Missing children found alive after 40 days

Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest were found alive and flown to the capital Bogota early Saturday.

The children, who survived a small plane crash in the jungle, were transported by army medical plane to a military airport at around 00:30am Saturday (0530 GMT).

They were immediately taken off the plane on stretchers with ambulances waiting to bring them to hospital.

“Today we have had a magical day,” President Gustavo Petro told the media earlier on Friday, after announcing their rescue.

“They are weak. Let’s let the doctors make their assessment,” he added.

The president had posted a photo on Twitter showing several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, tending to the children as they sat on tarps in the jungle. One rescuer held a bottle to the mouth of the smallest child, whom he held in his arms.

“A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle were found alive,” he wrote on Twitter.

Video shared by the Defense Ministry late Friday showed the children being pulled up into a helicopter as it hovered over the tall trees in almost complete darkness.

Originally from the Huitoto Indigenous group, the children -- aged 13, nine, four and one -- had been wandering alone 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 jungle area known as Araracuara on the 350-kilometer (217-mile) journey to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.