Jungle rescue after 40 days: children first have to get used to solid food again

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Exhausted but happy and well, the children who were missing for 40 days in the Colombian jungle were reunited with their families at a military hospital in Bogotá on Saturday. Grandfather Fidencio Valencia reported on Saturday that he had visited his four grandchildren in hospital. “You are full of life. Even though they are very exhausted, I know they are in good hands,” said the 47-year-old. The children are happy to see their families again.

Defense Minister Iván Velásquez, who also visited the children with President Gustavo Petro on Saturday, said the four were “a little concerned about having so many people around, but they are recovering.” It was “a great pleasure to see her like this”.

The children were dehydrated when they were rescued and could not yet eat solid food, the defense minister said. In general, their health status is “acceptable”, they are “out of danger”. Apart from some skin injuries and insect bites, they have not suffered any external damage, according to an army doctor. The children now have to gradually get used to solid food again and stay in the hospital for about two to three weeks.

The mother did not survive the crash

Two of the children had celebrated their birthdays in the jungle: the youngest, Cristin, was one year old, her brother Tien Noriel was five. The other brother is nine years old, the eldest girl 13. The pastor lavishly praised the eldest, Lesly: “It is thanks to her and her leadership that the other three survived, thanks to her care and knowledge of the jungle.

The children were found in the jungle after weeks of searching on Friday and then taken to Bogotá by helicopter and plane.

On May 1, a small plane carrying the children, their mother and two other adults on board crashed over the Amazon rainforest in southern Colombia. The adults died in the crash, the children miraculously survived. The machine and the bodies of the adults were discovered two weeks after the crash.

Diapers, chewed fruit, footprints

Since then, teams from the army and indigenous people have been searching for the children, supported by sniffer dogs. According to the army, the rescuers traveled more than 2,650 kilometers through the jungle. The emergency services never lost hope as they found a baby bottle, scissors, shoes, diapers, chewed fruit, footprints and emergency shelter.

General Pedro Sánchez, who led the search, credited the indigenous people involved in the rescue with having found the children. At the request of the children’s father, Sánchez becomes godfather to the youngest child, little Cristin. “It’s an honor for me,” the visibly moved man said on local television.

“They are children of the bush”

The children belong to the indigenous people of the Huitoto or Witoto. “They are children of the bush,” said grandfather Valencia. They would know how to survive in the jungle. First, his grandchildren ate some of the flour that was still on board. Then they would have fed on seeds.

Meanwhile, the search continues: a few days ago, the involved tracking dog, Wilson, disappeared. Astrid Caceres, head of Colombian family welfare, reports that after visiting the children, the sheepdog apparently tracked down and sometimes accompanied the children before disappearing. “The search is not over yet. Our policy: We leave no one behind,” the Army’s Twitter account read under a photo of Wilson on Saturday. (AFP/jmh)

Source: Blick