‘Miracle’ in Colombia: 4 children found alive after 40 days in the jungle

“Miracle”, “joy for the whole country!” “. After a 40-day wandering through the Amazon jungle in Colombia, four children aged 13, 9, 4 years and one year, who survived the crash of a small plane in which they traveled, were found alive.

“Four children lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle have been found alive,” President Gustavo Petro announced in a Twitter post, accompanied by a photo of soldiers and indigenous people involved in an operation to find the siblings.

Army rescuers “immediately took care of and stabilized” the four siblings, according to the Defense Department.

Leslie (13), Solaney (9), Thien Noriel (4) and Kristin (1) were retrieved from the jungle that same evening, airlifted and helicoptered in the middle of the night to the city of San José del Guaviare (285). km southeast of Bogota), according to images released by the ministry.

They were immediately taken by medical plane to Bogotá for treatment in a military hospital.

“See them, touch them”

Hailing from the indigenous Witoto group, the children wandered alone in the jungle after the crash of a Cessna 206 on May 1, in which they were traveling with their mother, pilot and relative. All three adults died, and their bodies were found by the military at the crash site.

According to the army, rescuers found the brothers and sisters about 5 km west of the crash site. “They are weak. Let the doctors make their prediction,” Mr. Petro told reporters.

“I just want to see them, touch them,” Grandpa Fidencio Valencia told AFP, very touched in Villavicencio.

It was the “military” nature of Leslie, the eldest of the brothers and sisters, that allowed them to survive, grandmother Fatima Valencia reasoned. “Usually she always took care of her siblings when their mother was working. He gave them flour, cassava bread, fruits from the bush.

Photographs released by the army show children sitting on a tarpaulin in the middle of dense vegetation, surrounded by soldiers and natives serving them food and drink. They are in jeans and dirty long-sleeve T-shirts for the two elders, their legs wrapped in bandages. The other two are wrapped in survival blankets.

The smallest, Christine, is in the arms of one of her rescuers. According to the Colombian press, she was one year old when she roamed the jungle with her siblings. Four faces are serious, appearing very emaciated.

More than 100 soldiers, accompanied by search dogs and dozens of natives, have searched for the children between the departments of Guaviare and Caqueta since the sight of the plane, vertical, with its nose planted on the ground, in the midst of dense vegetation.

Nevertheless, according to the army, the rescuers of this operation “Hope” traveled a total of almost 2656 km in this impenetrable wilds in more than a month of research, always “with unshakable faith.”

The children’s chances of survival seemed to decrease day by day in this very hostile environment where jaguars, cougars, snakes and other predators roam. Insects of all kinds are especially voracious there, and the issue of access to drinking water is also acute.

The region is also heavily influenced by the dissident FARC, an armed group with which peace talks have recently broken off.

“Total Survival”

The news of the disappearance of the children spread around the world, along with videos and photos of a search operation conducted by the army, in the wake of which a bottle, scissors, shoes, diapers, chewed fruit, footprints or makeshift shelters were found.

On May 17, President Petro mistakenly announced that they had been found.

“Today was a magical day that no doubt fills us with joy,” the president of Colombia rejoiced this time after returning from Cuba, where the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (PLA), the last guerrilla group, are still located. active in the country, reached a six-month ceasefire agreement.

The children “were alone, they succeeded on their own. This is an example of total survival that will go down in history. So today these children are the children of the world and the children of Colombia,” he said.

Mr. Petro also praised the “effective coordination between the military and local people” during the study, “an example of an alliance that the country should follow.”

The six-year-old Belgian Shepherd Wilson, who was lost in recent days during the search, has not yet been found, the head of state complained.

Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, for his part, paid tribute to the various army units, “unshakable and indefatigable”, as well as the natives who took part in the exploration, stretching for 320 km, and then for 20 square meters. km.

The Air Force joined the operation with three helicopters. A message recorded by the children’s grandmother was broadcast through the loudspeaker on board the apparatus. Survival kits were scattered throughout the jungle.

Satellite technology was also brought to bear to try to determine the path that children could take in this impenetrable green hell, washed by daily heavy rains.

“We never lose heart,” my grandmother assured. Now she hopes to get custody of the children “to give them a good education.” “(…) It will be my pride. My daughter (who died in the accident) is watching me, she will cheer me up spiritually and give me strength.”