Children found in jungle are pictured recovering in hospital beds
EXCLUSIVE: Four brave children found in the Amazon jungle are pictured recovering in their hospital beds surrounded by stuffed animals and have created touching drawings of Wilson the Belgian Shepherd who helped rescue them before going missing himself
- Exclusive photos show the four children, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and baby Cristin, one, safe in their hospital beds at a military hospital in Bogota, Colombia
- The older siblings, Lesly and Soleiny Mucutuy, have made crayon drawings of six-year-old dog Wilson who helped find them in the Amazon jungle
- Wilson is depicted in the drawings in the forest, next to trees, a river, flowers and a bright yellow sun
For the first time since they were miraculously rescued from the Colombian jungle after 40 days, four indigenous children are pictured in the hospital, on the mend, playing with stuffed animals and drawing with crayons.
Exclusive photos show the siblings, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and baby Cristin, one, safe in their hospital beds at a military hospital in Bogota, Colombia.
Lesly and Soleiny Mucutuy have made touching colored drawings of Wilson the Belgian Shepherd rescue dog who went missing during the mission to save them.
The siblings created the drawings with crayons as their contribution to the continued hunt for the lost canine who played a key role in finding them following the aircraft crash on May 1 that killed the children’s mother, pilot and indigenous leader – and left them stranded for more than a month.
Exclusive photos show the four siblings, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and baby Cristin, one, safe in their hospital beds at a military hospital in Bogota, Colombia
Lesly and Soleiny Mucutuy have made touching colored drawings of Wilson the Belgian Shepherd rescue dog who went missing during the mission to save them. In Lesly’s drawing, six-year-old Wilson is depicted next to a river full of fish, a tree, some yellow flowers and with the sun shining on a pathway
Soleiny’s drawing shows Wilson near a tree, a flower and the sun beaming. One side of the drawing has the Colombian flag and the message ‘Always blessed’
Belgian Shepherd Wilson played a vital role in tracking down the four children but remains missing in the Amazon rainforest
The drawings were revealed when the head of the Colombian armed forces, General Helder Giraldo visited the children in the hospital.
After he approached them, the elder two presented him with the drawings and the plea to give them to Wilson’s handler.
In Lesly’s drawing, six-year-old Wilson is depicted next to a river full of fish, a tree, some yellow flowers and with the sun shining on a pathway.
Soleiny’s image was similar, with Wilson near a tree, a flower and the sun beaming. One side of the drawing has the Colombian flag and the message ‘Always blessed’.
Narciso Mucutuy, grandfather of the two elder survivors, said: ‘They are making them make drawings… something that they need in order to express themselves.’
Rescue dog Wilson was presumed lost a few days before the siblings were found after he ran away from his handlers, until rescue teams found his footprints near those of the children.
The loyal canine stayed with the children for several days before being lost once again and despite proving crucial to the search mission, which was codenamed ‘Esperanza’, the Spanish word for hope, has not been found.
Carlos Andres Villegas, a civil defense canine guide, revealed Wilson was last seen on June 8 before he vanished in the dense jungle.
‘Wilson gave us clues, he looked at us and wanted to tell us something. He came out and went back into the jungle,’ Villegas said.
‘The other defense canine guide who accompanied me saw Wilson about 30 meters away, where he tried to play with him.
‘He tried to call him, he tried to motivate him to come so he could get closer to him so he could capture him. But he was scared and went back into the jungle and he was never seen again.’
The indigenous community in the area of the jungle where the Cessna went down have dubbed Wilson a ‘military warrior’.
The drawings were revealed when the head of the Colombian armed forces, General Helder Giraldo visited the children in the hospital
Head of the Colombian Armed Forces, General Helder Giraldo, accepts the moving drawings of missing rescue dog Wilson completed by two of the children
The four indigenous children are pictured after being rescued. They were missing for six weeks in the Colombian Amazon jungle after a plane crash
Soldiers of the Colombian Air Force treat one of the children rescued from the Colombian jungle during the operation on June 9
Soldiers of the Colombian Air Force and employees of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) give medical attention inside a plane to the surviving children of a Cessna 206 plane crash
A soldier stands next to the wreckage of the aircraft on May 19 that crashed in the Colombian Amazon forest
The four children had been lost in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed.
The pilot had reported engine problems only minutes after taking off from a deep Amazon area known as Araracuara on the 217-mile journey to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.
The bodies of the pilot, the children’s mother and another adult were all found at the crash site, where the plane sat almost vertical in the trees.
But when the wreckage of the plane was found after weeks of hunting not only were the children not found dead alongside the adults, there was part-eaten fruit that suggested they had all survived.
That sparked a huge hunt across miles of dense and remote Amazon rainforest, culminating in their rescue of Friday.
‘The jungle saved them,’ President Gustavo Petro said. ‘They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.’
An army helicopter had hovered above the tree canopy, before hoisting the four children on board and flying them to hospital for checks. The delighted soldiers had earlier posed for photographs with the children, who appeared emaciated.
After the siblings were miraculously found, dramatic footage shows how the four children were winched into a rescue helicopter, bitten, dehydrated and malnourished but mercifully alive, and taken to safety for medical treatment.
‘It is a joy for the whole country,’ Petro tweeted.
‘They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.’
Colombia’s First Lady Veronica Alcocer (left) and Sofia Petro (right), daughter of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, visiting one of the four Indigenous children as they receive treatment
Colombian President Gustavo Petro (right) greeting a nurse while visiting the four Indigenous children who were found alive after being lost for 40 days in the Colombian Amazon rainforest
The siblings, members of the Huitoto indigenous group, were dehydrated, malnourished and bitten by insects but are otherwise healthy, rescuers said.
Their grandmother, whose voice was played from aircraft above the jungle during the search to reassure the youngsters they were being looked for, told reporters: ‘I never lost hope, I was always supporting the search. I feel very happy, I thank President Petro and my ‘countrymen’ who went through so many difficulties.’
Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez paid tribute to the various army units’ ‘unshakeable and tireless’ work, as well as to the indigenous people who took part in the search.
The children’s grandfather told Noticias Caracol he was very grateful to the army for helping to find them, adding ‘I want to see them’.
The survival story is all the more miraculous as the jungle is home to jaguars, pumas, snakes and other predators, as well as armed groups that smuggle drugs and terrorize local populations.
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