A Brazilian pilot who survived within the Amazon jungle for 2 weeks after a plane crash last yr has reportedly passed away following a second aerial accident, authorities confirmed. He was 38 years old.
The private pilot, named Otávio Augusto Munhoz da Silva, had reportedly been flying his aircraft along his usual route of Mucajaí, South of Roraima on August 28, Jam Press reported.
Disaster struck after the flyboy crashed in the town of Pacaraima, in a forested area, near the border of Venezuela.
Authorities were alerted to the crash from a police report filed by the victim’s sister on September 1, G1 reported.
Da Silva had been reported missing until that very same Friday, when the Paraná native’s body was found. It had reportedly been underwater for five days, in accordance with the person’s cousin Alexandre Munhoz, who said that the deceased’s mother Maria Lúcia Munhoz Silva was “suffering loads” after learning of his loss.
The Civil Police of Roraima are currently probing the pilot’s death.
Prior to his passing, da Silva worked as an air taxi driver, ferrying passengers about within the region of Boa Vista, capital of Roraima, near where illegal miners infiltrate Yanomami native American territory, per G1.
The Brazilian’s death comes one yr after the pilot crashed his plane in September 2022 and needed to survive in dense jungle for 13 days.
Da Silva had reportedly been piloting a non-public jet, when the vessel overheated and the engine stopped working, CNN Brazil reported. The pilot attempted to land the aircraft in a close-by river but ended up getting stuck in the cover of a tree.
He was subsequently forced to fend for himself for nearly two weeks, until the pilot, who was nearly at the tip of his tether, found a jungle river and traced its course.
On September 27, Da Silva was spotted by a passing vessel and rescued while the aircraft was found two days later.
Despite the nail-biting ordeal, his mother Maria Lúcia Munhoz Silva was confident that her son “could survive.”
“I knew he would resist because he used to hold a bag with medicine and food,” she said. “But prayers sustained my son. I don’t even know the way many individuals prayed for him. I’m relieved, very pleased with this news.”
Da Silva returned to his pilot job not long after the fiasco.
The fallen flyboy will probably be buried in his hometown of Londrina, Paraná.
