Children lost in the jungle of Colombia: the 4 minors who disappeared 40 days ago after a plane crash found alive Subhea
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The four children disappeared after the aircraft in which they were traveling in southern Colombia crashed.
Colombian authorities confirmed that the four children who had disappeared for more than a month in the Guaviare jungle were found alive after the plane they were traveling in crashed.
“A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle have turned up alive, Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in a message on Twitter.
Previously, Colombian army sources had confirmed the news to the Reuters agency and local media.
According to the newspaper El Tiempo, the military forces found the four children with signs of dehydration and insect bites. However, they are fine and are already being transferred by helicopter to San José del Guaviare, where they will be treated by doctors”.
The four children -brothers aged 4, 9 and 13, and an 11-month-old boy who turned 1 year old while he was missing- were accompanied on the trip by his mother and two other adults, who died as a result of the accident.
The incident occurred on May 1st. When the authorities arrived at the scene of the accident two weeks later, they only found the lifeless bodies of the adults. There was no trace of the children, so an intense search began by members of the army and members of the indigenous community, to which the minors belong.
Colombian radio station Caracol reports that the four children were this Friday with members of the National Army who were going to hand them over to the Colombian Family Welfare Institute in San José de Guaviare, where his health status should be verified. From there they were going to be transferred to Bogota to receive medical attention.
The minors are Soleiny Mucutuy (9 years old), Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy (4 years old), Lesly Mucutuy (13 years old) and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy (1 year).
In statements collected by El Tiempo, the children's grandmother, María Fátima Valencia, said: “I ask you to bring the children to Villavicencio, where I am. We, their grandparents, as mourners need to see them& “I need to see your little bodies, and after Wellness sees them, I'm very happy”.
The accident
The children were traveling in a small plane that suffered an accident on May 1 when it was covering the Araracuara route – San José del Guaviare with seven people on board, including the pilot.
Among the fatalities in the accident was Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, the children's mother.
The pilot had reported engine problems minutes before the plane disappeared from radar, Colombia's disaster response agency said.
The jungle region where the plane crashed It has few roads and is difficult to access by water, so air transport is common.
To search for the minors, the national government ordered the participation of more than 150 uniformed officers, who had the help of indigenous communities.
Traces of life
The tasks to find The children escalated in mid-May after rescuers found the plane and a “makeshift shelter made of sticks and branches,” leading them to believe there were survivors.
In images released by the Colombian military, scissors and a hair tie could be seen among the dense vegetation of the jungle.
They also found a baby bottle and half-eaten fruit in an area far from where the plane crashed.
“We assume that the children inside the aircraft are alive. We have found some traces in a different and distant position from where the aircraft was left (…) We also found a possible place where the children could have taken refuge and we continue the search,” May.
Reactions to the “miracle”
Since the news was confirmed, local media have referred to the find as “a miracle.
President Gustavo Petro told reporters: “They They themselves achieved an example of total survival that will remain in history. Those children are today the children of peace“.
He added that they are receiving medical attention and that he will try to speak with them this Saturday.
The president has been joined by other politicians Colombians, such as former President Alvaro Uribe and the mayoress of Bogota, Claudia Lopez, to congratulate the military and indigenous people who were part of the operation and celebrate the good news.
“When we put knowledge and institutions to work persistently at the service of the people, we can solve, save lives and collectively build hope,” said Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez.