DUBAI: Two brothers, who went bird-searching on February 18 in the Amazon rainforest and disappeared, were unexpectedly found this week by a tree cutter after he heard one of the boys screaming.
Nine-year-old Gleison Ferreira and his younger brother Glauco, 7, were said to have left their parents’ house in Lago Capana nature reserve in Brazil’s Amazonas state to search for birds but got lost.
At the sound of his chainsaw, the local tree cutter found the boys, who were suffering from severe malnutrition, dehydration and skin abrasions, after one of them screamed for help.
In the rainforest in Brazil’s northwest, rescue authorities launched a wide search campaign that stopped after eight days when efforts to find the brothers turned unsuccessful.
Having survived for 26 days only on rainwater, Glauco and Gleison were found almost four miles away from home by the man, who found them lying on the floor, hungry and painfully thin, with skin abrasions.
Speaking to TV station Band Jornalismo, the boys’ father Claudionor Ribeiro Ferreira said: “When I saw my children, I was thrilled.”
Glauco and Gleison told their parents that they had eaten nothing while lost and had survived only by drinking rainwater.
Media reports said after the authorities called off their search campaign on February 26, more than 260 volunteers kept searching for 24/7.
The father said he was stunned by the size of the crowd who came to see his boys’ safe arrival.
The brothers were later airlifted to an ICU in regional capital Manaus.
The Ferreira family are members of the indigenous Mura ethnic group.
Amazon Manaus Post tweeted a video showing Glauco and Gleison being transported on a boat from the remote part of the jungle where they were found.
