Four children from an Indigenous village in Colombia have miraculously been recovered alive in the southern part of the country more than five weeks after their plane crashed in a dense jungle. The military located the siblings close to the location of the small plane crash, which was the boundary between the provinces of Caqueta and Guaviare in Colombia. A Cessna 206 carrying seven people from Araracuara in the Amazonas province to San Jose del Guaviare in the Guaviare province, filed a distress signal due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1.
Magdalena Mucutuy, the mother of the children, and the pilot were two of the three persons that perished in the disaster and were discovered dead inside the aircraft. The four siblings, who were hit by the impact but survived it, were three girls and one boy, ages 13, 9, and 4, and a newborn who is now 12 months old. Narcizo Mucutuy, the grandfather of the four children, expressed his joy upon hearing about the rescue of his grandchildren. Talking to reporters, he said, “As the grandfather to my grandchildren who went missing in the jungles of the Yari, at this moment I am very happy.”
The children had managed to fend for themselves in the middle of the jungle
The four children can be seen standing with a group of soldiers in the middle of the jungle in pictures released by the Colombian military. Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, tweeted his excitement at the information. “A joy for the entire country!” he wrote. The four kids who were missing in the forest of Colombia looked to be alive. In a now-deleted tweet on May 17, Petro had already prematurely announced the discovery of the kids. Later, he clarified that the data wasn’t confirmed.
However, during a press briefing on Friday, he confirmed their rescue and mentioned that the children had managed to fend for themselves in the middle of the jungle. He said, “They were together, they are weak, let’s let the doctors assess them. They found them, it makes me very happy.” According to Reuters, rescue teams had earlier uncovered discarded fruits that the kids had eaten to survive with the help of search dogs. They also discovered makeshift huts made of wild foliage. Aircraft and helicopters from Colombia’s army and air force were also used in the rescue efforts.