The oldest of the children lost in the jungle is 13 years old and the youngest is only 11 months old.
In Colombia, four missing children have been found alive in the middle of the Amazon rainforest after a devastating plane crash that happened more than two weeks ago. The president of the country has told about the discovery of the four belonging to the indigenous population Gustavo Petro on Twitter.
The oldest of the children is 13 years old and the youngest is only 11 months old. The ages of the other two are nine and four.
Three adults died in the plane crash that happened on May 1st. The rescuers thought that the children traveling in the plane might have wandered in the jungle after the crash.
In a tweet published early on Thursday Finnish time, the president of Colombia described the search for children in the area of the southern department of Caquetá as laborious. More than a hundred soldiers with tracking dogs had been looking for the children.
On Wednesday, the country’s armed forces said that the search had been intensified after rescuers had found a temporary shelter built from sticks and branches. This led them to believe that someone had survived the crash. The photos published by the armed forces showed that there were also scissors and a hair clip on the ground. Earlier, a baby’s drinking bottle and a half-eaten fruit had been found in the jungle.
During Monday and Tuesday, the soldiers had found the bodies of the pilot and two other adults. Another of the dead passengers was the children’s mother. The family belongs to the Witoto tribe. The plane had been traveling from the jungle to San Jose del Guaviare, one of the most important cities on the Colombian side of the Amazon rainforest.
Searches in the rainforest were hampered by wild animals, heavy rains and giant trees that can grow up to 40 meters tall. The searchers were assisted by three helicopters, one of which played a message in the tribal language recorded by the children’s grandmother from the air. That’s when he asked the children to stop.
Officials have not released an estimate of what caused the plane to go down. The pilot had reported problems with the engine just minutes before the plane disappeared from radar, according to Colombia’s disaster agency.
Traveling by plane is common in the area, because there are few roads and traveling along the river is also difficult.
Source: AFP