Children missing for a month in the jungle are “alive” according to the authorities

2023-05-29 21:04:23

Authorities colombian claimed on Monday that the four children who had been missing in the Amazon jungle for almost a month, after the plane crash which transported them and in which their mother and two other adults perished, were “alive”.

The Cessna 206 in which the three children of 4, 9 and 13 years old and an 11-month-old baby were traveling disappeared from radar on May 1 in the vicinity of San José del Guaviare, in the department of Caqueta (south). He was found on May 15 with his nose crushed to the ground in the middle of dense vegetation.

“If they were dead, it would certainly be easy to find them”

The significant search resources deployed made it possible to quickly find several “proofs of life”, including footprints, chewed fruit or a makeshift shelter. On Tuesday, the nearly 200 men mobilized, including soldiers and indigenous indigenous people, discovered a pair of sneakers and a diaper.

“Based on the evidence, we conclude that the children are alive. If they were dead, it would certainly be easy to find them because they would be immobile”, and the sniffer dogs launched in search of them “would guide us”, General Pedro Sanchez told In Radio.

The search around the aircraft wreckage covers an area of ​​approximately 323 square kilometres, three times the area of Paris intra-muros.

The general acknowledges finding it “strange” that the children “do not stop despite the dropping of more than 10,000 leaflets and survival kits” containing food, water and telling them what to do.

Children “accustomed to the jungle”

Pedro Sanchez estimated that his units were within 100 meters or less of the children, but the rains, vegetation and swampy terrain made the search difficult.

According to the children’s grandfather, the eldest of the siblings from an indigenous Uitoto community, is “strong” and “intelligent” and managed to bring her brothers and sisters who are “used to the jungle” to safety. On May 17, President Gustavo Petro announced that the children had been found alive by relaying unconfirmed information and had to retract the next day.