(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama)
Four children who had been lost since May 1 in the jungles of southern Colombia after the plane crash in which they were traveling along with three adults were found alive this Friday, June 9, by soldiers who participated in their search.
" A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle appeared alive ," announced Colombian President Gustavo Petro on his Twitter account, confirming the news announced minutes before by Caracol Radio .
The miracle of survivors are the minors Lesly Mukutuy, 13 years old; Soleiny Mukutuy, 9; Tien Noriel Ronoque Mukutuy, 4, and one-year-old baby Cristin Neruman Ranoque.
The minors, were found in a remote point between the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare where they were searched without rest for weeks by some 200 soldiers, including commandos of the Army Special Forces, and indigenous people from various tribes familiar with the jungle.
As soon as he got off the presidential plane from Havana, where a temporary bilateral ceasefire agreement was signed Friday with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Petro confirmed the news to the country.
"Now that I am back, the first news is that indeed the indigenous communities that were in the search and the Military Forces jointly found the four children alive after 40 days," said Petro.
The Army released several photographs in which the four minors are seen sitting in a clearing in the middle of the jungle, covered with blankets and surrounded by soldiers and indigenous people.
In general, the four are in good health, although they look emaciated and malnourished, after the odyssey they have experienced.
The four children were traveling with their mother, another adult and the pilot of a Cessna 206 plane operated by the Avianline Charter's company that crashed on May 1.
The three adults died in the accident and their bodies were found several days later, but the four children, from an indigenous community, survived.
"They were alone. They achieved an example of survival that will remain in history, so today those children are the children of peace," added the president.
When the plane was found, a gigantic search operation began for the four children, during which the military and indigenous people walked thousands of square kilometers of jungle and made numerous helicopter and airplane flights until they were finally found.
A military helicopter was sent to take them out of the jungle and transfer them to an urban center.