How four children survived 40 days in Amazon after plane crash
Eating cassava flour helped save the lives of four children found alive in the Amazon jungle more than a month after their plane crashed, according to a Colombian military special forces official.
The children ate "three kilograms of farina", a coarse cassava flour commonly used by indigenous tribes in the Amazon region, said spokesperson Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez.
"Days after the crash, they ate the farina which they had carried there… but they (eventually) ran out of food and decided to look for a place where they could stay alive," Suárez said.
READ MORE: Bus driver granted bail over wedding crash
Four children were found in the Amazon after a plane crash, eating flour to stay alive. AP
"They were malnourished but fully conscious and lucid when we found them," he added.
"Their indigenous origins allowed them to acquire a certain immunity against diseases in the jungle and having knowledge of the jungle itself – knowing what to eat and what not to eat, as well as finding water kept them alive – which would not have been possible (if they) were not used to that type of hostile environment."
The four children – 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, nine-year-old Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, four-year-old Tien Ranoque Mucutuy and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy – are currently recovering in a hospital in the Colombian capital Bogota after being taken there by air ambulance flown by the Colombian Air Force on Saturday, officials said.
Medical reports say they are dehydrated and still "cannot eat food" – but are well and out of danger.
READ MORE: Victims of wedding bus crash identified as community mourns
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro greets a nurse tending to one of the four Indigenous children who survived the Amazon plane crash. AP
"What's required now is to stabilise (their health)," Colombian Defence Minister Ivan Velasquez told reporters who were gathered outside the hospital.
The children's mother Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia was killed in the plane crash on May 1, leaving them alone and stranded in the Amazon jungle.
The plane's pilot, Hernando Murcia Morales, and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández were also killed in the accident.
READ MORE: Siblings describe how mother lived for days after Amazon plane crash
Soldiers and Indigenous men tend to the four Indigenous children who were found in the Amazon. AP
The children's disappearance sparked a massive military-led search operation that saw more than one hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the deep forest.
The four were eventually found in an area clear of trees.
They told officials that they had found a dog – a Belgian Shepherd search dog named Wilson that belonged to special forces.
The dog had gone missing on May 18, Suárez said.
READ MORE: What we know about the fatal Hunter Valley wedding bus crash
Military personnel unload from a plane one of four Indigenous children who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia. AP
"The kids told us that they spent three or four days with Wilson and that they (found) him quite skinny," he added.
Hopes for the children's survival waned as the weeks went on.
Their relatives shared that they endured "many sleepless nights worrying" until the children were found.
READ MORE: How the Hunter Valley wedding bus crash emergency response unfolded
A soldier stands in front of the wreckage of a Cessna C206 plane that crashed in the jungle of Solano, with four children surviving. AP
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who visited the children in hospital on Saturday, celebrated their return and said their survival "would be remembered in history."
"They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia," Petro said.
Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
