Colombia plane crash: Missing children found after more than a month in Amazon

CNN
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Four young children have been found alive after more than a month of wandering in the Amazon where they survived as children of the jungle, according to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro.

Their education from indigenous families and learning to live in the jungle has saved them, Petro told reporters on Friday, after announcing on Twitter that they had been found 40 days after they went missing after a plane crash that killed their mother.

Petro said the children were all together when they were found, adding that they had shown an example of total survival that will be remembered in history.

They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia, he added.

Revealing their discovery earlier in the day, the Colombian president had tweeted an image that appeared to show search teams treating children in a forest clearing, along with the words: A joy for the whole country!

Their grandmother, Mara Ftima Valencia, said she would hug them all and thank them all once they were reunited in their hometown of Villavicencio, where they live.

I will encourage them, push them forward, I need them here, she said.

The children, who appear emaciated in the photo, are being evaluated by doctors and will be taken to the city of San Jose del Guaviare. They are expected to receive further treatment in Bogota, the capital, according to Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez.

We hope that tomorrow they will be treated at the military hospital, he said, as he praised the Colombian military and indigenous communities for helping to find them.

Petro said the children were weak, needed food and their mental state would be assessed. Let the doctors make their assessment and we will know, he added.

Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and baby Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the jungle on May 1, the sole survivors of a deadly plane crash.

Their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, was killed in the crash along with two other adult passengers: pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernndez.

The subsequent disappearance of the children deep in the forest prompted a massive military-led search operation involving over a hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the area.

For weeks, the search yielded only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a soiled diaper and a bottle. Family members said the older child had an experience in the woods, but hopes faded as the weeks passed.

At one point during their ordeal, they had to be protected by a dog, Petro said.

He called the children’s survival a gift of life and an indication that they were cared for by the jungle.

The Colombian president said he had spoken to the children’s grandfather, who said their survival was in the hands of the jungle, which ultimately chose to return them.

The grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said he and his wife had endured many sleepless nights worrying about the children.

For us this situation was like being in the dark, walking for the sake of walking. Living for the sake of living because the hope of finding them kept us alive. When we found the children we felt joy, we don’t know what to do, but we are grateful to God, he said.

The children’s other grandfather, Narcizo Mucutuy, said he wants his grandchildren to return home soon.

I am asking the president of Colombia to bring our grandchildren to Villavicencio, where their grandparents are, where their uncles and aunts are, and then take them to Bogotá, he said.

Indigenous leader Lucho Acosta, coordinator of the Indigenous Scouts, praised the extra efforts of search and rescue teams and local authorities to find the children in a statement Friday.

They all added a little effort so that this Operation Hope could be successful and we can hope that the children will come out alive and stronger than before. We have hoped together with the strength of our forefathers and our strength has triumphed, he said.

We never stopped looking for them until the miracle came, the Colombian Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter.

During a press conference Friday evening, Petro said he hoped to speak with the children on Saturday.

The most important thing now is what the doctors say, they have lost 40 days, their health condition must be stressed. We must also check their mental state, he said.

Petro, who was previously forced to back down after mistakenly tweeting that they had been found last month, described the children’s 40-day saga as a remarkable testament to survival.