New details emerge from the children who survived in the jungle of Colombia

The four indigenous children who survived 40 days in the Colombian Amazon jungle after the plane they were traveling in crashed have shared some harrowing details of their ordeal, including the fact that their mother remained alive for several days after the crash.

The woman, the pilot of the aircraft and another adult perished in the tragedy.

The children aged 13, 9, 4 and 1 are expected to spend at least two weeks at the Military Hospital in Bogotá receiving treatment after their rescue on Friday, although some are already talking and want to go for a walk, according to relatives.

Manuel Ranoque, father of the two youngest children, told reporters outside the hospital that he was told by Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, the eldest of them, that their mother remained alive for four days after the plane crashed in the Colombian jungle on 1 of May.

Ranoque testified that the mother would have told her: “go away”, in an apparent allusion to leaving the scene of the accident and trying to survive. He did not offer further details.

The small Cesna C206 plane, which was on the Araracuara-San José del Guavaire route, crashed in the jungle area, after the pilot reported an engine failure. The aircraft was located two weeks later with the three adult occupants dead, but the minors were not found at the scene.

This triggered a widespread search, which had a happy ending on Friday with the rescue of the four little brothers.

On Sunday, General Carlos Rincón, a doctor at the hospital, explained that the health situation of the minors was “stable”, while Defense Minister Iván Velásquez said that the infants were being hydrated.

Fidencio Valencia, the children’s uncle, told Colombian outlet Noticias Caracol on Sunday that the minors are beginning to speak and that one of them mentioned that while they were in the jungle they hid in the trunks of trees to protect themselves.

Also, that they were exhausted and with their clothes torn. The uncle added that the minors are already receiving some food at the hospital.

Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, another uncle, told Noticias Caracol that one of the children told him that he wanted to start walking even though his feet hurt. “The only thing I told him was ‘when you recover, we’re going to play soccer,'” he said.

Authorities and relatives said on Saturday that the children survived eating cassava flour and seeds, and that a certain familiarity with the fruits of the jungle was also key to resisting in that area of ​​the Colombian Amazon that has snakes, mosquitoes and other animals. The children are members of the Huitoto indigenous group.

Henry Guerrero, an indigenous man from Araracuara who participated in the search, told the press outside the hospital that the children spent the last few days in a shelter armed “with an awning,” a towel, and a piece of tent. He explained that they had a flashlight, two cell phones that probably served them to distract themselves in the first nights before running out of battery, a music box, and a bottle of soda.

The brothers also found one of the food rations that the military dropped from the air, added the indigenous man. He explained that they also ate palm seeds and other wild fruits.

In addition, the children listened to the messages given by the grandmother transmitted in their indigenous dialect by the search units, although it was difficult for the minors to orient themselves in the middle of the jungle, he added.

Before finding them, rescuers found one of Lesly’s shoes, which led them to believe that the children had stopped walking due to exhaustion, Guerrero said.

He stressed that Lesly led the journey during those 40 days and that “she was very intelligent.”

On Sunday afternoon, public television exclusively broadcast the first images of the moment in which the indigenous guard found the children, who were later handed over to the Armed Forces.

The video shows one of the girls, 9-year-old Soleiny, under an awning, while Leslie and Tien stand in the shade of a tree, with one of the guards hugging them. Meanwhile, another person holds Cristin in his arms, who turned one year old while he was in the jungle.

Later you can see how the children receive water and attention on a plastic or part of what would be a tent.

Adriana Velásquez, deputy director of the Family Welfare Institute, told the same outlet that the brothers “are fine” and in the midst of an “extraordinary” recovery process, although she revealed that Cristin’s recovery will be gradual and she is “in intermediate care.” . The official also highlighted the connection and unity between the brothers.

In the midst of tears, José Rubio, one of the leaders of the indigenous guards, declared on public television that he waged a spiritual war with a being of nature in order to obtain the return of his brothers.

After being rescued on Friday, the children were transported by helicopter to Bogotá and then to the military hospital, where relatives, President Gustavo Petro, as well as government and military officials, met with them on Saturday.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.