Four indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon jungle were found alive this morning and brought to the capital, Bogota, reports RTE.
The children who survived the crash of the light plane in the jungle were flown by military helicopter to the military airfield at around 12:30 (6:30 Irish time).
They were immediately pulled from the plane on a stretcher while ambulances were waiting to take them to the hospital.
“Today we have had a magical day. They are weak. Let’s let the doctors make their assessment,” President Gustavo Petro told the media yesterday, after announcing their rescue, reports RTE.
The president tweeted a photo of several adults, some in military uniforms, caring for children sitting on tarpaulins in the jungle. The lifeguard put the bottle to the mouth of the smallest child he was holding.
“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, reports RTE.
Officials said the group had fled threats from members of the armed group.
After the disastrous plane crash, a full-scale search was launched, involving 160 soldiers and 70 indigenous people with extensive knowledge of the jungle, attracting worldwide attention.
The area is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators, as well as armed drug smuggling groups, but persistent leads – footprints, a diaper, a half-eaten fruit – led authorities to believe they were on the right track.
News of the rescue came as Mr Petro returned home from Cuba, where he signed a six-month ceasefire with the last active Colombian guerrilla group, the ELN.
“Getting closer and attaining peace in the agreement that is moving forward with the ELN… And now I return and the first news is that indeed the Indigenous communities that were in the search and the military forces found the children 40 days later. “They were alone, they made it on their own. An example of absolute survival that will go down in history,” he told reporters in Bogota, reports RTE.
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