Four Indigenous Children Have Been Found Alive After Surviving 40 Days In The Colombian Jungle Following A Plane Crash
The children managed to survived thanks to their knowledge of the environment
After 40 days of intense search operations, four Indigenous children have finally been found alive after their plane crashed in the Colombian jungle.
13-year-old Lesly, nine-year-old Soleiny, four-year-old Noriel and one-year-old Cristin Neryman had been flying with their mother and another passenger to reunite with their father when the plane crashed into the jungle in southern Colombia after its engine failed on May 1.
Authorities were able to locate the plane two weeks later, when they discovered the bodies of three adults, including the children’s mother and pilot, but were unable to locate the children.
However, rescuers believed the children were still alive as they kept finding structures that looked like shelters and half-eaten food.
Military forces and Indigenous groups then worked collectively to look for the children in an operation nicknamed “Operation Hope”.
Finally, on Friday June 9, after 40 days, Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro tweeted that the children had been found alive.
¡Una alegría para todo el país! Aparecieron con vida los 4 niños que estaban perdidos hace 40 días en la selva colombiana. pic.twitter.com/cvADdLbCpm
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 9, 2023
They were discovered just around five kilometers away from the crash site.
It is still uncertain why it took rescuers so long to find the children, but their great-uncle says he believes the children were scared and hid.
“They were afraid out there, with the dogs barking. They hid among the trees … they ran,” the children’s grandfather, Valencia said, according to the Guardian.
The siblings have since been transported to a hospital, where doctors are slowly introducing solid foods.
They were “very weakened, they have small wounds and bruises, they have illnesses that they contracted in the jungle, but overall they’re well, they’re in good hands,” Valencia said, according to the BBC.
Officials said the children had managed to survive thanks to their knowledge of the environment and the leadership of their oldest 13-year-old sister.
“In Indigenous families, children learn how to live in the jungle. That has saved them,” Petro said, according to Spanish news outlet El País.
However, the search is not over.
Authorities are still looking for a young rescue dog named Wilson that had been with children and left tracks that help the search team find them.
