Two indigenous children aged 7 and 9 have been found suffering from severe malnutrition after spending 25 days lost in the Amazon jungle in Brazil and eating only wild fruits.
The children named Glaucon and Gleison were found on Tuesday by a relative “35 km from the place where they had disappeared” suffering from “severe malnutrition and dehydration”, declared Friday to AFP Januario Carneiro da Cunha Neto, coordinator of the special indigenous health district (DSEI) of Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas where the children had disappeared.
Hospitalized, “they are now regaining weight and their lives are not in danger,” he added.
Screenshot/Reuters images
The two brothers of the Mura ethnic group had been missing since February 18, when they had gone to hunt birds in the jungle, in the municipality of Manicore, 330 km from Manaus.
During their stay in the jungle, “they drank only rainwater and lakes, and ate sorva” (sorbus domestica), a fruit high in carbohydrates and fats, said Carneiro da Cunha Neto .
Rosinete da Silva Carvalho, mother of the children and their ten siblings, told the local press that ‘they used to eat sorva, because my eldest son always took a bag when he went hunting “.
Screenshot/Reuters images
Footage released by local media shows the children extremely emaciated after their rescue.
Their discovery is the result of chance, because the official search had been suspended a week after their disappearance.
“An acquaintance of the family who went to look for firewood ended up finding the children by chance,” said the DSEI coordinator.
During the long days of trying unsuccessfully to find their way home, the eldest child, Gleison, looked after his younger brother, carrying him on his back when he was too exhausted from lack of food and of water.
This adventure is reminiscent of that experienced in early 2021 by a pilot, Antonio Sena, who survived 38 days lost in the Brazilian Amazon after the crash of his tourist plane.