Three children and a baby found alive after 40 days alone in the Amazon jungle
Four Indigenous children who were the only survivors of a plane crash in Colombia were found on Friday after 40 days on their own in the Amazon jungle.
Iván Velásquez Gómez, Colombia’s defence minister, tweeted, “From Operation Hope to Operation Miracle. Huge congratulations to the @FuerzasMilCol and to those who did not lose hope and worked day and night to make the miracle possible.”
Columbian President Gustavo Petro tweeted a photo of rescuers tending to the baby with the caption, “Hope.”
Esperanza. pic.twitter.com/XH77zuVX6R
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 10, 2023
The three children (aged four, nine, and 13) and an 11-month-old baby were travelling with their mother in a small Cessna single-engine propeller plane, according to NPR.
The family was travelling from the village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare when an engine failure forced the pilot to declare an emergency. The plane crashed into the dense jungle of Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia on May 1.
The crash killed the three adults onboard and their remains were recovered by a search team on May 16. However, the children were nowhere to be found.
The rescue team feeding the children (@FuerzasMilCol/Twitter)
The Colombian military and volunteers from Indigenous tribes banded together to search for the missing children in the dense forest with mist that greatly limited visibility. For rescuers, it was the small traces that gave them hope: an empty baby bottle, pieces of fruit with human bite marks, and small footprints.
Revista Semana/YouTube
The rescuers used speakers to blast a message from the children’s grandmother telling them to remain in place.
News that the children were found was confirmed on June 9. They were dehydrated, malnourished, and covered in insect bites, reports The Guardian, but they were otherwise not in serious condition.
Since the forest was too dense, rescuers airlifted the children and transported them to San José del Guaviare. They were then moved to a hospital in Bogotá.
According to officials, the children are members of the Huito people and the oldest child had some survival skills.
Journalist Hollman Morris posted a photo of the members of the rescue team.
Levanten la mano los que a ésta hora ven el especial de @SenalColombia sobre el rescate de la vida entre militares e indígenas de los niñas en la selva.
Misión esperanza.#SeñalColombiaSeñalVida
🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️@RTVCnoticias @petrogustavo pic.twitter.com/2hEBATGVAX
— Hollman Morris (@HOLLMANMORRIS) June 12, 2023
John Moreno, a Guanano Indigenous leader from Vaupés, told Cambio magazine that the children were found in the thick and dangerous part of the jungle.
“For this reason, they had to resort to the knowledge they learn in the community, the ancestral knowledge in order to survive. We never doubt that they managed to stay alive because of their knowledge.”
He credits the grandmother who raised the children.
“The traditional knowledge that they were taught was what made them survive,” said Moreno.
The children have been reunited with family and are expected to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks.