4 Colombian siblings including baby, found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash
BOGOTA – Four children from an indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the south of the country more than five weeks after the plane they were travelling in crashed in thick jungle, the nation’s President Gustavo Petro said on Friday.
The siblings were rescued by the military near the border between Colombia’s Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, close to where the small plane had crashed.
The Cessna 206 was carrying seven people between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, in Guaviare province, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1.
Three adults, including the pilot and the children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. The four siblings, aged 13, 9, 4, as well as a now 12-month-old baby, survived the impact.
Mr Narcizo Mucutuy, grandfather of the three girls and one boy, told reporters he was delighted at the news of their rescue.
“As the grandfather to my grandchildren who disappeared in the jungles of the Yari, at this moment I am very happy,” he said.
Photos shared by Colombia’s military showed a group of soldiers with the four children in the middle of the jungle.
“A joy for the whole country! The four children who were lost… in the Colombian jungle appeared alive,” Mr Petro tweeted.
He initially reported that the children had been found on May 17 but later deleted the post, saying the information was unconfirmed.
“They were together, they are weak, let’s let the doctors assess them. They found them, it makes me very happy,” Mr Petro told journalists on Friday, adding that the children defended themselves alone in the jungle.
Rescuers, supported by search dogs, previously found discarded fruit the children ate to survive, as well as improvised shelters made with jungle vegetation.
Airplanes and helicopters from Colombia’s army and air force participated in the rescue operations.