Global Courant
The Colombian army found the four children, ages 13, 9, 4 and 12 months old, who survived a May 1 plane crash.
Four children have been found alive in the Colombian jungle more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed into the dense jungle, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said.
The children from an indigenous community were rescued by the army on Friday near the border between the Colombian provinces of Caqueta and Guaviare, near the spot where the small plane crashed.
The plane – a Cessna 206 – was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a town in Guaviare province, when it issued a Mayday alert for engine failure in the early hours of May 1 . .
Three adults, including the pilot, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found on the plane.
The four children, ages 13, 9 and 4, as well as a now 12-month-old baby, survived the impact.
In this photo released by Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office, a soldier stands in front of the wreckage of the Cessna 206 on May 18, more than two weeks after it crashed in the jungle of Solano in Colombia’s Caqueta state (Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office via AP)
Photos shared by the Colombian military showed a group of soldiers with the four children in the middle of the jungle.
“A joy for the whole country! The four children who got lost … in the Colombian jungle seemed alive,” Petro said in a message via Twitter.
¡Una alegría para todo el país! Aparecieron con vida los 4 niños que estaban perdidos hace 40 días en la selva colombiana. pic.twitter.com/cvADdLbCpm
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 9, 2023
Petro initially reported that children had been found on May 17 in a post on Twitter, but later deleted the post, saying the information was unconfirmed.
“They were together; they are weak. Let’s get them evaluated by the doctors. They found them and I am very happy about that,” Petro told journalists on Friday, adding that the children had only defended themselves in the middle of the jungle.
Rescue workers, supported by search dogs, had previously found discarded fruit that the children ate to survive, as well as makeshift shelters made with jungle vegetation.
Planes and helicopters from the Army and Air Force of Colombia participated in the rescue operations.
Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, a reporter from the Colombian capital Bogota, said the children appeared to be in “good shape” given that they had survived alone in the jungle for so long.
Their discovery was “quite a surprise,” he said, adding that after being missing in the jungle for so many days, people lost hope of being found alive.
“Various groups of indigenous communities living in the Colombian Amazon and other parts of the country had joined this – truly unprecedented – search and rescue operation. So, absolutely news that the entire country is extremely happy about this,” he said.
