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40 Days of Living in the Forest, 4 Colombian Boy Victims of Plane Crash Found Safe. PHOTO/Reuters
BOGOTA – Four children from the Indigenous community in Colombia found safe in the south of the country on Friday (9/6/2023). They were found by the SAR team, 40 days after aircraft which they were riding fell in a dense forest.
The children were rescued by the Colombian military near the border between Colombia’s Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, near where the small plane crashed. The ill-fated Cessna 206 was carrying seven people on the route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare.
The aircraft issued a mayday warning due to engine failure in the early hours of 1 May. Three adults, including the pilot, died in the crash and their bodies were found on board the plane.
Four children, aged 13, 9 and 4, as well as a 12-month-old baby, survived the impact. Photos shared by the Colombian military show a group of soldiers with four children in the middle of a jungle.
“Joy for the whole country! Four children who were lost in the jungles of Colombia found alive,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a message via Twitter, as quoted by Reuters.
Petro initially reported that the children had been found on May 17 in a message on Twitter, but later deleted the post. At the time, he said that the information had not been confirmed.
“They are together, they are weak, let the doctors judge them. They found them, it makes me very happy,” Petro told reporters. He added that the children were defending themselves alone in the middle of the forest.
Rescue teams, supported by search dogs, had previously found discarded fruits that children had eaten to survive, as well as shelters made from forest vegetation.
(esn)
