Exhausted but ‘happy’: The four indigenous children, rescued after wandering 40 days in the Colombian jungle, rested in a military hospital in Bogota on Saturday, as the country continued to rejoice at the ‘miracle’ and praise the cooperation unprecedented between soldiers and natives during search operations.
“My grandchildren have life (in them). Even though they are very exhausted, I know they are in good hands,” their grandfather Fidencio Valencia, a Huitoto Indian from 47 years.
“They are happy to see the family (…) they have all their senses”, rejoiced their grandfather, in front of the military hospital and a crowd of journalists.
The children “are a little worried to see so many people around them, but they are recovering, they are talking a little (…), it is a great joy to see them like this”, commented the Minister of Health. Defense Ivan Velasquez, following a visit to their bedside with President Gustavo Petro and his family.
Lesly (13), Soleiny (9), Tien Noriel (5) and Cristin (1) were found alive on Friday afternoon by rescuers, as they wandered alone in the jungle since the crash on May 1 of the small Cessna 206 plane on which they were traveling with their mother, the pilot and a relative. All three adults died in the accident.
“They were dehydrated (…) But in general their condition is acceptable. They are out of danger”, welcomed Mr. Velasquez.
Two of the children celebrated their birthdays in the jungle, he pointed out: the youngest Cristin turned one, and Tien Noriel five.
Mr. Velasquez paid tribute to the eldest Lesly: “it is thanks to her […] that the three others were able to survive, with her care, her knowledge of the jungle”.
Apart from “a few skin lesions and bites”, the children show “no pathology or any degraded health situation”, specified a military doctor. “They are in stable condition” and are following a renutrition protocol.
Their hospitalization is expected to last between two and three weeks.
The four “speak little, but they are happy (…) they are children (…), they are starting to want to play, Cristin in particular. (…) This little one is wonderful”, commented in front of the journalists Astrid Caceres, director of the Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF).
At the request of her father, the little one with the big black eyes will soon have as godfather the one who led the search operations, the charismatic General Pedro Sanchez. “For me, it’s an honor,” commented the officer, visibly moved, placing his hand on his heart.
During their journey, the siblings were for a moment accompanied by a dog. It is not known at this stage whether it is Wilson, an army detection shepherd dog, lost in the jungle, and who is still wanted by the military, in the name of a “principle: we leave no one behind “.
“Children of the bush”, they “survived at first by eating a little flour (which was on board the accident plane), then seeds”, according to their grandfather.
Helicoptered from the jungle and transported to the city of San Jose del Guaviare, they were transported overnight by medical plane to Bogota, to be hospitalized in an army health establishment.
“We have achieved the impossible”, welcomed the commander-in-chief of the Colombian armed forces, General Helder Fernan Giraldo, while the whole country rejoiced in this quadruple “miracle”.
President Gustavo Petro had announced the news Friday evening in the country by evoking “a magical day” and “joy”, praising “an example of total survival which will go down in history”.
For the National Organization of Amerindian Peoples of Colombia (Opiac), it is also their native condition, and this very special bond with nature, which has played in favor of their survival in the bush.
“The survival of children is a demonstration of the knowledge and relationship that the natives have with nature, a bond taught from the womb,” according to an Opiac press release.
More than 100 soldiers accompanied by detection dogs and dozens of natives had been looking for the children since the discovery of the plane, their noses planted on the ground in the middle of thick vegetation.
Once again on Saturday, all the officials praised the cooperation on the ground of the commandos and the indigenous volunteers, in a country where decades of internal conflict and violence have rather left distrust between these two actors.
“Without the natives, their experience and their knowledge of the jungle, this unexpected result could not have been achieved, all the soldiers recognize it”, underlined Minister Velasquez: “they were the guides of our commandos in the jungle “.
According to the army, the rescuers traveled, in more than a month, nearly 2,656 km in this hostile and impenetrable jungle.
By “working with the troop”, the indigenous volunteers have “increased the state’s response capacity”, analyzed the ICBF official.
This “meeting of indigenous and military knowledge” in favor of “the common good”, combined with “respect for the forest”, shows “a different path towards a new Colombia”, a “true path towards peace in the name of life” , then praised Mr. Petro on Twitter.
06/11/2023 01:03:31 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
