Four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash in Colombia’s Amazon jungle more than a month ago have been found alive by the authorities, President Gustavo Petro announced on Friday.
The children, aged 13, nine, four and a one-year-old baby, were travelling with their mother, a pilot and a co-pilot on a Cessna 206 aircraft from Araracuara to San José del Guaviare on May 1, when the plane’s engine failed and crashed in the dense forest.
The bodies of the three adults were recovered at the crash site by the army, but the children were nowhere to be found. A massive search operation was launched, involving the military, the police, Indigenous communities and volunteers.
In late May, rescuers found some clues that gave them hope that the children were still alive, such as a child’s drinking bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter. They also spotted small footprints that suggested the children had escaped the wreckage and wandered into the rainforest to seek help.
The children belong to the Uitoto Indigenous group and are familiar with the jungle environment and its fruits and plants. Their grandfather said that “the mother jungle returned them” after they survived for 40 days in the wilderness.
President Petro praised the work of the armed forces and the Indigenous communities who collaborated in the search and rescue mission. He said that finding the children was “a joy for the whole country” and that they were "an example of survival that will go down in history".
The children were flown to Bogota, where they received medical attention. President Petro said that their health condition was not yet clear and that they would need to undergo physical and mental evaluations. He also said that he spoke to their grandmother, who recorded a message in their native language urging them to stop moving so they could be located.
The president deleted a tweet he posted last month claiming that the children had been found, after he realized that the information was not confirmed. He apologized for the mistake and said that he was acting on information given by Colombia’s child welfare agency.
