Colombian Children Found Alive In Jungle Weeks After Plane Crash

May 18, 2023

Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive more than two weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in the jungle.

Rescuers found discarded fruit and shelters they made

"After arduous search efforts by our Military Forces, we have found alive the 4 children who had disappeared due to the plane crash in Guaviare. A joy for the country," President Gustavo Petro said in a statement.

The children were rescued by members of the military, firefighters and civil aviation authority officials.

The plane was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara and San Jose del Guaviare when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1. The three adults did not survive the crash.

Four children (ages 13, 9, 4, and 11-months old) survived the impact and were on their own in the dense Colombian Amazon. Preliminary information from the civil aviation authority, which coordinated the rescue efforts, suggests the children escaped the plane and set off into the rainforest to find help.

Discarded fruit the children ate to survive, as well as improvised shelters led rescuers to the children. In photographs released by the military, scissors, shoes, and hair ties could be seen among branches on the jungle floor.

Authorities have not indicated what caused the plane crash.

Watch the video below.