Four children survived a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon jungle and were found alive on Friday, June 9. After the crash on May 1, the three adults traveling with them died, including their mother.
The plane was found 15 days after the accident, but there was no sign of the children. Immediately the rescue effort began with the cooperation of 120 military personnel and 70 indigenous people. The weather and jungle conditions made the rescue difficult in one of the least explored areas of the world.
Pedro Sanchez, commander of the Colombian Special Operations Command, explained that the search for the children Lesly (13 years old), Soleiny (9 years old), Tien (4 years old) and Cristin (1 year old), started with three hypotheses: the children were alive and lost in the jungle, they had died or the FARC had found them.
Knowledge of the jungle saved them
The first transmission after the rescue was: “Miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle”. This was the code they agreed to mention for each child they found alive. The media immediately replicated the message, a miracle, after all they had survived 40 days in a hostile environment.
However, Alex Rufino, an indigenous expert, told the BBC that the word miracle expresses the ignorance of the indigenous world. He instead says that the children were protected by the jungle, although he recognizes that they were vulnerable to food shortages and other factors, such as animals that inhabit this area.
The children’s father, Manuel Ranoque, also mentioned the trust in the jungle. He confirms that nature has never betrayed him, considering it an entity with a life of its own.
They survived by eating wild fruits
The children are part of the indigenous community and say their knowledge of the jungle helped them survive. Lesly, the oldest child, was the leader during these days, helped by the knowledge passed on by her parents and her community. These children learn from an early age to perform tasks such as collecting fruits, which helps them to understand which are safe to eat and which are not, they also perform survival practices.
The first few days they fed themselves with cassava flour that they found on board the plane, but they also collected wild fruits, seeds, roots and plants. Familiarity with the jungle helped them to find water, however, with the dangers, fatigue and fear, what they found to feed themselves was not enough and after 40 days they were dehydrated and with nutritional deficiencies.
According to the father’s initial statements, the mother was alive for four days and before she died, she said, “Go,” in an attempt to keep them alive. However, the grandfather claims that the children said the mother died on impact as did the other passengers. The conflicting information is attributed to the confusion of the children, who have not wanted to talk much since they were found.
Strategy in a hostile place
The place where the plane crashed is a dense, dark jungle with trees that can reach 40 meters tall. It is an unexplored area where humidity, mosquitoes, cold and frequent rain abound. Access is limited, there are no roads and it is complicated through the rivers. The inhabitants of the few communities usually travel by small plane.
One of the biggest dangers is the animals; this is a natural corridor for anacondas, jaguars and wart snakes — one of the most venomous snakes in the Americas. Added to this is the presence of FARC rebels.
The children’s grandmother recorded a message that was played over loudspeakers to try to make the children listen to a familiar voice in Spanish and in their native indigenous language. She encouraged them to stay in one place.
According to the grandfather, the children hid in trees when they heard noises. Fear of countless threats such as armed rebels and sleep deprivation, hunger and the constant noise of the jungle caused the children to run away from the voices of rescuers.
Wilson the rescue dog
Rescuers found evidence in the first few days that the children were still alive: traces of chewed fruit, a diaper, a makeshift shelter and a baby bottle. Later, they found an important clue: the footprints of one of the children next to the footprints of a dog, which they presumed to be those of Wilson — one of the rescue dogs that had got lost days earlier while scouring the area.
The children were found 5 kilometers from the plane crash, although the distance they covered could have been greater as they walked in circles. Apparently, Wilson, a six-year-old Belgian shepherd, accompanied them part of the way, but due to adverse weather and terrain, added to hunger, he became disoriented and wandered away from the children.
Rescuers are still searching for the canine after the rescue of the children. General Helder Giraldo, commander of the Armed Forces, said that a fallen comrade is never abandoned.
The physical condition of the children
According to Guerrero, the children were found with two small bags containing a towel, some clothes, a flashlight, a plastic bottle, two cell phones and a music box. The bottle was used to collect water from the jungle.
The first rescuer to arrive at the improvised shelter they had built recalled that the 13-year-old girl approached him with the baby in her arms and told him she was hungry. But for medical reasons they could not consume food immediately. The process of incorporating meals is done gradually.
Medical reports reveal that the children are out of danger and in an acceptable condition, although with nutritional deficiencies and some skin lesions from insect bites. The children’s indigenous origin allowed them to have some immunity against jungle diseases.
Before being transferred to the hospital, members of the indigenous community also performed a ritual, to “purify and free them,” following indigenous beliefs about the spirits of the jungle and the steps they must take for the children to continue their journey to safety.
The accident
The pilot of the aircraft reported a problem with the engine before the Cessna 206 aircraft disappeared from radars. According to the newspaper El País, the airplane (1982) had presented problems in June 2021 due to loss of engine power and during the repair the manufacturer was not consulted in order to save costs.
In June 2022, it had received the most recent certificate of airworthiness.
The family was traveling to meet the father, an indigenous leader, who had fled a few days earlier after receiving threats from illegal armed groups. The children’s father expressed his fear during the operation, he considered that they could be one of the biggest threats to the children as it is common for indigenous families in the area to be displaced by threats from armed groups.
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