Mother And Baby Rescued Days After Colombia Crash — Asks Rescuer To Be Son’s Godfather
The survival of an 18-year-old mother and her baby following a plane crash and up to five days in the thick jungle of western Colombia is being a called a miracle by the people who rescued them.
A twin-engine Cessna carrying María Nelly Murillo and her 1-year-old son, Yudier Moreno, pilot Capt. Carlos Mario Ceballos, and a cargo of fish and coconuts, crashed Saturday in the Serranía del Baudó mountain range, BBC reported.
Media outlets variously reported that she was rescued after four or five days.
The flight disappeared from radar 20 minutes after takeoff on its way to a coastal town in Colombia called Nuquí, from the regional capital, Quibdó, the Guardian reported. The pilot didn’t respond to calls from civil aviation authorities, prompting an immediate search.
Three days ago, Ceballos was found in the cockpit, dead. The passenger manifest told them two more people should be on board — a mother and child — but found the cabin empty and the door wide open, the New York Daily News added.
A 40-man team began to comb the jungle for mother and baby.
#ReportajeGráfico Rescate de María Nelly Murillo y su hijo http://t.co/X1QgXprn3L pic.twitter.com/5hW1IJl15S
— Periódico El Mundo (@elmundomedellin) June 25, 2015
After Murillo was rescued, she told her harrowing tale. A load of fish in the cabin is credited with cushioning the crash, and saving her and her baby. However, the aircraft quickly caught fire and she had to escape by forcing open the cabin door. She rescued her son, suffering burns on her face, an arm, and a leg, and rushed away from the plane, which she feared would explode at any moment.
The mother then traversed a hill and walked deeper into the thick jungle of western Colombia. Baby in arm, she kept going for at least four days, drinking coconut water and attempting to catch rodents. She even left clues for rescuers — a flip flop, a birth certificate, cell phone, and pieces of coconut.
Local media reported that she enlisted the help of a couple indigenous people.
Meanwhile, a search party scoured the jungle for three days, and resorted to using a loudspeaker to find her. BBC reported that she heard the calls and made her way back to the crash site. On Wednesday, she was finally rescued, about 50 meters away on a river bank.
Red Cross Volunteer Acisclo Renteria was the one who found her, nearly starved and in shock, telling her “Mama, Mama, be calm. The Colombian Red Cross is here to rescue you,” he said.
Both mother and baby were treated. Renteria stayed with the child, cleaning its mouth of debris and keeping it warm. Both are now in the hospital, and Yudier is doing well.
“His mother’s spirit must have given him strength to survive,” said Colonel Héctor Carrascal, with Colombia’s Air Force.
María has shown her gratitude by asking her rescuer to be her son’s godfather. Acisclo, an unemployed refugee who has fled from Colombia’s ongoing conflict, was honored.
“I thanked my little God for allowing me to save these two people. One thing is telling you on the phone what we experienced but it’s quite another is to have lived it.”
[Photo Courtesy Twitter]
