Global Courant
The Colombian army shared a photo of the children in the jungle
Four children have been found alive more than a month after their plane crashed in Colombia’s Amazon jungle, the country’s president said.
The siblings, 13, nine, four and a one-year-old baby, were aboard the plane with their mother, a pilot and a copilot when it crashed on May 1.
Their mother and the other adults on board the plane died.
President Gustavo Petro said finding the children after weeks of searching was “a joy for the whole country”.
He called it a “magical day” and added: “They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival that will remain in history.
“These children are today the children of peace and the children of Colombia.”
Mr Petro shared a photo of several members of the military and indigenous community caring for the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days.
He said the children were now receiving medical attention – and that he had spoken to their grandfather, who told him “the mother jungle sent them back”.
The Cessna 206 plane the children and their mother had been traveling on was flying from Araracuara, Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare when it issued an emergency warning due to an engine failure.
The bodies of the three adults who had been with them were found by the military at the scene of the crash.
Preliminary information from the Civil Aviation Authority suggested the children escaped the wreckage and ran into the rainforest to seek help, Reuters news agency reported.
A massive search began and rescuers recovered in May items left by the childrenIncludes a kid’s drinking bottle, scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter.
Small footprints were also discovered, leading search teams to believe they had survived the collision.
The children belong to the indigenous Huitoto group and members of their community hoped that their knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills would give them a better chance of survival.
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Indigenous people joined the search, and helicopters broadcast a message from the children’s grandmother, recorded in the Huitoto language, urging them to stop moving in order to locate them more easily.
The Colombian president came under fire last month when a tweet on his account announced that the children had been found.
He deleted the tweet the next day, saying the information his office had received from Colombia’s child welfare agency could not be confirmed.
Soldiers pose for a picture with the children, whose faces are out of focus
