Four children who went missing in the Amazon after a plane crash in Columbia early last month managed to stay alive by behaving like “children of the jungle,” according to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
“Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them. They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” the president told reporters Friday, as reported by CNN.
They’re also very lucky children.
The four children — Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13; Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9; Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4; and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy — were the lone survivors of a May 1st plane crash that left their mother and two other people, including the pilot, deceased.
BREAKING: Four children missing since a May 1st plane crash in the Amazon jungle have just been found alive
Truly a miracle pic.twitter.com/3R4k9QGVIm
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 9, 2023
After the crash, they disappeared into the Amazon as Columbian special forces troops and indigenous scouts teamed up to search for them.
“For weeks, the search turned up only tantalizing clues, including footprints, a dirty diaper and a bottle. Family members said the oldest child had some experience in the forest, but hopes waned as the weeks went on,” CNN notes.
How did the kids survive? Partly through Lesly’s ingenuity.
“Thirteen-year-old Lesly built camps using hair ribbons to keep her three younger siblings safe while they were lost in the Amazon jungle for six weeks,” the Daily Mail reported after speaking with Lesly’s aunt and grandmother.
The aunt said Lesly used to play a “survival game” before the crash and must have really paid attention, because she wound up using many of the skills gleaned from the game to help her and her siblings survive.
“When we played, we set up like little camps. [Lesly] knew what fruits she can’t eat because there are many poisonous fruits in the forest. And she knew how to take care of a baby,” the aunt said.
“She gave them flour and cassava bread, any fruit in the bush. They know what they must consume,” their grandmother, Fatima Valencia, added.
According to CNN, the authorities were eventually able to find the children after they heard crying from the infant.
“They were very weak. We could find them by listening to the cries of the youngest one, but they were really tired. They were no longer on the move like in the first few weeks,” indigenous leader Lucho Acosta told the outlet.
Another photo of the children that survived the plane crash has been released pic.twitter.com/SH2APwI1js
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 10, 2023
The children’s rescue comes after days and days and days of searching.
According to reports, the rescuers were deployed after the pilot of the downed flight called for help due to an engine failure. The rescuers eventually found the plane and dead bodies, but the children were long gone by then.
For the next few weeks, the rescuers — 150 soldiers and 200 locals — reportedly combed through an area of roughly 125 square miles in search of the children.
At one point, the rescuers almost gave up.
“As the days stretched into weeks, and the weeks into a second month, some in Colombia began to wonder if they were deluding themselves,” according to The Guardian.
“Some of the rescuers went home, a combined command headquarters was dismantled. But a little more than a week before their discovery, Brigadier General Pedro Sanchez said he was convinced the children were alive, because bodies would be easier to find than a small group who were moving through the forest,” The Guardian reported Saturday.
“This isn’t a search for a needle in a haystack. It’s a tiny flea in a vast carpet because they keep moving. Their bodies haven’t appeared, and I’m sure that we would have already found them if they were dead,” Sanchez had reportedly told reporters.
Miracle in the Amazon: Four children aged 13, nine, four and 12 months are found ALIVE deep in the Colombian jungle FORTY DAYS after surviving plane crash that killed all the adults on board – kids are malnourished and insect-bitten but otherwise OK#miracles ##Crash #Amazon pic.twitter.com/jucGtPmbVo
— WORLD MONITOR (@ZeusKingOfTwitt) June 10, 2023
The rescue finally came last week.
“[O]n Friday, about 4pm local time, army radios crackled into life. ‘Miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle.’ It was the army code for a child found alive; repeated four times it meant all four had survived, in a remarkable feat of resilience,” according to The Guardian.
The children were found malnourished and covered in insect bites, but otherwise OK.
According to Sanchez, the search finally came to an end after his team had already scoured over 1,600 miles of the Amazon.
“The men walked 10 metres apart. In virgin forest, with trees 40 or 50 metres high, where the sun barely reaches the forest floor, a man can lose himself within 20 or 30 metres. If someone is separated, the forest swallows them up,” he said.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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