+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Cassava flour and fruit kept 4 kids alive for 40 days after plane crash in Colombia's jungle

Jun 11, 2023, 07:34 IST
Insider
Military personnel unload from a plane one of four Indigenous children who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle.AP Photo/John Vizcaino
  • The crash happened on May 1 after the pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure.
  • Three adults on the plane were killed and their bodies were found in the area.
Advertisement

Four Indigenous children survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive by Colombian soldiers, bringing a happy ending to a search-and-rescue saga that captivated a nation and forced the usually opposing military and Indigenous people to work together.

Cassava flour and some familiarity with the rainforest's fruits were key to the children's extraordinary survival in an area where snakes, mosquitoes, and other animals abound. The members of the Huitoto people, aged 13, 9, and 4 years and 11 months, are expected to remain for a minimum of two weeks at a hospital receiving treatment after their rescue Friday.

Family members, President Gustavo Petro, and government and military officials met the children Saturday at the hospital in Bogota, the capital. Defense Minister Iván Velásquez told reporters that the children were being rehydrated and could not eat yet.

"But in general, the condition of the children is acceptable," Velásquez said. They were traveling with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare when the plane crashed in the early hours of May 1.

The Cessna single-engine propeller plane was carrying three adults and the four children when the pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure. The small aircraft fell off the radar a short time later, and a search for survivors began.

Advertisement

A soldier stands in front of the wreckage of a Cessna C206 that crashed in the jungle of Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia. The discovery of footprints on May 30 of a small foot rekindled the hope of finding the children alive after their plane crashed on May 1. Soldiers found the wreckage and the bodies of three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother.Colombia's Armed Force Press Office via AP

"When the plane crashed, they took out (of the wreckage) a fariña, and with that, they survived," the children's uncle, Fidencio Valencia told reporters outside the hospital. Fariña is a cassava flour that people eat in the Amazon region.

"After the fariña ran out, they began to eat seeds," Valencia said.

The timing was in the children's favor. Astrid Cáceres, head of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, said the youngsters could eat fruit because "the jungle was in harvest."

An air force video released Friday showed a helicopter using lines to pull the youngsters up because it couldn't land in the dense rainforest where they were found. On Friday, The military tweeted pictures of soldiers and volunteers posing with the children, who were wrapped in thermal blankets. One of the soldiers held a bottle to the smallest child's lips.

Military personnel unload from a plane one of four Indigenous children who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle.AP Photo/John Vizcaino

Gen. Pedro Sanchez, who was in charge of the rescue efforts, said the children were found 3 miles from the crash site in a small forest clearing. He said rescue teams had passed within 20 to 50 meters of where the children were found on several occasions but had missed them.

Advertisement

"The minors were already very weak," Sanchez said. "And surely their strength was only enough to breathe or reach a small fruit to feed themselves or drink a drop of water in the jungle."

Petro called the children an "example of survival" and predicted their saga "will remain in history."

Two weeks after the crash, on May 16, a search team found the plane in a thick patch of the rainforest and recovered the bodies of the three adults on board, but the small children were nowhere to be found.

Sensing that they could be alive, Colombia's army stepped up the hunt and flew 150 soldiers with dogs into the area, where mist and thick foliage greatly limited visibility. Dozens of volunteers from Indigenous tribes also joined the search.

General Pedro Sanchez, the commander of the joint command of special operations of the military forces, welcomes Indigenous people the airport in San Jose del Guaviare, Colombia, Sunday, May 21, 2023, after they arrived to help in the search of four Indigenous children who are missing after a deadly plane crash. The May 30 discovery of footprints of a small foot rekindled the hope of finding the children alive after their plane crashed on May 1. Soldiers found the wreckage and the bodies of three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother.AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

Soldiers on helicopters dropped boxes of food into the jungle, hoping it would help sustain the children. Planes flying over the area fired flares to help search crews on the ground at night, and rescuers used speakers that blasted a message recorded by the siblings' grandmother telling them to stay in one place.

Advertisement

The announcement of their rescue came shortly after President Gustavo Petro signed a cease-fire with representatives of the National Liberation Army rebel group. In line with his government's messaging highlighting his efforts to end internal conflicts, he stressed the joint work of the military and Indigenous communities to find the children.

"The meeting of knowledge: indigenous and military," he tweeted. "Here is a different path for Colombia: I believe that this is the true path of Peace."

Damaris Mucutuy, an aunt of the children, told a radio station that "the children are fine" despite being dehydrated and with insect bites. She added that the children had been offered mental health services.

Cáceres told reporters officials agreed with the children's relatives to allow for "spiritual work" at the jungle and the hospital " if there was no immediate emergency action" needed. She said musicians and musical instruments relevant to the children's culture would be allowed in the hospital.

Soldiers and Indigenous men pose for a photo with the four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash, in the Solano jungle, Caqueta state, Colombia, Friday, June 9, 2023. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday that authorities found alive the four children who survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the Amazon jungle. (Colombia's Armed Force Press Office via AP

Officials praised the courage of the eldest of the children, a girl, who they said had some knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest and led the children through the ordeal.

Advertisement

Before their rescue, rumors swirled about their whereabouts. So much so that on May 18, Petro tweeted that the children had been found. He then deleted the message, claiming a government agency had misinformed him.

The children told officials they spent time with a dog, but it went missing. That was a rescue dog that soldiers took into the jungle. As of Saturday, the military was still looking for the dog, a Belgian Shepherd named Wilson.

Petro said that for a while, he had believed the children were rescued by one of the nomadic tribes that still roam the remote area where the plane fell and have little contact with authorities.

As the search progressed, soldiers found small clues that led them to believe the children were still alive, including footprints, a baby bottle, diapers, and pieces of fruit that looked like humans had bitten them.

"The jungle saved them," Petro said. "They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia."

Advertisement
You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article