Exhausted but ‘happy’: Four indigenous children rescued after 40 days of wandering in the jungle rested at a military hospital in Bogotá on Saturday as the country continued to celebrate a “miracle” and praise unprecedented cooperation between the military and indigenous people in search operations. reports AFP and news.ro.

“My grandchildren have lives. Even if they are very exhausted, I know they are in good hands,” their grandfather Fidencio Valencia, a 47-year-old Huitoto Indian, told the media.

“They are happy to see the family,” their grandfather said in front of a military hospital and a crowd of journalists.

The children are “a little worried, seeing so many people around them, but they are recovering, they are talking a little (…), it is a great joy to see them like this,” Defense Minister Ivan Velazquez commented. at the end of the visit to their bed in the company of President Gustavo Petro and his family.

Four children were found after 40 days

Leslie (13), Soleinee (9), Thien Noriel (5) and Christine (1) were found alive by rescuers on Friday afternoon after wandering in the jungle following the May 1 crash of the Cessna 206 small plane they were traveling in with mother, pilot and relative. As a result of the accident, three adults died.

“They were dehydrated (…) But, in general, their condition is acceptable. I’m out of danger,” Velasquez said.

According to him, two children celebrated their birthdays in the jungle: the youngest, Christine, turned one, and Tien Noriel turned five.

Velasquez paid special tribute to the eldest, Leslie: “thank you […] the other three were able to survive thanks to his care and knowledge of the jungle.’

According to the military doctor, apart from “several skin injuries and punctures”, the children do not have “any pathology and any deterioration of their health”. “They are in a stable condition” and following a re-feeding protocol.

Their hospitalization is expected to last two to three weeks.

The children were pulled out of the jungle and taken to the city of San Jose del Guaviare, and then flown overnight to Bogotá, where they were admitted to a military hospital.

“We have achieved the impossible,” congratulated the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Colombia, General Helder Fernán Giraldo, while the entire country enjoyed this quadruple “miracle.”

President Gustavo Petro announced the country’s news on Friday night, calling the day a “magical day” of “joy” and hailing it as “an example of total survival that will go down in history.”

For the National Organization of the Indian Peoples of Colombia (Opiac), their indigenous status and this very special connection with nature played an important role in their survival in the forest.

The four “do not talk much, but they are happy (…) they are children (…), they start to want to play, Christine in particular. (…) This baby is wonderful,” Astrid Caceres, director of the Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF), told reporters.

According to her father’s wish, the little girl with big black eyes will soon have the godfather of the man who led the search operations, the charismatic General Pedro Sanchez. A little girl in the jungle turned one year old.

“It’s an honor for me,” the officer commented, visibly moved, putting his hand to his heart.

Dog Wilson is still wanted

A dog accompanied the brothers on the way. It is not yet known if this is Wilson, an army shepherd who got lost in the jungle and is still being searched for by the military in the name of “the principle: no one is left behind.”

“Children of the bush,” they “survived at first by eating some flour (which was on board the crashed plane), then seeds,” according to their grandfather.

“The survival of the children is a demonstration of the knowledge and relationship that indigenous people have with nature, a connection received from the mother’s womb,” Opiac said in a press release.

More than 100 soldiers, accompanied by search dogs, and dozens of indigenous people have been searching for the children since the wrecked plane was discovered.

Local residents helped the military

Once again on Saturday, all officials praised the cooperation of the militants and indigenous volunteers on the ground in a country where decades of internal conflict and violence have led to mistrust between them.

“Without the natives, without their experience and knowledge of the jungle, this unexpected result could not have been achieved, as all the military admits,” emphasized Minister Velázquez: “they were the guides of our commandos in the jungle.”

According to the army, in a month the rescuers covered almost 2,656 km in this hostile and impassable jungle.

By “cooperating with the troops,” indigenous volunteers “increased the state’s ability to respond,” analyzed the head of the ICBF.

This “meeting of indigenous and military knowledge” for the benefit of the “common good” in combination with “respect for the forest” demonstrates “another path to the new Colombia”, “a real path to peace in the name of life,” Petro reported on Twitter.