Although fragile, the four indigenous boys rescued from the Colombian jungle after an astonishing survival feat They are well and “hpy” in a Bogota hospital, their grandfather reported this Saturday.
“I just looked at the grandchildren. First, they are alive, they are very finished but I know they are in good hands,” Fidencio Valencia, a 47-year-old Huitoto indigenous man, told reporters at the entrance to a military hospital in the cital. .
The minors were traveling with their mother, a leader from their native community and the pilot in a single-engine plane that crashed on May 1 and was left with its front destroyed in the middle of the thick jungle of the department of Caqueta (southeast).
This Friday, after an arduous search that lasted 40 days, the little ones were rescued alive. They had survived in the jungle eating the fruits they found and thanks to the ancestral practices what they had learned with their family.
The doctors who treated them in Bogota stated that parently their health is fragile but they do not present any serious symptoms.
“At this moment, the pediatric team is doing diagnostic, paraclinical, and imaging tests, and they have also started a treatment for recovery and nutritional and psychological support to be able to adt to these new conditions,” said general practitioner Carlos Rincon Arango.
The initial multidisciplinary assessment was already carried out, in which it was evidenced that the one-year-old girl Cristin is stable, despite the fact that since the nutritional point of view requires more attentionfor which he will need a medium-term treatment, it was reported.
“Conditions that endanger the lives (of the four minors) are ruled out. They are in the hands of our multidisciplinary team,” the doctor stressed.
an intense search
Using sniffer dogs, helicopters and aircraft, a hundred soldiers and dozens of indigenous people found the bodies of the three adults. The children, on the other hand, were only found 40 days later.
After searching for them along 2,656 kilometers, a group of soldiers and indigenous people located the brothers, ages 13, 9, 4 and one, in the middle of the jungle on Friday. in the first pictures they looked frail, thin and without shoes.
“They are hpy to see the family. They have all the senses complete,” said his grandfather with a poncho around his neck.
Damaris Mucutuy, aunt of the minors who also arrived at the hospital, in a telephone interview with Radio Blue de Colombia this Saturday assured that “the children are fine” despite the fact that they were found with signs of dehydration and insect bites.
Regarding Leslie, the oldest girl, she stated that she has “a blow to the head”, but that “she is very well”. She pointed out that teams of psychologists attended to the little brothers and also to the relatives.
The rescue operation lasted until early this Saturday morning. The children were transferred by helicopter to the nearest city of San Jose del Guaviare, and then the Air Force took them to Bogota, where they are receiving medical attention.
“They are children of the forest” and they know how to survive in the jungle, Valencia rejoiced.
“Magical Day”
President Gustavo Petro announced the bailout and celebrated the day as “a magical day” in which a six-month truce was also signed with ELN guerrillas who are negotiating peace with the government.
“They were alone, they themselves achieved it. An example of total survival that will remain in history,” added the president.
The soldier in charge of the rescue, General Pedro Sanchez, said that it was indigenous people who found the whereabouts of the minors.
“We found the children: Miracle, miracle, miracle!” Was the message he received, according to what he told the press.
Between May 15 and 16, soldiers found the plane destroyed with all the adults dead.
Lesly Mucutuy, 13 years old; Soleiny, 9 years old; Tien Noriel Ronoque, 4 years old; and Cristin Neriman Ranoque, who was 11 months old, have since continued a journey of more than a month in the midst of the harshness of the jungle and its dangers.
From then on, a spectacular search operation was launched by heaven and earth in which they found clues that at least one of the children was still alive: scissors, a bottle, bitten fruit, improvised shelters with leaves.
Indications that minors were wandering among the dense vegetation where jaguars, pumas and poisonous snakes live between the southern departments of Guaviare and Caqueta.
According to army ms, the brothers were 5 km from the accident site. Dozens of uniformed soldiers and indigenous people had to be relieved during the operation due to the harsh weather and terrain.
Wild animals, adverse weather and guerrillas
In interviews with AFP, the grandparents of the minors assured that the eldest of the siblings “is very intelligent”, “strong” and of a “warrior” nature, qualities that allowed her to keep the little ones safe.
Apart from wild animals and hostile vegetation, the Caqueta jungle is home to guerrillas who deviated from the peace pact signed by the FARC in 2016.
“It was quite a tough search, this is a tropical jungle, very dense. We traveled through rain, storms, many difficult situations, but with all the hope and spiritual faith that we could find them,” Luis Acosta, one of the of the indigenous guards who participated in the search operations.
In this region of difficult access by river and without highways, the inhabitants usually travel in private flights.
The minors boarded the plane with their mother on May 1 to flee from guerrillas who recruit and intimidate the inhabitants of the area, indicated General Sanchez.
“You have to leave them alone” while they recover, asked the grandfather next to the hospital.
Source: AFP
BC
Source: Clarin
