[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]Four children, including an 11-month-old baby, from a Colombian Indigenous hamlet survived a plane crash more than two weeks ago and were discovered alive, President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday.
Petro said on Twitter, “joy for the country,” that the youngsters had been found after “arduous search efforts” by the military.
The plane carrying seven people between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, in Guaviare province, had an engine failure early on May 1.
How did the children survive?
While three adults, including the pilot, were killed in the plane crash, four children, ages 13, 9, and 4, as well as an 11-month-old baby, survived.
On Monday and Tuesday, rescuers discovered the bodies of the adults inside the plane.
According to preliminary information, the youngsters of the Huitoto community survived and ventured into the Amazon rainforest. They subsisted on fruits and fashioned shelters out of logs and branches unearthed by rescuers.
Armed forces said on Wednesday that rescue attempts had been stepped up after traces of their “improvised shelter built with sticks and branches” were discovered.
Armed forces photos showed scissors and a hair tie used by the youngsters and laying in the forest.
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The rescue operation
The hunt for “Operation Hope” was complicated by massive trees that can grow to be 40 metres (131 feet) tall, fear of wild animals, and frequent rain.
The military, firefighters, and civil aviation authority officials worked together to undertake the rescue mission in Colombia’s Caqueta province’s deep Amazon jungle.
Because the area where the plane crashed has few roads and is difficult to reach by river, air travel is popular.
For the hunt, more than 100 soldiers and sniffer dogs were deployed.
One of the three search helicopters hovered over the woods and played a recorded message from the children’s grandma ordering them to halt moving in the jungle.
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