forest had reduced visibility to nil. At this time of the year many farmers burn the rainforest to extend their ranches.

A passenger, Epaminondos Sousa Chaves, walked for three hours through the jungle to a ranch to break the news yesterday that most of those on the plane were alive. The Air Force spokesman said three other passengers later reached the ranch. All survivors would be taken to Brasilia.

The plane had lost its navigation equipment just after taking off from the Amazon town of Maraba. It was heading for Belem, 450 km to the north. The pilot, Cesar Augusto Padula Garcez, radioed the pilot of another Varig airliner and told him he was going to try to make an emergency landing in a clearing in the jungle.