The Curaray River (also called the Ewenguno River or Rio Curaray) is a river in eastern

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. It is a tributary of the Napo River, which is a part of the Amazon basin. The land along the river is home to several indigenous people groups including the

Kichwa Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. The most widely spoken dialects are Chimbor ...

and

Huaorani The Huaorani, Waorani, or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...

. The river itself is home to

caiman A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America f ...

s, and

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, fl ...

"Palm Beach"

In 1956, on a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. ...

on the Curaray, five Christian missionaries were killed by

tribespeople during Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani. The missionaries' bodies were then thrown into the river. A rescue team later recovered four of the bodies and buried them in a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

on the river bank. The fifth, that of Ed McCully was claimed to have been discovered downstream by a group of natives who produced McCully's wristwatch. However, his body was never located and positively identified. The missionaries had arrived by airplane and chose the sandbar as a suitable place to land, since it was the only land area nearby clear of trees. They built a camp on the sandbar which they nicknamed "Palm Beach". They also built a

treehouse A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a hang ...

nearby. After the attack, the Huaorani stripped the plane of its fabric skin. The plane was then abandoned and left to the river. It disappeared, and was not discovered until 1994. Someone was walking along the sandbar and noticed a piece of bare metal sticking out of the sand. It was later discovered to be part of the metal framework of the

Piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, lea ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

flown by

Nate Saint Nathanael Saint (30 August 19238 January 1956) was an evangelical Christian missionary pilot who, along with four others, was killed in Ecuador while attempting to evangelize the Huaorani people through efforts known as Operation Auca. Earl ...

. The river had almost completely buried its remains in the sand. The framework of the plane is now displayed in the headquarters of the

Mission Aviation Fellowship Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is a Christian organization that provides aviation, communications, and learning technology services to more than 1,000 Christian and humanitarian agencies, as well as thousands of isolated missionaries and indi ...

. Today, the Huaorani Christian community often use the Curaray River as a site for

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

s. Steve Saint and his children were all baptized there. The area is posited to be the origin of criollo cacao, the most rare type.

References

External links

Wikimapia link

Uncontacted: A field study of the Huoarani
{{Operation Auca Tributaries of the Napo River Rivers of Ecuador Operation Auca International rivers of South America Rivers of Peru