loading…
Four children of plane crash victims have been found alive in the Colombian Amazon, 40 days after the crash. Photo/REUTERS
BOGOTA – Four children of plane crash victims found alive in Amazon jungle Colombia on Friday, 40 days after the crash. Even though they were found to be malnourished and bitten by insects, the way they survived for so long in the wilderness sparked the curiosity of many people.
With extraordinary resilience, four children survived a massive storm in one of the most inhospitable parts of the country, and home to predatory animals and armed groups.
“They gave us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro, as quoted by The Guardian, Saturday (10/6/2023). “Joy to the whole land!”
The four children, aged 13, nine, four, and an 11-month-old baby, come from the Huitoto indigenous community. Despite malnutrition, none of the children were in serious condition, not even the youngest child, who spent his first birthday in the forest.
It is thought they survived by eating survival food dropped into the jungle by search parties, but the education they received from their grandmothers may have been important as well. Thus explained John Moreno, an indigenous leader from Vaupes.
“This is a virgin forest, dense and dangerous.. and they will use the knowledge they have acquired in the community, ancestral knowledge, to survive,” he told local media; Cambio.
The children have been transferred to the city of San Jose de Guaviare for health checks and psychological assessments.
The four brothers were on board a Cessna 206 flying from the city of San Jose de Guaviare to Araracuara, in Amazonas province on the morning of May 1 when the pilot issued a “mayday” warning due to an engine failure.
Two weeks later the plane was found, its nose buried deep in the forest floor in the province of Caquetá, 175 km south of San Jose de Guaviare. The bodies of three adults, including the children’s 33-year-old mother, were found at the scene, but no sign of the children was found.
