Lost children survive jungle ordeal - 21st June 2023

After 40 days in a dense, inhospitable part of the Amazon rainforest in Colombia, four missing children have been discovered, following a plane crash on the 1st May. The children, who'd been flying in a light aircraft together with three adults, were recovered after an intense rescue operation.

The pilot and the other passenger were killed on impact, but the children's mother died four days later. The youngsters, aged 13, 9, 5, and 1, embarked on a journey to find safety through the rainforest, a hostile environment teeming with dangerous and deadly animals.

The children are members of the indigenous Huitoto community and Lesly, the eldest, masterfully called on skills passed down by her Huitoto grandmother, knowledge which ultimately ensured their survival. Tracking the course of the river to guarantee a fresh water supply, Lesly also differentiated between edible and lethal plant and seed food sources.

Henry Guerrero was in the Huitoto search party which ultimately located the group.

Henry Guerrero: "The one who directed everything in the 40 days was the eldest. She was very intelligent, because when we checked the briefcase, we checked what she was carrying. She took the tent, towel, camping equipment, she took a torch with a couple of batteries, but it was already dead, the two mobile phones, with what they were sometimes distracted at night, a music box and the bottles of soda."

Together with the Huitoto rescue missions, the Colombian military conducted searches, deploying army canine units. One dog kept the children company for the last four days of their ordeal, prior to vanishing.

Guerrero updated the media on the condition of the youngsters at the point of rescue, having spent nearly six weeks in the wild.

Henry Guerrero: "When we found them, it was really a great happiness. They were a little bit malnourished. But what we admired about the four minors, apart from the baby who does not speak, was that she had not lost consciousness. They remembered everything."

After being transferred to a Bogota hospital, the four children are now being kept under careful medical supervision, but are soon to be reunited with their father.