Four children have been found alive after surviving a plane crash in Colombia’s Amazon jungle.
The four siblings, aged 13, nine, four and one, had been missing for 40 days and spent weeks fending for themselves after the crash claimed the lives of their mother and two pilots.
The family were travelling in a light aircraft which crashed in the jungle on 1 May. The Cessna 206 aircraft from flying from Araracuara, in Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare.
It issued a mayday alert due to engine failure just before the crash.
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The bodies of the three adults were discovered at the crash site by the army and a massive rescue operation began involving dozens of soldiers and locals to find the children.
It appeared that the children not only survived the crash but managed to escape the wreckage and venture into the rainforest in search of help.
During the search, rescuers recovered items reportedly left behind by them, including a child’s drinking bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter.
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Search teams were led to believe that the children were still alive in the rainforest after discovering small footsteps.
As the rainforest is home to predators like jaguars and snakes, it was imperative that they found the children as soon as possible.
The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group and members of their community hoped that their knowledge of fruits and survival skills would help them survive in the jungle. Indigenous people were part of the search and helicopters broadcast a message recorded in the Huitoto language from the children’s grandmother urging them to stop moving to make it easier for rescue teams to locate them.
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After being discovered, the children were flown to Colombia’s capital city Bogota, where ambulances have taken them to hospital for further medical treatment.
Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro said the rescue of the children was ‘a joy for the whole country’ and a ‘magical day’.
The president shared a picture of members of the military and Indigenous community caring for the children, with one of the rescuers holding a bottle up to the mouth of the smallest sibling, while another child was fed from a mug with a spoon.
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He added: “They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.
“These children are today the children of peace and the children of Colombia.”
Topics: News, World News
Gregory Robinson