An Indigenous man who took part with the military in the search of the four Indigenous children who were found alive after being lost for 40 days in the Colombian Amazon forest following a plane crash, waits for the children to be taken down a plane and into ambulances upon landing at the CATAM military base in Bogota on June 10, 2023. Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a small plane crash have been found alive, President Gustavo Petro said on June 9, 2023. PHOTO BY JUAN BARRETO/GETTY IMAGES
Three adults died in a devastating plane crash in the Amazon last month, but four children have miraculously survived.
The children managed to cross the jungle on their own for 40 days until they were eventually discovered alive by Colombian soldiers, Reuters reported on Saturday.
The plane, the Cessna 206, had carried seven people between Araracuara in the Amazonas province and San Jose del Guaviare.
According to officials, the crash occurred in the early hours of May 1, when the single-engine propeller plane’s pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure.
The soldiers rescued the children near the border between Colombia’s Caqueta and Guaviare provinces. The area is close to where the plane had crashed.
According to the report, the surviving children are siblings between the ages of 12 months old and 13 years old.
Narcizo Mucutuy, the grandfather of the three girls and one boy, told Reuters that he was delighted at the news of their rescue.
“As the grandfather to my grandchildren who disappeared in the jungles of the Yari, at this moment, I am very happy,” Mucutuy said.
Following the rescue, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro shared a photo of the soldiers with the four children in the middle of the jungle. “A joy for the whole country! The four children who were lost in the Colombian jungle appeared alive,” Petro said in a tweet.
“They were together; they are weak; let’s let the doctors assess them. They found them; it makes me very happy,” Petro told reporters.
He also added that the children had defended themselves alone in the jungle.
According to the report, airplanes and helicopters from Colombia’s army and air force participated in the rescue operations.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Saba Fatima and Newsdesk Manager
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