Four children who endured several weeks alone in the Amazon rainforest in Colombia have been reunited with their relatives as they receive medical treatment in a hospital. The siblings, aged 13, nine, five, and one, are in a frail state but are overjoyed to see their family, according to their grandfather, Fidencio Valencia. Officials report that the children are speaking a little, and two of them have even begun playing.
The military and residents conducted an extensive search for over a month before locating the four children on Friday. They had gone missing after the plane they were travelling in crashed on May 1, resulting in the deaths of their mother and two pilots.
Rescuers found the children by following signs in the jungle, such as footprints and partially consumed fruit. The one-year-old baby and the five-year-old celebrated their birthdays in the jungle while their eldest sibling, Lesly, 13, guided them through the ordeal.
To survive, they resorted to consuming flour discovered amidst the wreckage and later relied on seeds, as revealed by Mr Valencia. Colombia’s Defense Minister, Ivan Velasquez, along with President Gustavo Petro, visited the children in the hospital on Saturday and commended Lesly for her leadership and care, which contributed to her siblings’ survival
The military doctor attending to them, Carlos Rincon, mentioned that the children suffer from nutritional deficiencies but have only sustained minor injuries, bites, and skin lesions.
Currently, they are unable to consume solid food, and the process of reintroducing it will begin once their clinical examinations are complete. Dr Rincon estimated that the children may need to remain in the hospital for two to three weeks if their recovery progresses favourably.
Astrid Caceres, the general director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, emphasized that the children require time to recuperate and mentioned that while they do not communicate as much as desired, two of them have started playing.
The four children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group, and their rescue operation benefited greatly from the assistance of Indigenous volunteers. General Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the search operation, exclaimed, “We found the children: miracle, miracle, miracle! Despite previous efforts, rescuers persist in their search throughout the jungle for a valuable member of their team, a Belgian Shepherd trained for rescue missions.
This courageous canine disappeared during the arduous task of searching for the children. Dedicated to their mission, the search teams remain determined to locate and bring the missing rescue dog back to safety, leaving no stone unturned in their ongoing ques
Following the rescue, the children’s grandmother, Fatima Valencia, expressed immense gratitude for their safe return. She explained that Lesly, the eldest sibling, had experience caring for her younger brothers and sister whenever their mother was at work, which significantly aided their survival in the jungle.
In footage obtained by EVN, Ms Valencia shared that Lesly provided them with flour, cassava bread, and any available fruits from the surrounding vegetation, as they were knowledgeable about what was safe to consume.
The tragic voyage commenced as the children and their mother embarked on a Cessna 206 aircraft, departing from Araracuara in Amazonas province with the destination set for San José del Guaviar.
However, the plane issued a distress call due to engine failure. The bodies of the three adults were discovered at the crash site by the military, but the children had managed to escape the wreckage and ventured into the rainforest in search of help In the search conducted in May, search teams stumbled upon a range of items left behind by the children.
Among the findings were a drinking bottle, scissors, a hair tie, and a makeshift shelter ingeniously fashioned by the resourceful youngsters to protect themselves in the challenging environment of the jungle.
The discovery of small footprints further reinforced the belief that the children were still alive in the perilous rainforest, inhabited by jaguars, snakes, and other predators.
The local community, aware of the children’s familiarity with the region’s fruits and survival skills, joined the search efforts. Helicopters broadcast a message in the Huitoto language, recorded by the children’s grandmother, urging them to remain stationary, facilitating their rescue mission
