Colombian forces have found four children aged 13, 9, 4 and 12 months who survived the May 1 plane crash.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced that four children have been found alive in the Colombian jungle more than five weeks after his plane crashed into the dense jungle.
Children from an indigenous community were rescued by the military on Friday near the border of Colombia’s Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, near where a small plane crashed.
A Cessna 206 with seven people on board was flying between Araraquara, Amazonas, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare. .
Three adults, including the pilot, died in the accident and their bodies were found inside the plane.
Four children aged 13, 9, and 4 and an infant, now 12 months old, survived the impact.
A photo shared by the Colombian military showed a group of soldiers with four children in the middle of the jungle.
“The joy of the whole country! Four children who were missing in the Colombian jungle appeared to be alive,” Petro said in a message via Twitter.
Come on, Alegria para tudo el Pais! Arrive in Colombia in 40 days or less in 4 days. pic.twitter.com/cvADdLbCpm
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 9, 2023
Petro initially reported in a Twitter message that the children had been found on May 17, but later deleted the post saying the information was unconfirmed.
“They were with them. They are weak. Let the doctors evaluate them. They found them and I am very happy,” Petro told reporters on Friday, referring to the children. added that he was fending for himself alone in the middle of the jungle.
Aided by search dogs, rescuers had previously found discarded fruit that children ate to survive, as well as makeshift shelters made from jungle plants.
Colombian Army and Air Force planes and helicopters participated in the rescue operation.
Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Lampietti, reporting from Colombia’s capital Bogota, said the children appeared to be in “good condition” given that they had lived alone in the jungle for so long.
Their discovery was “a big surprise,” he said, adding that people were losing hope that they would be found alive after they had been missing for days in the jungle.
“Different groups of indigenous communities living in the Colombian Amazon and other parts of the country participated in this truly unprecedented search and rescue operation. Told.
