María Nelly Murillo was 18 years old when the Cessna 303 she was traveling in with her baby crashed in the Chocó jungle, in western Colombia, on Saturday, June 20, 2015.
The pilot died in the cockpit. She got out through the rear door, walked ten meters, and only then remembered that she was carrying her son Yudier, who was less than a year old.
For five days, she made her way through Alto Baudó with a fractured ankle, burns, and a cut on her leg. She ate coconuts split open with a machete. When the milk ran out, she collected rainwater in large leaves to give to the child.
A helicopter from the Air Force, commanded by Colonel Héctor Carrascal, flew over the area with loudspeakers blaring messages of encouragement. She heard them.
On Wednesday, June 24, when the fourteen rescuers were almost out of supplies and hope, they saw her sitting 400 meters from the plane, with her baby in her arms.
““She’s alive, she’s alive””, her brother Carlos repeated.
Both survived.
