“A miracle”, “a joy for the whole country!” After trekking alone through the Amazon jungle of Colombia for forty days, the four children aged 13, 9, 4 and one year who survived the light plane crash , with which they were traveling, had survived.
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“The four children lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle have been found alive,” President Gustavo Petro announced in a Twitter post, which was accompanied by a photo of soldiers and tribal people involved in the search for the siblings.
“Yes, the children have been found, but I urgently need a flight or helicopter to get them,” the children’s grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, told AFP. “They were found by a local from Araracuara who had been looking for them from the start, Henry Guerrero,” the grandfather said, while several relatives of the little ones appeared in tears in the national media.
The children were from the Uitoto indigenous group and had been wandering alone through the jungle since the May 1 crash of the Cessna 206. They were traveling with their mother, the pilot and a relative. All three adults died and their bodies were found by the military at the crash site.
According to the military, rescuers found the children about 5 km west of the crash site. “You are weak. ‘Let the doctors make their prognosis,’ Mr Petro commented to the press.
Photos released by the army show the children sitting on tarps amidst dense vegetation, surrounded by soldiers and locals giving them food and drink. They wear jeans and dirty long-sleeved T-shirts for the two older ones, their feet are bandaged. Two others are wrapped in survival blankets.
gaunt faces
The youngest, Cristin, lies in the arms of one of her rescuers. According to the Colombian press, she turned one year old while roaming the jungle with her siblings. The four faces are serious and appear very emaciated.
More than 100 soldiers, accompanied by sniffer dogs, and dozens of local people have been searching for the children between the departments of Guaviare and Caqueta since they spotted the plane, vertical, nose-to-the-ground, amidst dense vegetation.
Nevertheless, according to the army, the rescuers covered a total of more than a month of research work, almost 2,656 km, in this impenetrable jungle, always “with their faith intact”.
The children’s chances of survival seemed to be declining by the day in this very hostile environment where jaguars, cougars, snakes and other predators roam. Insects of all kinds are particularly voracious there, and the question of vital access to drinking water also arises.
The region is also an area of strong influence for the dissident FARC, an armed group with which peace talks recently broke down.
News of the children’s disappearance spread around the world, with videos and photos of the army’s searches, which followed their trail with the discovery of a bottle, scissors, shoes, diapers, chewed fruit, footprints or makeshift shelters.
“Today was a magical day that undoubtedly fills us with joy,” stressed the Colombian president upon his return from Cuba, where the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last guerrillas still active in the country, reached a six-month ceasefire agreement.
The children “were alone, they made it 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,” he said.
Wilson is still nowhere to be found
Mr Petro also praised “the effective coordination between the military and the locals” during the raids, an “example of an alliance the country should follow”.
“Whether the doctors advise taking her to Bogota or Villavicencio (centre) depends on how they decide. I will try to speak to them tomorrow morning,” added the head of state.
However, Wilson, a six-year-old Belgian shepherd who got lost during searches in recent days, has still not been found, the head of state lamented.
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, for his part, paid tribute to the various army units for being “unflinching and tireless,” as well as the locals who took part in the research.
Army rescuers “immediately took care of the four siblings and stabilized them”. They should be transferred to San Jose de Guaviare (285 km southeast of Bogota). “Tomorrow we hope that after their medical assessment and their condition, they will be transferred to the military hospital in Bogotá,” added the minister.
These children, the eldest and the youngest, are girls, are used to life in the jungle and know how to survive there, their relatives assured them.
The Air Force had joined the “Hope” rescue operation with three helicopters. A message recorded by the children’s grandmother was broadcast over a loudspeaker on board a device.
In addition, an attempt was made with the help of satellite technology to determine the path that the children might have taken through the jungle.