On the Foreign Scene
In what has been described as one of the greatest miracles in recent times, four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest were reunited with their relatives on Saturday.
The siblings, who had been wandering alone in the jungle after surviving a small plane crash in which their mother died, were discovered after an intense rescue operation involving sniffer dogs, helicopters and aircraft.
According to AFP journalists at the scene, Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who visited them in the military hospital in Bogota with President Gustavo Petro, said they are recovering, but cannot yet eat solid food.
The youngest two children, now five and one, spent their birthdays in the jungle, as 13 years old Lesly who is the oldest guided them through the ordeal.
Velasquez said that it is thanks to the oldest girl Lesley,with her care, her knowledge of the jungle, her value and her leadership, that the three others were able to survive.
General Pedro Sanchez, who led the search operation, credited Indigenous people involved in the rescue effort with finding the children.
A massive search involving 160 soldiers and 70 Indigenous people with intimate knowledge of the jungle was launched after the crash, garnering global attention.
Army chief Helder Giraldo said rescuers had covered over 2,600 kilometers (1650 miles) in total to locate the children. He said that it is something that seemed impossible was achieved
He heralded the success as a meeting of Indigenous and military knowledge that had demonstrated a different path towards a new Colombia.
According to the military, rescuers found the children about five kilometers (three miles) west of the crash site.
In a bid to keep the children from wandering and become ever more difficult to locate, the air force had dumped 10,000 flyers into the forest with instructions in Spanish and the children’s own Indigenous language, telling them to stay put.
The leaflets also included survival tips, and the military dropped food parcels and bottled water.
Rescuers had also been broadcasting a message recorded by the children’s grandmother, urging them not to move.
The children’s grandmother Fatima Valencia said 13-year-old Lesly kept her younger siblings safe with her warrior spirit.
The army announced on Saturday that it would continue looking for Wilson, a rescue dog that went missing during the search.
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