Colombia, plane crash in the jungle: 4 little brothers found alive after 40 days. “Miracle”

The story of four children for whom an entire country, Colombia, has been in suspense for days is unbelievable. Four indigenous children – Mucutuy brothers – survived a plane crash in the Amazon in which three adults, including the children’s mother, died, and spent 40 days in the jungle before being found by Colombian soldiers. It is the happy ending of a story followed by many Colombian citizens. President Gustavo Petro, returning from Cuba, said the children were receiving medical care. It is still unclear how the children managed to survive alone for so long, even though they belong to an indigenous group that lives in the region. Some media write that they fed on fruits and plants and found refuge in vegetation.

The plane crashed on May 1 in the Guaviare forest, in the department of Caquetà. Colombia’s Civil Air Force said a small plane, a Cessna 206, had reported flight difficulties before losing its bearings. After sixteen days of searching, the authorities found the device stranded in the vegetation, the bodies of the victims, but there were no children.

Local media call the discovery “a miracle”. “We found them all alive,” the military told the national government. There are four younger brothers, aged 13, 9, 4 years and 11 months, while three people died in the plane crash (two pilots and a woman). Rescue teams found clues with the children in the woods, including traces of a leaf hut and recent footprints. After long days of anxiety and some controversy – on May 18, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, had tweeted the news of the children’s deaths, which later turned out to be false – the miraculous conclusion.