The Indigenous children – one of whom was just 11 months old – are thought to have eaten food dropped by rescuers and used their own ancestral knowledge
Malnourished and covered in insect bites, four Indigenous children were rescued alive from the Colombian Amazon on Friday afternoon, 40 days after the plane they were travelling in crashed into the jungle.
In a remarkable feat of resilience, the children survived heavy storms in one of the most inhospitable parts of the country, home to predatory animals and armed groups.
“They’ve given us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian president Gustavo Petro, calling it “A joy for the whole country!”
The four siblings, aged 13, nine, four plus an 11-month-old baby, were from the Huitoto Indigenous community. Although malnourished, none of the children were in serious condition, even the youngest child, who spent his first birthday in the jungle.
It is thought they survived by eating food survival kits airdropped into the jungle by the search team but the education they received from their grandmother may also have been vital, said John Moreno, an Indigenous leader from nearby Vaupes.
“This is a virgin forest, thick and dangerous … and they would have used the knowledge they gained in the community, the ancestral knowledge, in order to survive,” he told local media outlet Cambio.
The children have since been transported to the town of San Jose de Guaviare for health checks and psychological assessments.
The four siblings were aboard a Cessna 206 flying from the town of San Jose de Guaviare to Araracuara, in Amazonas province on the morning of 1 May when its pilot issued a mayday alert due to engine failure.
Two weeks later the aircraft was found, nose planted deep in the jungle floor in the province of Caquetá, 175km south of San Jose de Guaviare. Three adult bodies, including that of the children’s 33-year-old mother, were discovered at the site, but no sign of the children.
