Members of the Matis, a tiny tribe of some 300 people first contacted by modern Brazilian officials in the 1970s, discovered the plane and its crew and passengers "in the middle of the Amazon jungle" between the Matis village of Aurelio and another tribe's village, the air force said in a statement.
"In contrast to most other tribes in the region (e.g. the Matsés and Marubos) who no longer use blowguns, the Matis tribe uses precision four-meter blowguns. Matis blowguns are works of art in addition to being precision instruments. They decorate their blowguns with mosaics made from pieces of turtle shells, resulting in beautiful and functional instruments. Blowgun darts are tipped with curare poison which paralyzes the prey. These indigenous people of the Amazon have developed very impressive technology for blowgun hunting and are capable of taking game at distances of up to 50 meters."