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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 27, 2023 11:51:16 GMT 12
Wow, what an amazing story of survival, from The Press, 17 December 1974:
60-MILE WALK TO SAFETY
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LIMA, Dec. 16.
Six children, aged between six and 15, walked 60 miles through the Amazon jungle to safety after being feared dead in a plane crash a week ago.
The six, accompanied by the pilot, Mr O. Zehnder, were found by the skipper of a river barge and are now in hospital recovering from minor injuries. Three other children died, one in the plane crash and two afterwards.
The plane crashed on December 7 after being buffeted by strong winds. Mr Zehnder told police he had been taking the children, all related to him, on a jungle holiday trip. The group survived by eating wild fruit and some bread they had salvaged from the crashed plane.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 27, 2023 11:58:22 GMT 12
A follow up from The Press on the 18th of December 1974:
Family’s jungle trek
(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) LIMA, December 17.
A 15-year-old girl today told how she led her three brothers and sisters and three cousins on a six-day walk to civilisation after their light aircraft crashed in the Peruvian jungle on December 7.
Gladys Zender and other survivors are in a hospital in La Merced, 600 kilometres north-east of Lima. One child was killed in the crash, and two others died later of injuries.
Gladys, the oldest of the nine children aboard the Cessna aircraft, said she was the only one not to lose consciousness in the crash, and her first concern was to revive her 24-year-old brother, Oscar, the pilot.
Mr Oscar Zender was flying the children from the town of San Ramon to San Juan, in eastern Pasco Province, for their Christmas holidays when the aircraft crashed. Gladys said that when she and her brother pulled the other children from the aircraft they found that a six-year-old boy, a cousin, was dead, and another, aged 14, died soon after.
LEGS BROKEN
“Our biggest worry then was the condition of my sister, Ketty, who had both legs broken in the crash and had a wound in the neck which got infected,” Gladys said.
Led by Gladys, who had the best knowledge of the area, and equipped with one machete, the Zenders set off on a 100-kilometre trek to the Palcazu River, where they were picked up by a local peasant on a raft and taken to hospital.
Gladys said she and Oscar took turns in carrying Ketty, aged 10, on their backs. “But she died only two hours before we met the boatman who rescued us,” Gladys said.
At first, the party ate the biscuits and chocolates the children were taking home for Christmas.
“When the biscuits ran out, we survived by eating huicungos (a coconut-like jungle fruit),” Gladys said. “Often we stumbled blindly through the thick vegetation, our bodies covered with mosquito bites, but I knew we had to find the river.”
ADVENTURE TO BOYS
Gladys’s 14-year-old sister, Herta, said the three boys in the party, their cousins, Juan Zender, aged 12, Herbert Panduro, aged 11, and his eight-year-old brother, Carlos, took it all as an adventure.
"The boys played a marimba as we marched through the jungle, to keep 'the wild animals away,” said Herta.
The Zenders, who are of Swiss-German origin, are in a fair condition. All are suffering from exhaustion. The pilot also suffered two broken ribs.
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