Global Courant
Four indigenous children who were missing in the Amazon jungle for 40 days after the crash of their small plane were found on Friday.
“They themselves are an example of survival that will go down in history,” Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro said at a news conference. “Today those children are the children of peace and the children of Colombia.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the children — who ranged in age from 11 months to 13 years — are in good health, and Petro said it would take some time for doctors to make that decision.
Members of the military help four indigenous children who were found alive in the Colombian Amazon jungle in this image released Friday.Colombian Presidency via AFP – Getty Images
“Their health must be weak,” Petro said, speculating that they should gradually return to consuming ready-made foods instead of what they had left over in the jungle.
“We need to look at their mental health,” he said.
The children, members of the Uitoto indigenous community, were identified as Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13; Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9; Ten Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy, 4; and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy, 11 months.
The plane’s only engine failed and it crashed on May 1, its nose-first wreckage found more than two weeks later in the Colombian jungle. Three bodies, all adults, including the children’s mother, were found at the site, officials said.
But the four were not there.
Authorities hoped they would be found alive after footprints believed to belong to one of the four were discovered in late May. Colombian authorities continued to search for the children using sniffer dogs on the ground.
Petro has credited the country’s military and members of indigenous communities for the miraculous find.
“The work between military forces and indigenous communities – who obviously know the jungle better than we do – that work was successful,” he said. “Indigenous communities and the military found the children.”
The Associated Press contributed.
