Military operation in Colombia: lights and loudspeakers in the search for children in the jungle

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With the help of visual and acoustic objects placed at strategic points, the siblings aged 13, 9, 4 and one year must find their way to the search groups, the armed forces announced on Monday (local time). Floodlights and loudspeakers are used, among other things, to convey the grandmother’s voice in her native language.

The siblings crashed in the Cessna 206 propeller plane in Caquetá department on May 1. Her mother, the pilot and an indigenous leader were killed in the accident. On May 18, soldiers searching for the children found a makeshift shelter made of leaves and branches, as well as half-eaten fruit.

More than 500 meters visibility

The new devices, which are powered by electricity generators, will operate both day and night and can be seen and heard at distances of more than 500 meters, it said Monday.

The search dubbed “Operation Hope” has recently intensified with satellite imagery and new personnel. There have been several possible clues to the children in recent days. Items such as tennis shoes, diapers, a cell phone case and a milk cup lid were found near the crash site.

Dense jungle

“We believe we have come within 200 to 300 meters of them,” the Colombian newspaper “El Tiempo” was quoted as saying by the Supreme Commander for Special Operations of the Armed Forces, Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez. However, according to “El Tiempo”, the jungle between Caquetá and Guaviare is so dense that “you can’t see more than 20 meters and the sun’s rays can hardly be seen through the trees”.

The children belong to an indigenous community and, according to media reports, were on their way with their mother to the capital Bogotá, where their father had fled after constant threats from armed groups. Their knowledge of the region may have helped them survive in the jungle after the crash. (SDA)

Source: Blick