40 days in the jungle: how children survived the plane crash in Colombia

An incredible rescue story unfolded in Colombia. There they found alive children who wandered through the jungle for more than a month. The youngest is just one year old. One on one with the wild forest, the kids found themselves after the crash of a light aircraft. How the children managed to survive, the correspondent found out “Izvestia” Alexander Tuzikov.

40 days in the jungles of Colombia. The chances of children to be saved were estimated in fractions of a percent, but mutual assistance and the will to live performed a real miracle.

The military – members of the search operation “Hope” found four children three and a half kilometers from the crash site of a small plane. The mother of the children and the pilots were killed. Relatives, who all this time lived in hope for the impossible, are overwhelmed with emotions.

“We are happy, because this nightmarish situation deprived us of sleep, didn’t let us feel happy, we couldn’t even communicate. We lived in darkness all this time, only the hope of finding them gave us the strength to live. When we found the children, we felt unspeakable joy .We are grateful to God”, said the grandfather of the rescued children, Fidencio Valencia.

“I went through the pain of losing my daughter. After this suffering, now I have the strength to raise my grandchildren so that they grow up and surpass us. I need them, I dream of hugging all four,” said the grandmother of the rescued children, Maria Valencia.

The authorities immediately after the plane crash announced the largest search operation in the recent history of the country. In mid-May, all of Colombia seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after rescuers reported that the missing had been found. But the joy was premature. In the jungle, they found only the remains of eaten fruit and baby food, as well as huts made of leaves and sticks fastened with hair ties. So the older sister – she is 13 years old – made shelters from showers. She took care of her younger brothers: they are 9 years old, 4 years old, and the youngest is only 11 months old. The children were saved by learning skills in indigenous families.

“Four of our minors were the bravest in Colombia. They had neither the equipment nor the technology that we used to use. But their will to live is amazing, they were able to survive in incredible conditions,” – said Pedro Sanchez, commander of the combined forces of special operations of the armed forces of Colombia.

Now the children, terribly dehydrated and bitten by insects, were taken to the capital of Colombia. In Bogota, they will undergo rehabilitation treatment. By the way, the eldest girl turns 14 tomorrow. This miraculous rescue, brighter than Hollywood movie stories, became one of the main gifts to her and her three brothers.

Recall that a Cessna 206 plane with seven people on board crashed in the Colombian department of Caqueta on May 1. The wreckage of the aircraft was reached only two weeks later. Earlier it was reported about the discovery of the bodies of three adult passengers. In mid-May, it was reported that the children had been found, but this information was not confirmed.

Colombian plane crash children found alive 40 days later The children were dehydrated and bitten by insects, but miraculously did not receive serious injuries.