How do four children survive in the jungle of Colombia?, "Miracle!" Four children rescued after 40 days of air crash | Columbia jungle | rescued after 40 days of air crash

In the heart of the Colombian jungle, the military radio suddenly heard the message that people had been praying to hear: "Miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle.". This means that all four Colombian indigenous children who have been missing in the jungle for 40 days have been rescued. How did these children survive for 40 days in the dangerous jungle from the plane crash on May 1st to being found on June 9th?

"The Son of the Jungle"

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on the 9th that after 40 days of search and rescue, four children who were previously trapped in the jungle due to a plane crash have been found and all have survived. "The whole country is delighted about it!"

According to the Colombian military, children were found in a small forest clearing about 5 kilometers away from the crash site. At present, they are receiving treatment at a military hospital in Bogot á, the capital of Colombia, and are expected to be hospitalized for at least two weeks.

When they were found, the children were very weak and malnourished, but their overall condition was still acceptable. Next, the doctor will evaluate their mental state.

These four children are a family, with the oldest being 13 years old and the youngest just 1 year old. How did four children survive in the jungle for 40 days without food and water?

According to some media and experts, the children survived because they were "children of the jungle".

The National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia claims that this is related to their natural knowledge and ways of interacting with nature, which they are born with and constantly learn and practice from a young age.

The families of the children said that they were able to survive, and the eldest girl, Leslie Mukutui, played a crucial role.

According to the children's aunt Damaris, this 13-year-old girl is very familiar with the jungle and can distinguish toxic fruits in the jungle. She also knows how to take care of babies and often plays survival games with her family, building small tents. During the rescue, the search and rescue team discovered a temporary shelter built by Les using branches and headbands.

In terms of food, the children were fortunate enough to find a bag of cassava flour, which is commonly eaten by indigenous people, in the wreckage of the plane. After relying on cassava flour for a few days, they began collecting edible fruits, seeds, etc. around them. According to indigenous people involved in the search, there was a tree resembling passion fruit one kilometer away from the plane crash site, where children found food.

Although the Amazon rainforest is in the harvest season in May and June, the living environment is also very harsh.

In the jungle surrounded by venomous snakes, leopards, and mosquitoes and flies, children not only have to avoid predators in the jungle, but also endure intense rainfall and even avoid armed groups that may appear in the jungle. The child's family said this may also be the reason why they deliberately avoided uniformed search and rescue personnel several times.

Carlos Perez, a professor of tropical forest ecology at the University of East Anglia in the UK, bluntly stated that it would be difficult for four Western children of the same age to survive in the same situation. However, he also stated that the indigenous survival knowledge and skills that saved these four children have begun to be lost in the Amazon region, which is sad.

"Miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle"

It is believed by the outside world that the children's eventual rescue is also inseparable from the joint efforts and persistence of the military and indigenous tribes in rescue efforts.

On May 1st, a light aircraft flew from Alaraquara in the Amazon region to San Jose in the state of Guajarre. During the flight, the pilot issued the highest level distress signal, and a few minutes later the plane disappeared from the radar.

This marked the beginning of this miraculous rescue.

The Colombian government immediately dispatched more than 100 soldiers to launch a rescue operation codenamed "Operation Hope". They carried sniffing dogs to search and rescue the southern jungle area where the plane crashed.

Two weeks later, they found the wreckage of the plane with its nose falling to the ground and the bodies of all three adults, but did not find the whereabouts of the children. Among the victims was the mother of the child, who persisted for four days after the air crash, allowing the children to leave the crash site before dying, increasing their chances of survival.

After the rescue team ignited hope for the children's survival, they tried various methods to find them. The rescue team played the voice of the child's grandmother in the jungle, telling them to wait in place. They also airdropped drinking water and food packages, and dropped tens of thousands of flyers with survival tips.

This search and rescue operation also received support from more than 80 indigenous volunteers from multiple neighboring states. Given the tense relationship between many indigenous tribes and armed forces in Colombia, this collaboration has been described as "unusual" by Agence France Presse.

However, as several days of rescue turned into weeks and extended into the second month, people began to doubt whether they were deceiving themselves. Some rescue workers returned home, and a joint command center was disbanded.

But as more and more "clues" such as footprints, baby bottles, diapers, children's scissors, and fruits with bite marks are discovered, more people are unwilling to give up hope.

General Pedro Sanchez, the person in charge of the search and rescue operation, has always believed that the children are still alive because their bodies have not been found, and it is much harder to find living people in the jungle than bodies. "This is not looking for a needle in a haystack, but searching for small fleas on the big carpet because they are constantly moving," Sanchez said.

Afterwards, on June 9th, just after the search team decided to continue the search and rescue for a week, the military's radio suddenly sounded four signals of "Miracle, Miracle, Miracle, Miracle", marking a gratifying end to the search and rescue operation.

The military had previously agreed to use "miracles" as a secret code if a child was found to be still alive. Repeating four times means that all four children have survived.

Colombian President Petro told the media that children are "role models for survival" and it is expected that their legendary stories will "go down in history". "The jungle saved them," said Petro. "They were children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia."