Four young siblings, including an infant, have defied all odds, emerging alive from Colombia's dense jungle after enduring a harrowing plane crash.
Colombian authorities dedicated over a month to an exhaustive search and rescue operation, which ultimately culminated in a jubilant discovery. Soldiers discovered the children, aged 13, 9, 4, and merely 11 months old, miraculously alive, albeit in a weakened state. Skilled combat medics are currently attending to their needs, and a full recovery is anticipated for all.
From BBC:
Colombia's president said the rescue of the siblings, aged 13, nine, four and one, was "a joy for the whole country".
The children's mother and two pilots were killed when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on 1 May.
The missing children became the focus of a huge rescue operation involving dozens of soldiers and local people.
President Gustavo Petro said finding the group was a "magical day", adding: "They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history."
The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group. Mr Petro shared a photograph of several members of the military and Indigenous community caring for the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days.
One of the rescuers held a bottle up to the mouth of the smallest child, while another fed one of the other children from a mug with a spoon.
A video shared by Colombia's ministry of defence showed the children being lifted into a helicopter in the dark above the tall trees of the jungle. They have been flown to the nation's capital Bogota, where ambulances have taken them to hospital for further medical treatment.
The children's grandmother, Fatima Valencia, said after their rescue: "I am very grateful, and to mother earth as well, that they were set free."
IIt is truly a miraculous feat that these boys managed to survive against all odds.
Despite the heartbreaking loss of their mother in the plane crash, her teachings on food preparation and identifying safe plants/fruits to consume played a crucial role in their survival.
I'm sure her soul can rest easy now, knowing that her boys made it out safely.
