Colombia
After plane crash with three dead: Children survive 16 days alone in the rainforest
Watch the video: Rescuers find children 16 days after plane crash in the jungle of Colombia.
More than two weeks after a plane crash in Colombia, rescue workers have found four children alive in the Amazon rainforest. This was announced by President Gustavo Petro on Twitter on Wednesday. After an intensive search by the military, the children were found, Petro wrote. “This is a joy for our country.” The youngest child is an eleven month old baby, the others are four, nine and 13 years old. The members of an indigenous family crashed in a Cessna in the province of Guaviare on May 1st. The three adults on board were killed. Air traffic control director Juan Jose Lopez said the search was assisted by the indigenous community from the Amazon region of Araracuara. The plane was traveling between Araracuara and Guaviare. Shortly before the crash, the pilot had made an emergency call about an engine failure.
Four children, including an eleven-month-old baby, crashed in a Cessna in Colombia on May 1st. The three adults on board were killed. Rescuers have now found the children alive.
Happy end to “Operation Hope”: Four children, including an eleven-month-old baby, have been found alive in the dense Colombian Amazon rainforest more than two weeks after a plane crash. “Happiness for the country,” said Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro on Twitter on Wednesday. The children of the indigenous Huitoto people were found “after a tedious search by our armed forces”.
Authorities had dispatched more than a hundred soldiers with sniffer dogs to search for the minors who were in a Cessna 206 that crashed on May 1. Three adult occupants died in the crash, including the mother of four children.
Children probably pulled through the jungle
The rescue workers assume that the four, nine and 13-year-old children with the eleven-month-old baby have been moving through the jungle in the southern department of Caqueta since the accident. According to the army, the search was intensified again on Wednesday morning after the helpers discovered “an improvised shelter made of sticks and twigs”, which indicated at least one survivor.
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A pair of scissors and a hair band were seen on the jungle floor in photos released by the armed forces. Previously, they had already found a vial and half-eaten fruit.
“Operation Hope” successful in Colombia
Soldiers found the bodies of the pilot and two other adults on Monday and Tuesday. They had come by plane from San José del Guaviare, one of the larger cities in the Colombian Amazon rainforest.
Huge trees that can grow up to 40 meters high, wild animals and heavy rains had made the search called “Operation Hope” difficult. Three helicopters were deployed – one of which played over a loudspeaker a message spoken by the children’s grandmother in the Huitoto language, urging them to stop moving as they were being searched for.
Children probably knew their way around the jungle
The Huitoto indigenous people are known for living in harmony with the jungle and for their skills in hunting, fishing and wild fruit gathering. This may have helped the children survive more than two weeks alone.
Exploitation, disease and assimilation have greatly reduced the Huitoto population over many decades.
Cause of plane crash still unclear
The cause of the plane crash was still unclear. The pilot had reported engine problems before his plane disappeared from radar, according to the Colombian Civil Protection Agency.
Roads are few in the region and access via rivers is also difficult, making airplanes the mode of transport of choice.