False dawn in hunt for jungle crash children
Baby among light aircraft passengers who may have gone in search of help after their mother was killed
THE race to find four children stranded in the Amazon following a plane crash is continuing after the Colombian president retracted his claim that they had been found alive.
The siblings, including an 11-monthold baby, have been missing for more than two weeks in the jungle.
The children, of whom the eldest is 13, are thought to be the only survivors after the plane they were travelling in came down deep in the Amazon on May 1, after an apparent engine failure.
The three adults – the pilot, co-pilot and the children’s mother – were found dead near the crash site in the southern Caqueta department. But there are hopes that the children could have survived after authorities discovered a shelter that had been built.
Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, initially said the children had been located on Wednesday night after a 17-day search involving more than 100 soldiers, sniffer dogs and three helicopters, describing the development as a “joy for the country”.
However, in a bizarre turn of events, he apologised and retracted the claim yesterday, insisting the search continued. “I am sorry for what happened. The military forces and indigenous communities will continue in their tireless search to give the country the news it is waiting for,” he said.
The children are from the indigenous Huitoto community, who live in and the remote jungle. The family were reportedly at the start of a journey to visit their father, who left the isolated community to work in the capital, Bogota.
Confusion remains over the children’s whereabouts. Avianline Charters, the owner of the aircraft, said one of its pilots was told that the children “were being transported by boat down river and that they were all alive”. However, the company also warned that thunderstorms still posed a risk to them reaching safety. The children have been identified as Lesly Mucutuy, 13; his brothers Soleiny, nine, and Tien Noriel, four; and 11-month-old girl Cristin Neriman.
Clues as to how they might have been able to survive emerged during the search. The authorities believe the children could have climbed out of the wreckage and ventured into the jungle to find help.
One of the three helicopters circulating the area broadcast a message recorded by the children’s grandmother, asking them to stop moving through the jungle.
The army said its search efforts intensified after rescuers came across a “shelter built in an improvised way with sticks and branches”, leading them to believe there were survivors. Scissors, shoes and hair ties could be seen among branches on the ground in photographs released by the military.
A baby’s bottle and half-eaten pieces of fruit were also spotted before the shelter was discovered. The plane had been flying from a jungle location to San Jose del Guaviare, one of the main cities in Colombia’s Amazon rainforest.
The pilot had reported problems with the engine of the Cessna 206 minutes before the plane disappeared from radars, Colombia’s disaster response body said. Heavy rainfall and giant trees that can grow to 130ft high are making the Operation Hope search challenging.
The remote region of south-western Colombia has few roads and is difficult to access by river, making air transport one of the only ways to get around.
The Huitoto community develops skills in hunting, fishing and gathering, which may have helped the children to survive. However, exploitation, disease and assimilation have reduced the population sharply over many decades.