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'Children of the bush', lost 40 days in Colombian Amazon, found alive

China Daily | Updated: 2023-06-12 00:00
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BOGOTA — Exhausted but happy, four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Amazon rainforest were reunited with their relatives on Saturday, in a happy ending to a nerve-racking saga that gripped Colombia.

The siblings, who had been wandering alone in the jungle after surviving a small plane crash that left their mother and two other adults dead, were discovered after a rescue operation involving sniffer dogs, helicopters and aircraft.

The children, looking thin and frail, were taken by army medical plane to a military hospital in Bogota, Agence France-Presse reported. Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who visited them in the hospital with President Gustavo Petro, said they were recovering but could still not eat solid food.

The youngest two children, now 5 and 1, spent their birthdays in the jungle, as Lesly, the oldest at 13 years old, guided them through the ordeal.

"It is thanks to her, her courage and her leadership, that the three others were able to survive, with her care, her knowledge of the jungle," Velasquez said.

General Pedro Sanchez, who led the search, credited Indigenous people involved in the rescue effort with finding the children. "We found the children: miracle, miracle, miracle," he said.

The children, of the Huitoto Indigenous group, had been lost in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed.

The pilot had reported engine problems minutes after taking off from a deep Amazon area known as Araracuara on the 350-kilometer journey to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.

"They are happy to see the family," the children's grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said shortly after visiting them. "They have all their senses. They are children of the bush."

A search involving 160 soldiers and 70 Indigenous people with intimate knowledge of the jungle began after the crash, garnering global attention.

The area is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators, as well as drug smuggling groups. But the siblings are familiar with the jungle.

"They are Indigenous children and they know the jungle well," said Luis Acosta of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia.

Rescuers found the children about 5 km west of the crash site, the military said.

However, the search was not over, the army said on Saturday that it would continue looking for Wilson, a rescue dog that went missing during the search. "No one is left behind," the army said.

Agencies Via Xinhua

One of the four children who were found alive after being lost for 40 days in the Colombian Amazon forest following a plane crash, is carried out of a plane in Bogota on Saturday. JUAN BARRETO/AFP

 

 

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