Nearly a hundred indigenous people who know the jungle well They will combine their knowledge and help in the search for the four younger brothers who have been lost for 21 days after a plane crash in southern Colombia, where three adults also died.
Early Sunday morning, a first group of 10 Nukak indigenous people, the original inhabitants of the jungle area where the Cessna 206 plane crashed on May 1, left accompanying the military forces when it was en route from the indigenous reservation of Araracuara and San Jose del Guaviare.
But up to 85 indigenous people are expected to joins “who have experience in the jungle, in the search for people who are lost, in their rescue”the director of the Victims Unit, Patricia Tobón, explained to EFE this Sunday, in San José del Guaviare, from where the search is being conducted and a ritual has been carried out before the groups boarded the helicopter.
“The jungle is not easy, not everyone can live in the jungle, but the indigenous peoples have knowledge and this can help make the rescue operation much more effective,” said Tobón, who explained that right now they are the best to help follow the clues that have been found on the whereabouts of the four children.
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Lesly Mukutuy, 11 years old; Soleiny Mukutuy, 9 years old; Tien Noriel Ronoque Mukutuy, 4, and 11-month-old baby Cristin Neruman Ranoque They have been lost since May 1 in this vast and virgin jungle and the rescue teams have intensified the search efforts since last Tuesday with the bodies of the three adults who traveled with them: their mother, Magdalena Mukutuy; the indigenous leader Hermán Mendoza and the pilot of the aircraft, Hernando Murcia.
support with knowledge
In this way, the indigenous missions will accompany the 150 members of the public force, who continue to advance with technology by air and land, but where the indigenous people contribute their ancestral knowledge of the territory and spiritual traditions and can also mediate with uncontacted communities in this vast jungle
“It is a territory where there are uncontacted indigenous peoples. It is the Chiribiquete conservation area, which is a jungle that continues to be a virgin jungle”explained Tobón, who does not rule out that precisely the children may have reached one of these remote Nukak communities.
This reinforces the so-called “Operation Hope” that seeks to “locate the four minors as soon as possible,” according to the Military Forces, who do not want to rest until they locate the minors.
The Cessna 206 plane crashed in the middle of a lush part of the virgin jungle of Caquetá, when it was making the route from Araracuara and San José del Guaviare, and it was the first flight that the family, coming from a Uitoto indigenous community, had taken and They were going to visit the father of two of the children.
The aircraft was not tampered with
The Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil), which coordinates the search missions together with the Military Forces, also reported that three investigators have already been in the area of the accident.
The plane, from the private flight company Avianline Charter’s, had already suffered an accident in the past, when it served as an ambulance plane.
“It is clear that the aircraft was not tampered with”the director of Aerocivil, Sergio París, told the media in San José del Guaviare, who believes that the pilot, who died in the accident, “did a perfect tree-planting operation.”
“The aircraft was not tampered with and that is a certainty that will be given as the investigation progresses,” said París.