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- BBC News World
image source, Archyde.com
The moment when Jhonattan Acosta was reunited with his sister following being rescued.
A Bolivian man spent 31 days lost in the Amazon jungle and lived to tell the tale.
Jhonattan Acosta, 30, got separated from his four friends while hunting in northern Bolivia.
In the weeks that followed, he explained, He drank the rainwater that he collected in his shoes and ate worms and insects.
He had to hide from dangerous animals like jaguars and peccarieswhich are a type of pig-like mammal.
days in the jungle
Acosta was finally found by a search party made up of locals and friends a month following he went missing.
“It’s unbelievable, I can’t believe people have kept looking for so long,” she said through tears.
“I ate worms, insects… you wouldn’t believe what I had to do to survive all this time,” he confessed to Unitel TV.
It also fed on wild fruits similar to papayas, known locally as gargateas.
“I am very thankful to God, because he has given me a new life.”
His relatives explained that they have yet to reconstruct all the details of how the man was lost and how he managed to stay alive.
To do this, they will interrogate him little by little, since he is still traumatized by the experience.
The rescue
Acosta I had lost 17 kg, he had a dislocated ankle and was dehydrated when he was found but, according to those who rescued him, he might still walk with a limp.
“My brother told us that when he sprained his ankle on the fourth day, he began to fear for his life,” Horacio Acosta told the Bolivian daily Página Siete.
“He only had a cartridge in his shotgun, he mightn’t walk and he thought that no one would look for him anymore,” added the younger brother of the survivor.
image source, Getty Images
The Amazon covers more than 40% of the entire Bolivian territory.
When he got lost, Jhonattan Acosta did not have a machete or flashlight and had to use his boots to collect and drink rainwater.
He also told his relatives that he ran into a jaguar and other wild animals.
According to his younger brother, Jhonattan used his last cartridge to scare off a herd of peccariesanimals similar to pigs that inhabit the tropical forests of South America.
After 31 days, he spotted the search party regarding 300 meters away and limped towards them through thorny bushes, yelling for their attention.
Horacio Acosta remembers that four locals found his brother.
“A man came running to tell us they had found it. It’s a miracle.”
His younger brother assures that Jhonattan has decided to stop hunting forever following this ordeal.
“He is going to play music to praise God. He promised God and I think he will keep his promise,” he explained of his brother, who plays the guitar.
Meanwhile, the police announced that they will question the four friends of the survivor to find out how he became separated from the group.
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