Grandfather Fidencio Valencia reported on Saturday that he had visited his four grandchildren in the hospital. “They are full of life. Even if they are very exhausted, I know they are in good hands,” said the 47-year-old. The children are happy to see their relatives again. “Given the circumstances, they are in acceptable condition,” military doctor Carlos Rincón Arango said on Saturday. “They have several minor injuries and are malnourished. We are now doing a series of pediatric tests and getting them back on their feet. They will probably need to stay in hospital for two to three weeks.”
Defense Minister Iván Velásquez, who also visited the children on Saturday with President Gustavo Petro, said the four were “a little concerned to have so many people around, but they are recovering.” It was “a great pleasure to see her like this”.
Children were dehydrated and emaciated
The children were dehydrated when they were rescued and could not eat solid food, the defense secretary said. Overall, their health is “acceptable” and they are “out of danger”. Apart from a few skin injuries and insect bites, they did not suffer any external damage, the military doctor added. The children should now gradually be accustomed to solid food again.
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Children rescued after 40 days in the jungle – “You have set an example of survival”
The father of the siblings had also taken part in the search. After the children were found, he accompanied them to the military hospital in Bogotá. “I’ve also been admitted. I’m sick,” said Manuel Ranoque. “I have a high fever. I’ve been fighting for 40 days to find my children.”
Found after weeks of searching
The quartet was found on Friday after weeks of searching in the jungle. On the flight to Bogotá, the father asked Special Forces General Pedro Sánchez to become godfather to his youngest daughter. “It’s an honor for me,” he replied, the officer told Caracol television. “I went home and said to my wife: We’re going to have a daughter. Even if she has a different last name, it doesn’t matter. It’s about what you feel in your heart, in your soul.”
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Rescue after 40 days in the jungle: how the children are doing now
Two of the children had celebrated their birthday in the jungle: the youngest, Cristin, was one year old, her brother Tien Noriel was five. The other brother is nine years old, the eldest girl 13. The minister praised the eldest, Lesly, profusely: “It is thanks to her and her leadership that the other three survived, thanks to her care and knowledge of the jungle.
part of the indigenous population
The children belong to the indigenous people of the Huitoto or Witoto. “They are children of the bush,” said Grandfather Valencia. They would know how to survive in the jungle. First, his grandchildren ate some of the flour that was still on board the plane. Then they would also have fed on seeds. Their knowledge of the region may have helped them survive in the jungle after the crash. They apparently subsisted on wild passion fruit and mangoes, as well as food parcels that the military had dropped over the jungle in the hope that the stray children would find them.
“Humans can survive up to 30 days without eating a balanced diet,” nutritionist Liliana Dávila told RCN television. “If the children are well hydrated, it is possible to survive for a long time without food. In the jungle, it is easy to collect rainwater.”
On May 1, a small plane carrying the children, their mother and two other adults on board crashed over the Amazon rainforest in southern Colombia. The adults died in the crash, the children miraculously survived. The machine and the bodies of the adults were discovered two weeks after the crash.
Children were on their way to their father
According to media reports, the children were on their way to their father, who had fled the region because of constant threats from a splinter group of the guerrilla organization FARC. Although the security situation between the government and FARC has improved since the 2016 peace agreement, parts of the South American country are still controlled by illegal groups. Indigenous peoples, social activists and environmentalists in particular are repeatedly targeted by criminal gangs.
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Missing for five weeks in the Colombian jungle: Four children found alive
Since the crash, search teams from the army and indigenous people, supported by sniffer dogs, have been searching for the children. According to the army, the rescuers covered more than 2,650 kilometers through the jungle. The emergency services never lost hope, because they found a baby bottle, scissors, shoes, diapers, chewed fruit, footprints and emergency shelter.
A dog involved in the search operation is missing. The Belgian shepherd named Wilson had not returned from a search in the dense rainforest, according to the armed forces. As reported by the head of Colombian family welfare, Astrid Caceres, after visiting the children, the shepherd dog apparently tracked down the children and accompanied them at times before disappearing. “The search is not over yet. Our principle: we leave no one behind,” it said on Saturday on the army’s Twitter account under a photo of Wilson.
Hidden from search parties
After their rescue, the siblings first spoke to family members about their time in the jungle. “They were scared. They hid behind tree trunks. That’s what they did. They ran away,” her grandfather Fidencio Valencia told Caracol TV on Sunday. Soldiers and indigenous people had already feared this during the search.
Criminal groups are active in the region, from which the children’s father had to flee. “We have to give them positive energy now. They saw their mother die,” Valencia said.
The children have to regain their strength first, but they already have plans. “They told me: I want to run, but my feet hurt,” said the children’s uncle, Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy. “When they come out of the hospital, we play football.”
