18th May, 2023
Colombian authorities were believed to have found three children and a baby alive 17 days after a plane crashed with them on board in the jungle in the south of the country.
President Gustavo Petro made this known on Wednesday evening.
“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,” Petro tweeted.
Colombian armed forces were still to confirm they had located the four minors – aged 13-years-old, 9-years-old, 4-years-old and 11-months-old.
On Wednesday morning, they found an improvised shelter built with sticks and branches in the jungle.
The Colombian government deployed more than 100 soldiers, sniffer dogs and local indigenous people to find the children.
The children were on board a Cessna C206 light aircraft when it crashed in the Amazon in the southern Caquetá department on May 1.
The three adults on board died in the crash.