COLOMBIA FOUR MISSING CHILDREN

IN THE JUNGLE FOR 40 DAYS

FOUND ALIVE

"A joy for the whole country!" After wandering, left to their own devices, for forty days in the Amazon jungle of Colombia, the four children aged between one and 13, survivors of the crash of the small plane in which they were traveling, were found alive. Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced it on Friday, June 9, in a post on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of soldiers and indigenous people participating in the research.

Army rescuers "immediately cared for and stabilized" the four siblings, according to the Department of Defense. Lesly (13 years old), Soleiny (9 years old), Tien Noriel (4 years old) and Cristin (1 year old) were extracted from the jungle the same evening, airlifted and transported by helicopter in the middle of the night to the city of San Jose del Guaviare (285 km southeast of Bogota), according to images released by the ministry. According to AFP, the children arrived in Bogota, where they were to be taken care of in a military hospital.

"They are weak"

Originally from the Uitoto indigenous group, the children had been wandering alone in the jungle since the May 1 crash of the Cessna 206, aboard which they were traveling with their mother, the pilot and a relative. The lifeless bodies of the three adults were found by the army at the crash site. According to the army, rescuers found the siblings about 5 km west of the crash site. "They are weak. Let the doctors make their prognosis," Gustavo Petro told the press.

It is the "warrior" nature of Lesly, the eldest of the siblings, which allowed them to survive, judged grandmother Fatima Valencia. "She usually always took care of her brothers and sisters when their mother was working. Feeding them flour, cassava bread, fruits from the bush."

Photos released by the army show the children, in the middle of the thick vegetation, seated on tarpaulins, surrounded by soldiers and natives giving them food and drink. They are in jeans and long-sleeved t-shirts for the two older ones, their feet wrapped in bandages. Two others are swaddled in survival blankets.

Tribute to the military and natives

More than 100 soldiers accompanied by sniffer dogs and dozens of natives have been looking for the children between the departments of Guaviare and Caqueta since the discovery of the plane, vertical, nose planted on the ground, in the middle of thick vegetation .

According to the army, the rescuers of this "operation hope" traveled in total, in more than a month of research, nearly 2,656 km in this impenetrable jungle, always "with an intact faith". The children's chances of survival seemed to decrease day by day in this very hostile environment. The region is also an area of ​​strong influence for the dissidence of the Farc, an armed group with which peace talks were recently broken off.

An "Example of Total Survival"

The news of the disappearance of the children had gone around the world, with videos and photos of the search operations carried out by the army, which followed their trail with the discovery of a bottle, scissors, shoes, nappies , chewed fruit, footprints or makeshift shelters. On May 17, President Petro mistakenly announced that they had been found.

"Today has been a magical day that, without a doubt, fills us with joy", rejoiced for good this time the Colombian president on his return from Cuba where the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army ( ELN), the last guerrilla group still active in the country, reached a six-month ceasefire agreement.

The children "were alone, they succeeded on their own. It is an example of total survival that will go down in history. These children are therefore today the children of peace and the children of Colombia", s is he congratulated.