Four children who survived a plane crash last month have been rescued alive from the Amazon rainforest, the Colombian authorities said. This brings an intense 40-day-long search operation named “Operation Hope” (Operación Esperanza) to an end.
The rescued siblings were alone and malnourished when the rescue team found them.
Taking to Twitter, Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia shared a photo of the rescued siblings and the rescue team as he wrote, “A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle found alive.”
During a media interaction, President Petro lauded the rescued children as an “example of survival” adding that their saga will be remembered.
“They’ve given us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” President Petro said.
It is notable that the rescued siblings namely—Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and 11-month-old infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were the only survivors of the tragic plane crash.
The siblings rescued from the forest belonged to the Huitoto Indigenous community. Despite being malnourished, none of the children were in critical condition, including the 11-month-old baby.
It has been suggested that because the survivor siblings were members of the indigenous Huitoto community, the education they got from their grandmother may have been helpful in their survival.
The rescued children have now been taken to San Jose de Guaviare for medical and psychological assessments.
The Cessna single-engine propeller plane carrying six passengers and a pilot declared an emergency due to engine failure in the wee hours of May 1.
