Missing children from plane crash in Amazon Jungle found

On the 21st of May I wrote a story about four children missing in the Amazon Jungle after the plane they were in crashed. They were missing for 21 days back then, and rescuers had grave fears for their safety. It is fantastic news to read all four have been found alive and well.

The four Indigenous children who survived 43 days in the Amazon jungle have been found well and have shared limited but harrowing details of their ordeal with their family.

The siblings, aged 13, 9, 4 and 1, are expected to remain for at least two weeks in a hospital receiving treatment after their rescue Friday, but some are already speaking and wanting to do more than lie in bed, relatives said.

The father of the children told reporters outside the hospital Sunday that the oldest of the four siblings, 13-year-old Lesly, had described to him how their mother was alive for about four days after the plane crashed on the 1st of May.

Ranoque said before she died, the mother told them: "Go away," apparently asking them to leave the wreckage site to survive. He provided no more details. Authorities have not said anything about this version.

Henry Guerrero, an Indigenous man who was part of the search group, told reporters that the children were found with two small bags containing some clothes, a towel, a flashlight, two cellphones, a music box and a soda bottle.

He said they used the bottle to collect water in the jungle, and he added that after they were rescued the youngsters complained of being hungry. "They wanted to eat rice pudding, they wanted to eat bread," he said.

Fidencio Valencia, a child's uncle, told the media that the children were starting to talk and one of them said they hid in tree trunks at night to protect themselves in a jungle area filled with snakes, animals and mosquitoes.

"They at least are already eating, a little, but they are eating," he said after visiting them at the military hospital in Bogota, Colombia. On Saturday, Defense Minister Iván Velasquez had said the children were being rehydrated and couldn't eat food yet.