by Four indigenous children missing in the Amazon jungle for 40 days after their plane crash were found on Friday.
“They themselves are an example of survival that will go down in history,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said at a press conference. “Today those children are the children of peace and the children of Colombia.”
It was not immediately clear if the children, whose ages ranged from 11 months to 13 years, were in good health, and Petro said it would take a while for doctors to make that determination.
“Their health must be fragile,” Petro said, speculating that they would have to gradually go back to eating prepared foods instead of what sustained them in the jungle.
“We have to look at his mental health,” he said.
The children, members of the Uitoto indigenous community, were identified as Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13 years old; Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9; Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy, 4; and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy, 11 months.
The plane’s only engine failed and it crashed on May 1; the remains of the nose were first found more than two weeks later in the Colombian jungle. Three bodies, all adults, including the children’s mother, were found at the site, authorities said.
But the four were not there.
Authorities were hopeful they could be found alive after footprints believed to belong to one of the four were discovered in late May. Colombian authorities continued to search for the children using sniffer dogs on the ground.
Petro credited the country’s military as well as members of the indigenous communities for the miraculous find.
“The work between the armed forces and the indigenous communities, who obviously know the jungle better than we do, that work was successful,” he said. “Indigenous and military communities found the children.”
The Associated Press contributed.
