Soleiny brothers Tien, Lesly and Cristin spent more than 40 days alone and lost in the jungle after the plane they were traveling on with their mother crashed in a forested area in Colombia killing them and two other adults (including the pilot). .
Colombian forces found the four children, aged 9, 4, 13 and 1, healthy but with signs of dehydration and insect bites on Friday (6/9). They were flown to a hospital by helicopter for medical treatment.
The search operation, which ended successfully, began in midMay when army troops arrived at the scene of the incident, which took place on the 1st of the same month, and found only the bodies of the three adults who were accompanying them. The kids were gone.
Since then, around 120 uniformed police officers and 70 indigenous people have been part of the “Operation Hope” rescue operation.
With the help of helicopters and rescue dogs, they crossed around 1,250 kilometers of dense jungle between the Colombian departments of Caquetá and Guaviare.
The military shared some photos of the children after the rescue (Picture: Portal)
“We used every possible resource to find them,” Captain Carlos Vargas, a member of the army’s communications team, told BBC Mundo in May.
The climatic conditions of the search were so adverse that 14 natives had to abandon the mission for health reasons.
grandma’s voice
Part of the strategy of the operation was to repeatedly play the voice of Fátima, the children’s grandmother, over loudspeakers. She told them in Spanish and in their indigenous mother tongue that she was looking for them. “You must stop,” read the message.
The commander of the Joint Special Operations in Colombia, Pedro Sánchez, explained that the operation was based on three hypotheses: that the minors had died, that they were under the power of dissidents from the former Guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and that a, which turned out to be true that they were alive and alone and lost.
“You were alone. You have set an example of survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday.
The search for the children required the cooperation of the government, indigenous communities and the national army, which Vice President Francia Márquez highlighted as important in locating the minors.
“If we persistently put knowledge and institutions at the service of people, we can find solutions, save lives and create hope together,” he wrote on Twitter.
A footprint was found during the search for the minors (Photo: ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA)
the hints
Media attention focused on the operation after rescuers found evidence the children were alive: a diaper, bitten pieces of fruit, a pink baby bottle and a “makeshift shelter made of sticks and twigs.”
“We assume the children who were on the plane are alive. We found some traces in a different and distant position than where the plane was left (…) We also found a possible place where the children may have taken refuge and we continue the search ‘ an army spokesman said on May 18.
The key clue to the search was the footprints of one of the children next to those of a dog. According to one of the mission commanders, they belonged to Wilson, one of the three dogs that were part of the search party and had been lost a few days earlier.
“Where we found the last tracks, we found the tracks of a dog. We believe the dog found her and accompanied her,” said Lucho Acosta, national coordinator of the Indigenous Guard.
After rescuing the children, it was confirmed that the dog is still missing.
The plane was found in midMay (Photo: Getty Images)
The accident
On the day of the accident, the family was on their way to meet their father, Manuel Ranoque, an indigenous leader who had fled threats from illegal armed groups in Araraucara.
The plane was en route from Araracuara to San José del Guaviare with seven people on board, including the pilot.
According to the Colombian Civil Protection Agency, 206 minutes before the plane disappeared from radar, he reported problems with the Cessna plane’s engine.
The jungle region where the plane crashed has few roads and is difficult to access by water, so transportation by air is common.