Colombian public television (RTVC News) published, this Sunday, June 11, a video of the moment when the four indigenous children who survived 40 days in the Amazon jungle were found, on Friday, June 9, by rescuers.
(See: How the children who spent 40 days in the Amazon were able to survive).
“The oldest daughter, Lesly, with the youngest in her arms, ran towards me. Lesly said: ‘I’m hungry’“, said Nicolás Ordóñez Gomes, one of the members of the search team.
“One of the two boys was lying down. He got up and told me: ‘My mom is dead’“, he added.
In the images, filmed with a mobile phone, the minors of the Huitoto community appear quite emaciated, the smallest in the arms of one of the rescuers.
(See: Wilson would be alive: jungle operation would end when they find him).
They all look very skinny. The rescuers, members of the indigenous guard, they sing, smoke tobacco (a sacred plant among the natives) and give thanks with joy.
“God never fails us when one really asks for it (…) Faith has put us on the path we wanted“says another indigenous rescuer.
Baby Christin, who completed his first year of life in the middle of the thicket, appears in the arms of one of the indigenous guards who, together with soldiers participated in the search through the wild jungle.
(See: ‘Acceptable conditions’: medical report of the rescued children).
The other three emaciated minors, Lesly (13 years old), Soleiny (9) and Tien Noriel (5), they gather to be flanked by other rescuers, one of them smoking a cigar.
The images released by the Colombian Public Media System also show the children lying down and receiving serum to rehydrate them through teaspoons given by the military.
“We are handing over the children to the Colombian Armed Forces. We have found them at a distance of four and a half km” from the site where the aircraft they were traveling in crashed on May 1, is heard.
(See: The miracle of the Amazon: chronology of the rescue of the 4 brothers).
The children’s mother, an indigenous leader and the pilot died in the accident.
AFP