Colombia Plane Crash: 4 Found Alive in Amazon Jungle
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Alaina
- . June 10, 2023
- . Update: June 10, 2023 5:07 pm
After surviving a plane crash and surviving on their own for weeks in Colombia’s Amazon jungle, four kids have been discovered alive.
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The release of the siblings, who are 13 years old, 9 years old, 4 years old, and 1 year old, was described as “a joy for the whole country” by Colombia’s president.
On May 1, a small plane carrying the mother of the kids and two pilots crashed in a jungle.
A massive rescue effort involving dozens of soldiers and locals was focused on the missing children.
Finding the group, according to President Gustavo Petro, was a “magical day,” and he added, “They were alone, and they themselves achieved an example of total survival that will remain in history.
These youngsters are Colombians and the children of peace today.
Mr. Petro posted a picture of the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days, being cared for by a number of military personnel and Indigenous people. The most minor child was fed from a bottle by one of the rescuers, who also used a spoon to feed one of the other kids from a mug.
The children could be seen being airlifted into a helicopter in the dark above the tall trees of the jungle in a video shared by Colombia’s defense ministry.
When Mr. Petro spoke to the siblings’ grandfather, the elder man informed him that “the mother jungle returned them” and they were receiving medical care. Mr. Petro also claimed that the siblings were receiving medical care.
The kids were flown to Bogota, the nation’s capital, where ambulances took them to a hospital for additional medical care.
The Cessna 206 plane that the kids and their mother were riding on when they were killed was en route from Araracuara, in the province of Amazonas, to San José del Guaviare when it issued a mayday signal due to an engine failure.
The army discovered the bodies of the three adults at the crash site, but it appeared that the kids had escaped the debris and were looking for assistance in the rainforest.
After an extensive search, rescuers found the children’s belongings in May, including a child’s bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie, and a makeshift shelter.
Small footprints were also found, which gave search teams hope that the kids were still alive in the jungle, which predators like jaguars and snakes inhabit.
The children are from the Huitoto indigenous group, and members of their community hoped that their familiarity with fruits and their knowledge of how to survive in the jungle would increase their chances of surviving.
Indigenous people joined the search, and helicopters broadcast a message in the Huitoto language that was recorded by the children’s grandmother pleading with them to stop moving so that they would be easier to find.
Last month, a tweet from the Colombian president’s account incorrectly claimed that the kids had been located, drawing criticism.
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The following day, he removed the tweet, claiming that it was unconfirmed information that his office had received from Colombia’s child welfare agency.
