Children lost in Amazon jungle for 40 days ‘hid in tree trunks’ to survive
Relatives of the children who were lost in the Amazon jungle for 40 days have shared just part of the ordeal they suffered.
The siblings, aged 13, nine, four, and 11 months, had been missing since their plane crashed on May 1.
Three adults, including the pilot and the children’s mother, were found dead inside the plane – but it’s now been revealed that their mother lived for around four days after the crash.
After their rescue on Friday the children were taken to hospital in Bogota, Colombia, where they’re expected to remain for at least two weeks.
Manuel Ranoque, father of the two youngest children, said the oldest of the four surviving children – 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy – told him their mother was alive for about four days after the plane crashed.
Mr Ranoque said that before she died, the mother likely would have told them ‘go away’, apparently asking them to leave the wreckage site to survive.
He said the rescue shows how as an ‘indigenous population, we are trained to search’ in the middle of the jungle.
‘We proved the world that we found the plane… we found the children,’ he added.
Fidencio Valencia, a child’s uncle, told media outlet Noticias Caracol the children were starting to talk and one of them said they hid in tree trunks to protect themselves in a jungle area filled with snakes, animals and mosquitoes.
He said they were exhausted, adding: ‘They at least are already eating, a little, but they are eating.’
Another uncle, Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, said one of the children wanted to start walking again, telling him ‘Uncle, I want shoes, I want to walk, but my feet hurt’.
Mr Mucutuy said: ‘The only thing that I told the kid (was), “when you recover, we will play soccer”.’
The children survived eating cassava flour and seeds, and some familiarity with the rainforest’s fruits were also key to their survival.
The children are members of the Huitoto indigenous group.
They were found three miles away from the crash site in a small forest clearing.
General Pedro Sanchez, who was in charge of the rescue mission, said rescue teams had passed within 20 to 50 metres of where the children were found on a couple of occasions but had missed them.
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