Absolute Survival”: Days After Plane Crash, Children Found Alive In Forest

Bogota: 

Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a small plane crash have been found alive, President Gustavo Petro said Friday.

“Today we have had a magical day,” Petro told the media in the capital Bogota after announcing their rescue.

“They are weak. Let’s let the doctors make their assessment,” he added.

The president earlier posted a photo on Twitter showing several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, tending to the children as they sat on tarps in the jungle. One rescuer held a bottle to the mouth of the smallest child, whom he held in his arms.

“A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle were found alive,” he wrote on Twitter.

Video shared by the Defense Ministry late Friday showed the children being pulled up into a helicopter as it hovered over the tall trees in almost complete darkness.

Originally from the Huitoto Indigenous group, the children — aged 13, nine, four and one — had been wandering alone in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed.