Colombia: Colombian President Mr. Gustavo Petro has honored both Indigenous and military rescuers involved in a mission to locate four children who were lost in the Amazon jungle for 40 days after surviving a plane crash. In recognition of their efforts, medals were bestowed on these brave individuals.

The children, ranging in age from one to 13, miraculously survived the crash that tragically claimed the lives of their mother, the pilot, and another adult on May 1. After an extensive and intricate search operation, volunteers from the Indigenous Muruy community discovered the children on June 9.

The Columbian President expressed his gratitude and admiration for the rescuers, recognising their pivotal roles in successfully finding and saving the children after their harrowing ordeal.

“More than the medals, which are symbolic, the great prize, the great reward, is called life,” Mr. Petro remarked at the ceremony in the capital, Bogota, where members of the rescue mission were given medals of the Order of Boyaca, the second highest distinction in the armed forces and the highest for civilians.

The children, Lesly, Soleiny, Tien Norie, and Cristin, aged 13, nine, five, and one, respectively, survived for weeks in the deep jungle thanks to skills they learned as members of one of Colombia’s Indigenous communities.

The President noted that the children had been guided by “ancestral” knowledge and praised the collaboration with Indigenous members of the search team for “teaching all of Colombia how, being united, we can find life”.

“Now there is no debate about whether Western or traditional wisdom is more important. Together, they brought the children back,” Mr. Petro said of the rescue efforts.

“The military with its satellites and the Indigenous people with their potions, including ayahuasca, and invoking the spirits of the jungle, together, found life,” the President added. The children were reported to be recovering satisfactorily at a military hospital in Bogota.

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