Missing children missed 200 meters – Colombian armed forces raise hope Swiss operation “Ninja Turtle” has exposed thousands of pedophiles worldwide

It’s been almost a month since a small plane carrying seven people crashed over the Colombian jungle. While the bodies of the three adults have already been recovered, the four children are still missing. And although they are only 13, 9, 4 and one years old, there is evidence that they are still alive almost four weeks after the crash.

New songs give hope

More than 100 military forces have been searching for the missing children in the jungle for 24 days as part of “Operation Hope”. They even have hope: as the armed forces announced on Tuesday, they discovered a small footprint last Sunday. According to the secret service, this may not be older than 48 hours, reports the Colombian newspaper El Colombiano. The armed forces suspect that the footprint belongs to 13-year-old Lesly.

All in all, this is the third footprint and tenth clue for the children that the armed forces have found. All three footprints are said to belong to minors. While the earlier footprints found were smaller and likely from slippers, the most recent traces showed the imprint of a bare foot.

The armed forces also discovered wild fruits near the footprints, which they say serve as a source of food for the minors.

Kids missed 200 meters away

The search had recently been intensified with satellite imagery and new personnel. A total of 200 armed forces and indigenous groups are now searching for the missing children. In recent days, they discovered several possible clues. Objects such as tennis shoes, a cell phone case and a milk cup lid were found near the crash site. Two diapers were also discovered, one used.

“We think we got within 200 to 300 yards of them”, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo quoted the Supreme Commander for Special Operations of the Armed Forces, Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez as saying. According to Sánchez, however, the jungle between Caquetá and Guaviare is so dense that you can’t see further than 20 meters. In addition, it rains 16 hours a day, which makes the search for clues even more difficult.

Sánchez is convinced that the children are still alive. He told Colombia Hoy Radio:

New use of light and sound objects

The armed forces also share their optimism on Twitter and report on new strategies:

The satellites can detect heat and take pictures up to 30 centimeters above the ground. They simplify the search of the armed forces, who have already covered a distance of 1250 kilometers, according to the newspaper El País.

On Monday they also announced that they would place visual and acoustic objects at strategic points. This way the children could find their way to the army instead of being found by them. Powered by electricity generators, the new devices will run both day and night and can be seen and heard at distances of more than 500 metres.

Loudspeakers are still used to convey a message from the grandmother in her native language.

Already safe?

Theories are circulating that the children may have fallen into the hands of dissidents of the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla movement. According to “El Colombiano”, the authorities consider this unlikely.

Another possibility is that the children were found by an uncontacted indigenous community. This would make it more difficult to solve the case, as the law prohibits contacting these communities.

However, based on the evidence found, the authorities believe that the children are still making their way through the jungle on their own.

crash a month ago

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

The children belong to the indigenous Huitoto community and, according to media reports, traveled with their mother to the capital Bogotá, where their father had fled after constant threats from armed groups.

With material from the SDA and DPA news agencies.