Four children who survived a plane crash on May 1 in the Guaviare forest in southern Colombia were found alive. “We found them all alive,” the military told the national government. The four brothers, huitoto indigenous – Lesly Mucutuy aged 13, Soleiny Mucutuy of nine, You have Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy of four and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy a year old – wandered for 40 days in the jungle after the crash of the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling with their mother, pilot and one other person. All three adults died and their bodies were found by the military at the crash site.
More than 200 men from the armed forces and from various indigenous tribes who know the area took part in the searches. In the forest the rescuers had gradually found clues of the passage of the children: traces of a hut made of leaves, recent footprints and some objects including scissors, a pair of tennis shoes, a towel and a diaper. And in the end they found them, in a remote spot between the departments of Caqueta and Guaviare, not far from where the plane had crashed. They are fine, even though they are obviously undernourished and weak.
“A joy for the whole country! The four children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle are alive”, the Colombian president announced on his Twitter profile Gustavo Petro confirming the news given in the first instance by various media who spoke of a “miracle”.
“Yes, the children have been found, but I need a flight or a helicopter to pick them up urgently,” said the children’s grandfather hotly. Fidencio Valencia.
The head of state then admitted that the four little brothers are “debilitated and it is necessary to wait for the doctors’ evaluations. The need to switch to a different diet” compared to that of the days spent “in the forest could lead to complications” and it is also necessary to understand “what mental state are they in”.
From the place where the children were found, they were taken by helicopter to the unified command post in the nearest San Jose Guaviare, where medical personnel must assess their conditions, before being transferred to Bogota.
“From Operation Hope to Operation Miracle. Many congratulations to the military forces and to those who have not lost hope and worked day and night to make the miracle possible”, commented the defense minister Ivan Velasquez.