Four children missing for six weeks after their plane crashed in the Amazon jungle have been ‘found alive’
Four tribal children missing for six weeks after a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon jungle have reportedly been found alive.
The brothers, aged one, four, nine and 13, were traveling in a light aircraft on May 1 when the plane is believed to have broken down.
The children’s mother, Magdalena Mucutui Valencia, died in the crash, as did the pilot and an indigenous leader.
When the plane’s wreckage was recovered by the Colombian military, there was no sign of the youths – sparking a massive search across the country’s southeast to find them.
Now the children have been found alive, according to military sources quoted by the Colombian press.
Four tribal children missing for more than a month after a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon jungle have reportedly been found alive
The brothers, aged one, four, nine and 13, were traveling in a light aircraft on May 1 when the plane is believed to have broken down
Armed Forces sources reportedly confirmed to news site EL TIEMPO that the children lost since May 1 have survived.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also shared the good news on Twitter, writing a message that translates to: “A joy for the whole country!” “The four children lost in the Colombian jungle 40 days ago seemed alive to be.”
Satellite images previously showed the route taken by the children from the plane wreckage, and rescuers found some of their belongings – a pair of shoes and a diaper – as well as temporary shelter and a half-eaten piece of fruit.
Their reported discovery came after the Colombian president faced criticism when he tweeted that the children had been found, but later deleted the message, saying the information could not be confirmed.
Leaders of the Huitoto indigenous group expressed hope that the children’s knowledge of fruit and their skills in surviving in the jungle would increase their chances of being found alive.
On the morning of May 1, a Cessna 206 aircraft exited a jungle area called Araracuara for the city of San Jose del Guaviare in the Colombian Amazon.
Minutes into the 350 km (217 miles) journey, the pilot reported engine problems and the plane disappeared from radar.
Between May 15 and 16, soldiers found the bodies of the three adults and the wreckage of the plane, which was wedged vertically in dense vegetation with its nose destroyed.
But the children – Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and baby Cristin – were missing.