Colombia is celebrating the rescue of four children who survived a plane crash and being lost in the jungle for 40 days. This has been in the news in recent weeks. Some official had said he thought they were alive because, “if they were dead, we would have found them by now.” The whole thing read like a collossal screw-up all around, and I’m glad to see they’ve been rescued. They lost their mother, so it’s still tragic, but it looked like it was going to be much worse. It’s been reported that they encountered one of the rescue dogs that was freed to find them, that the dog was probably vital to their survival, and that, sadly, the dog remains missing (it left them before they were rescued).
Absolutely incredible story.
I’ve wondered why they left the crash sight.
One would think that the dog would find his way back to his handler.
According to one of the more recent accounts I read yesterday, the mother survived for a few days and, realizing she was dying, told them to try to make it out of the jungle on their own.
I haven’t been following too closely, and the information is coming into focus with each passing day, so that bit about the mother may not be right. I’d think that the facts have emerged by now, but, as I say, I haven’t been following the story too closely. For example, the news I read the day before yesterday said that the children had encountered a stray dog, and the next it was disclosed that it was actually one of the rescue dogs. The dog’s still missing, as far as I know, and it’s name is Wilson. Yeah, like Tom Hank’s imaginary friend in Cast Away.
The article I read described how they were indigenous people who had knowledge of available jungle foods, and the children were somewhat lucky because the crash occurred during the fruiting season.
There is an excellent Australian television series from the 1980’s/90’s called “Bush Tucker Man” hosted by Major Les Hiddens of the Australian Army who was given the job of trying to learn from Australian indigenous peoples about available bush food (“tucker” being Australian slang for food). His research was aimed at being able to teach Australian soldiers to survive off the land, particularly in remote Northern Australia.
I re-watched a couple of episodes (on youtube) recently. They are fascinating. He describes several tragic incidents where Europeans died of starvation after being stranded in remote parts of Northern Australia despite being surrounded by edible plants and animals which they did not know they could eat.
I suspect if these children weren’t locals with knowledge of the local edible flora, they would have died.
Oh, yeah. All the reports so far have mentioned that. I read that they’d boarded the plane to reunite with the father, who’d had to go into hiding because he’d been threatened by one of the guerrilla groups in the area. When the mother told the kids to leave her behind, she said something like, “Go find your father and you’ll see how much he loves you.” Heartbreaking. I read yesterday that the father, who’s no longer in hding, is now the center of much attention and is complaining that he’s vulnerable and expects to be offed at any minute.
Since a few of you seem to be interested, here are more details from today’s news: The jungle is really dark and dense, and the rescuers were alerted to the children’s presence only because the smallest of them, a one-year old, was crying. Immediately after the crash, they had access to potable water because they stayed near a river for the first three days. They recovered several objects from the downed plane for survival purposes: some canvas, a towel, two discharged cell phones, a flashlight and an empty soda bottle that they used to drink river water. There was food and clothing in the plane, as well, and they eventually found a package with more food that authorities had airdropped. Apparently, the rescuers came very close to them a few times. They heard their grandfather’s voice over loudspeakers asking them to stay put and to remain calm, and one of the kids said that the only time they were afraid was when they heard helicopters and saw the rescuers just a few steps away. They thought they were going to get in big trouble for hiding.
I remember a story out of Thailand a few years ago about some children trapped in a cave. Eventually, rescuers were able to get food and water to them, but they had to study and prepare for the evacuation because it was extremely difficult and dangerous. So, while the kids remained in the cave for another few days, they were asked to write messages to their families. Most were as you’d imagine: “Tell my parents I’m okay and I miss them,” etc. But one kid wrote: “Tell grandma to make cracklins” (deep-fried pork rinds). I had to laugh at that for a few days because I’m sure that grandma made the best cracklins of her life.
It is an amazing story. I would never have thought those kids would survive on their own for so long. Because of their background it probably didn’t seem hopeless for them initially but they survived a long time on their own, with a baby to care for too. Every one of those kids is amazing.
And it’s far from over, although I won’t be posting any more updates unless something weird happens. The story about the father and his current circumstances are pretty interesting, too.
Interesting video about the search:
Lost in the Amazon: How Four Child Survivors of Plane Crash Were Found | Watch (msn.com)