BOGOTA– After 40 days of the plane crash, four survivors were found by Colombian Authorities. Missing for 40 Days Following Amazon Jungle Plane Crash. They were Found Alive on Friday, Concluding an intense hunt that gripped the nation.
The Children were found alone when searchers discovered them and are currently receiving medical care. No immediate details were released on how the children sustained themselves during the lengthy ordeal.
President Gustavo Petro Returning to Bogota from Cuba (signing a Cease-fire Agreement with National Liberation Army Rebels), hailed these Youngsters as Exemplars of Survival and foreseen their Remarkable Saga etched in History.
The Crash
Accompanied by their mother, the four children embarked on a journey from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare. It is a small city on the outskirts of the Amazon rainforest.
In the early hours of May 1, tragedy struck as a Cessna C206 single-engine propeller plane carrying six passengers and a pilot declared an emergency following an engine failure.
Shortly after the distress call, the aircraft vanished from the radar. Thereupon initiating an intense search operation for any survivors.
After two weeks of relentless efforts, on May 16, a search team located the plane concealed within the dense rainforest. Tragically, the bodies of the three adults on board were recovered, while the young children’s whereabouts remained unknown.
Upon their discovery, officials refrained from disclosing the exact distance between the children and the crash site. The search teams had diligently been scouring an area within a 4.5-kilometer radius (approximately 3 miles) from the location where the small plane had nosedived into the forest floor.
The Search For The Survivors
Detecting potential signs of their survival, Colombia’s army intensified the search for the children. Deploying 150 soldiers with dogs into the area to track the group of four siblings aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months. Indigenous tribes also contributed to the search efforts, with dozens of volunteers joining in the mission.
Amidst the search operation, soldiers aboard helicopters actively released food supplies into the jungle in an area where mist and dense foliage severely restricted visibility. The intention behind this act was to provide sustenance to the children.
To aid night-time search crews, planes soaring over the jungle discharged flares. Rescuers employed megaphones broadcasting a message recorded by the siblings’ grandmother, urging them to remain stationary in one location.
As the search continued, soldiers made significant discoveries within the jungle. Uncovering small clues that bolstered their belief in the children’s survival. These findings included footprints, a baby bottle, diapers, and partially-eaten fruits exhibiting bite marks indicative of human activity.
Survivors Found After 40 Days
In an update on Friday, the military took to Twitter to share images capturing a group of soldiers and volunteers posing alongside the children, who were carefully swathed in thermal blankets. Among them, a soldier tenderly offered a bottle to the youngest child.
Furthermore, the air force shared a video on Twitter, revealing the soldiers skillfully hoisting the children onto a helicopter using a line. The helicopter then embarked on its flight under the cover of darkness. While the tweet mentioned the aircraft’s destination as the town of San Jose del Guaviare, no additional information was provided.
“The union of our efforts made this possible,” Colombia’s military command wrote on its Twitter account.
As members of the Huitoto people, officials revealed that the older children in the group possessed a certain level of knowledge regarding survival in the rainforest.
On Friday, following the confirmation of the children’s rescue, the president expressed his belief that they had been initially saved by one of the nomadic tribes inhabiting the remote area of the jungle where the plane crashed.
These tribes maintain limited contact with authorities, contributing to the president’s earlier assumption. However, Petro added that one of the rescue dogs accompanying the soldiers into the jungle discovered the children.
“The jungle saved them,” Petro added. “They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”
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