Children missing for 17 days after plane crash are found alive in an indigenous village
Updated: May 19, 2023
For 17 days, the children have been missing in the Colombian Amazon jungle. Both the Colombian Armed Forces andto the communities Indigenous peoples are committed to carrying out searches in the region in order to find them.
Soldier and search dog in operation to rescue surviving children - Photo Reproduction / Colombian Air Force / Handout via REUTERS
Colombia faces moments of anguish due to the unknown fate of four missing children in amazon jungle 17 days ago. The plane he was on crashed in a remote and difficult to reach area on May 1st. On Tuesday (16), the aircraft was located, however, only the bodies of the pilot, copilot and mother of the children were found, without any trace of the children. This situation has generated great apprehension in the Colombian population, since the whereabouts of children aged 11 months, 4, 9 and 13 years - remain a mystery.
Information so far
On the afternoon of this Thursday (18), the President of Colombia President Gustavo Petro issued an apology for the publication made on one of his social networks on Wednesday, where he erroneously claimed that the minors were alive and had been found in an indigenous village. According to the president, a person linked to the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), an entity in charge of protecting minors, reported that the missing children had been found. Based on this information, the president immediately shared the news on Twitter.
"After arduous searches by our Armed Forces, we found alive the 4 children who disappeared due to the plane crash in Guaviare. A joy for the country", stated Petro's publication.
He deleted the publication on Thursday and explained that he decided to delete it because "the information provided by the ICBF could not be confirmed".
"I decided to delete the trill because the information provided by the ICBF could not be confirmed. I'm sorry for what happened. The Armed Forces and indigenous communities will continue in their tireless quest to give the country the news it has been waiting for. At this moment there is no other priority than to continue the search until we find them. Children's lives are the most important thing," he said in a new post.
The institution later said that the information that reached the president did not come from them. In a statement, the ICBF said they had received information from the territory confirming contact with individuals involved in the search for minors. According to the report in question, it said that the children had been found alive and in good health. However, the director of the ICBF, astrid caceres, stated and acknowledged that due to adverse weather conditions and challenging terrain, the Armed Forces had still managed to establish official contact and confirm the information.
“As Armed forces have not yet been able to establish official contact due to the difficult weather conditions and the difficulties of the terrain, so they are tirelessly continuing with the search efforts that have resulted in several discoveries in the area and this would corroborate the information received by the ICBF from various sources, that the four children would be alive," she said, adding, "We hope that's the case, but we're waiting for confirmation."
The accident
The aircraft on which the three adults were traveling was flying between Araracuara and San José del Guaviare. The pilot, Hernando Murcia Morales, was in command, with Hermán Mendoza Hernández, an indigenous leader, as co-pilot, and Mucutuy Valencia, the children's mother, as a passenger. Shortly after 7:30 am on May 1, the pilot reported an engine failure. It is important to note that this aircraft had already suffered an accident in Los Llanos Orientales on July 12, 2021, according to official information. On this occasion, his last recorded location was approximately 175 miles (ca. 282 km) before his destination, on the Apaporis River, in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Since then, his whereabouts were unknown until Tuesday (16), more than two weeks after the incident.
the children's father
Children are part of the community Huitoto in Araracuara. His father, Manuel Ranoque, had fled there due to threats from dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a paramilitary guerrilla group in the country. Earlier this month, he sent money to rescue his wife and four children and bring them to meet him in Bogota. Unfortunately, before they reached their destination, the plane they were on had an accident. Even though 17 days have passed, Ranoque said he still has hope.
“I have faced this many times. I had a sister that was lost for almost a month and I struggled to find her, because she is a mute, special sister, and in the same way she came back. So I think that at this moment the effort will not be in vain”, he said in an interview with the Colombian newspaper Caracol Notícias.
The searches
The search has been extremely complicated due to the adverse conditions of the Amazon region, which make survival an arduous task. Authorities and neighboring communities have been scrutinizing the area for clues. Since the aircraft was located, authorities have made every effort to locate the children. During the search operation, helicopters were employed, flying over the area with loudspeakers reproducing the grandmother's voice.
Objects found during the searches - Photo Reproduction / Fuerzas Militares de Colombia
At the scene of the accident, the military found a bottle placed on some bushes, scissors and a chopped apple, evidence that some people had survived. The dogs meticulously walked the length of the perimeter looking for clues. On Tuesday, soldiers and natives from communities close to the crash site found belongings and a bitten fruit, which gave hope that the children were still alive.
