Girl, four, survives five days lost and alone in Brazilian rainforest on fruit and river water

Girl, four, survives five days lost and alone in Brazilian rainforest by eating fruit and drinking river water

  • Ana Vitoria Soares Cardosa went missing Dec 29 while playing with sister 
  • Found five days later, dehydrated and with few scrapes, but otherwise well 

A four-year-old Brazilian girl was found alive after surviving five days alone in a rainforest by eating fruit and drinking river water.

Ana Vitoria Soares Cardosa went missing on 29th December in a rural area of the Rio Maniva community, in northern Brazil. 

She had last been seen playing with her eight-year-old sister in a canoe. After she went missing her family feared she had drowned because she did not know how to swim.

Ana Vitoria Soares Cardoso is seen in this photo not long after she was found alive in a forest in northern Brazil. She had survived five days alone and lost by eating fruit and drinking river water

The four-year-old had gone missing on 29th December in the Rio Maniva community, in a rural area (pictured in the map above) in northern Brazil

The four-year-old had gone missing on 29th December in the Rio Maniva community, in a rural area (pictured in the map above) in northern Brazil

They called emergency services, and three divers were called to help in the search and rescue. 

Local fire chief Rosivaldo Andrade told reporters they scoured the river for days looking for the young girl who was thought to have drowned.

‘The information given by her relatives made us believe that she could have died and that she could have not gone to the forest.’

The young girl, who was found dehydrated with a few scrapes and bruises, appears to have come through her ordeal relatively unscathed. She is being treated in a local hospital but is expected to make a full recovery

Despite her ordeal the girl, four, is seen looking relatively well as she plays with a balloon while undergoing treatment at a local hospital

Despite her ordeal the girl, four, is seen looking relatively well as she plays with a balloon while undergoing treatment at a local hospital 

But on January 2 the 4-year-old, one of nine children, was found by her cousin, in the forest, two kilometres from where she had first gone missing. 

Andrade said it was fortunate she was found. 

‘There were no dangerous animals in the area to attack, but this does not change the risk the forest poses, from cutting yourself, tripping, scrapes, the risk of the water, the cold, infections,’ he said. 

‘She went through tremendous difficulty.’

Her mother, Rosilete de Souza Soares, told local media her daughter had survived by eating fruit and drinking water from a stream in the forest

Her mother, Rosilete de Souza Soares, told local media her daughter had survived by eating fruit and drinking water from a stream in the forest

Search and rescue efforts had been focused around the river, with most believing the little girl, who could not swim, had drowned as she had last been seen playing in a canoe with her older sister

Search and rescue efforts had been focused around the river, with most believing the little girl, who could not swim, had drowned as she had last been seen playing in a canoe with her older sister

Her mother Rosilete de Souza Soares told reporters she survived by ‘eating fruit and drinking from a stream’.

The mother added: ‘She was sitting on a trunk, but she was unable to walk. A cousin found her.’

She was taken to hospital in the town of Santana in the neighbouring state of Amapa where she remains under observation, but is expected to make a full recovery.   

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