Josilei Albino de Freitas, engineer and mechanic of Funai survived a helicopter crash in the interior of Amapá
“Out of ten helicopters that fall in the Amazon forest, four are not found and in practically all the accidents there are deaths”, reports the pilot Josilei Albino de Freitas, 51, stating that it can be considered a miracle. the engineer of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) José Francisco Vieira and the mechanic Gabriel Assis survived the crash of a helicopter in the hinterland of Amapá, the last day 16. They remained until Saturday 19, missing in the forest .
The aircraft was at an altitude of 900 metres, while flying over a reserve area in the Serra do Navio, 130 km from Macapá, the destination of the journey, when it suffered a mechanical failure and crashed into two trees, which the fall. Vieira, who filmed the 7 minutes of the crash, hit his head and Assis broke a rib. The pilot was unhurt.
It was the team’s last trip as they provided healthcare to indigenous communities that are not accessed by road or plane. The contract with the Ministry of Health was due to expire on the 17th and they were returning from the village of Bona to Macapá, a flight of about 2 hours. The helicopter crashed about 10 minutes from its destination.
In addition to the food contained in the survival kit, they were carrying two boxes with about 7 kilos of fish. “It was uncomfortably hot and the fish rotted quickly. So we smoked some of it,” says Freitas.
There were also tents and hammocks in the kit, but could not sleep in the equipment due to the heat. “I slept in the hammock, but I only fell asleep around 3 in the morning, when fatigue got the better of fear. And with a knife and torch in hand”, says the pilot.
To scare away the animals, especially the jaguars, they kept the fire lit and also satisfied their physiological needs within the limits of the place where they were installed to keep the animals away. “The animal understands that the place has an owner,” Freitas explains. The river water was the biggest problem because it was very dirty and the day after the fall Freitas started having diarrhea.
The helicopter had no SOS system, just a radio with limited range. Freitas sent messages twice a day, at 9:30 and 16:00, to reach any planes that flew over their whereabouts. They also released a PET bottle along the river with the coordinates of the crash site and R$70. “To encourage whoever found it to send us help,” says Freitas. There is no news about the bottle yet.
With no response on the radio on Friday, mechanic Gabriel Assis decided to go down into the river on an inflatable mattress, which broke the same day. He spent the night on the river bank and, the next day, built a raft to continue the search for help.
On Saturday morning, the pilot and engineer heard the noise of an aircraft and quickly sent a radio message, which was picked up by the aircraft coming from Pará. Around 2 pm, a Brazilian Air Force team rescued Freitas and Vieira on the spot. and mechanic Gabriel, who was on a rock in the river, 12 km from the crash site.
Upon arrival in Macapá, everyone was severely dehydrated and Gabriel suffered a stress-induced seizure, but was discharged on Sunday. The causes of the accident are being investigated and Josilei Freitas has already been authorized by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) to rehabilitate his 25-year-old license. In case of plane crashes, the document is suspended.
He is already at home, in the city of Valparaíso de Goiás, and has said that the accident will not stop him from flying. “I will look into the causes of the accident and learn from my mistakes.”
Source: Terra
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