4 children survived a plane crash and 40 days alone in the Amazon jungle. The youngest is a baby

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Four Indigenous children miraculously survived a plane crash in the Amazon jungle, enduring 40 days alone before being discovered by Colombian soldiers. Their rescue marked a joyous conclusion to a captivating ordeal that gripped the hearts of many Colombians, with search teams tirelessly scouring the rainforest for the youngsters.

President Gustavo Petro, returning from Cuba after signing a cease-fire agreement, expressed his elation at the news and planned to meet with the children. The young survivors were being transported to Bogota for medical evaluation, facilitated by a helicopter due to the dense rainforest where they were found. The aircraft departed for San Jose del Guaviare, a small town situated on the outskirts of the jungle.

The siblings, aged 13, 9, 4, and only 11 months old, belonged to an Indigenous group residing in the remote region. While details of their remarkable survival remained undisclosed, Petro hailed them as exemplars of resilience, predicting that their story would become part of history.

The military shared images on social media, featuring soldiers and volunteers posing alongside the children, who were swathed in thermal blankets. Tenderly, one soldier cradled a bottle to the lips of the youngest child.

The tragic crash occurred on May 1 when a Cessna single-engine propeller plane, carrying six passengers and a pilot, declared an emergency due to engine failure. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft vanished from radar screens, prompting an intense search for survivors. Two weeks later, on May 16, search teams located the wreckage in a dense area of the rainforest and recovered the bodies of the three adults on board. However, the young children were nowhere to be found.

Sensing a glimmer of hope, Colombia’s army intensified their efforts, deploying 150 soldiers with search dogs to the region. Numerous volunteers from Indigenous tribes also joined the search. Despite the challenging conditions characterized by mist and thick foliage, helicopters dropped food supplies into the jungle, hoping to sustain the children. Flares were fired from planes overhead to assist nighttime ground crews, while loudspeakers transmitted a message recorded by the siblings’ grandmother, urging them to stay in one place.

Rumors surrounding the children’s whereabouts circulated, and on May 18, the president prematurely tweeted about their rescue, only to delete the message, citing misinformation from a government agency.

These four children, members of the Huitoto people, were en route from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare when tragedy struck. Officials revealed that the older children possessed some knowledge of survival in the rainforest, having grown up in the area.

Upon confirming the children’s rescue, President Petro expressed his initial belief that they had been found by one of the nomadic tribes residing in the remote jungle, who rarely interacted with authorities. However, he later clarified that the children were initially discovered by one of the search dogs accompanying the soldiers.

The exact distance between the children and the crash site at the time of their discovery was not disclosed. Nevertheless, search teams had been combing an area within a radius of 4.5 kilometers (nearly 3 miles) from where the plane had nosedived into the forest floor.

As the search progressed, soldiers stumbled upon small indications in the jungle, including footprints, a baby bottle, diapers, and partially eaten fruit, suggesting the children’s continued existence. Petro remarked, “The jungle saved them. They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”

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