Six weeks after a plane crashed four indigenous children have miraculously been found alive in the Amazon jungle.
Siblings, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and Cristin - who turned one during their ordeal in Colombia - were travelling in a light aircraft on May 1 when the incident occurred. It is believed the plane went down after suffering engine failure.
The crash subsequently killed the children's mother Magdalena Mucutui Valencia, as well as the pilot and an indigenous leader. As reported by the Mirror, the accident sparked a massive rescue and recovery mission from Colombian authorities in the south east of the country.
This included soldiers scouring the forest canopy for signs of life as scent hounds tracked the ground below, gripping footage showed. Now, military in the South American country say the youngsters from the Uitoto Indigenous group have been found alive.
All four are said to be dehydrated and covered in insect bites, but in otherwise good condition, according to BNO News. President Gustavo Petro told the press upon his return to the country that the children are an "example of survival", adding their story "will remain in history."
"'A joy for the whole country!" he declared on Twitter. "The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle appeared alive."
A grandfather of the four told broadcaster AFP he was grateful to the army for helping to locate them, adding "Yes, the children have been found, but I need a flight or a helicopter to go and get them urgently."
Their grandmother later told Noticias Caracol: "I never lost hope, I was always supporting the search. I feel very happy, I thank President Petro and my 'countrymen' who went through so many difficulties."
The kids' trauma began on the morning of 1 May when their Cessna 206 airplane left an area of the jungle known as Araracuara, bound for the town of San Jose del Guaviare in the Colombian Amazon. But within minutes of their 217-mile journey the pilot reported problems with the engine and the plane soon disappeared from radars.
Soldiers found the bodies of the three missing adults amongst debris two weeks later, however there was no sign of the children. They stepped up their efforts to find them, however, with 150 officers with dogs deployed in the area made up of dense vegetation.
Three helicopters were also dispatched, one of which blasted out a recorded message from the grandmother in their native Huitoto tongue, asking them to stop moving through the jungle. Rescuers later came across some of the children's belongings including a baby's drinking bottle, shoes and scissors near a makeshift shelter.
Then on Friday, June 9, the country's military shared pictures on Twitter showing a group of soldiers and volunteers posing with the kids, who had been wrapped in thermal blankets. The images were captioned: "The union of our efforts made this possible".
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