Two brothers who helped rescue a 12-year-old US girl after the plane she was in crashed in Panama said they were hoping for a US work visa as a reward, not money.
Manuel and Miguel Angel Vurac were part of a group of volunteers who on Tuesday found 12-year-old Francesca Lewis, the sole survivor of the crash in Panama's remote western mountains. They also found the bodies of Francesca's friend Talia Klein, 13; Klein's father, Michael Klein, 37, a prominent businessman from Santa Barbara, California; and Panamanian pilot Edwin Lasso, 23.
Their Cessna 172 had disappeared two days earlier after departing from Islas Secas off Panama's Pacific coast, heading for the Chiriqui volcano, about 435km west of Panama City.
Francesca, also from Santa Barbara, had small bruises and lacerations but was otherwise in extraordinary shape, her doctors said.
Kim Klein, Michael's Klein ex-wife and Talia's mother, offered a US$25,000 reward to anyone who located the aircraft.
"I was taught to earn a living through my work, and [work] is what I'm asking for," Manuel Vurac, who was previously in the US with a work visa, said late on Friday. Vurac, 40, said he worked in forestry for five years in Montana and Idaho until his visa expired a year ago.
His brother Miguel, 32, is an electrician.
Klein, speaking on Saturday from Santa Barbara, said the men would still receive the monetary reward.
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