How children survived 40 days lost in the Amazon
BY READERS DIGEST
25th Sep 2023 Inspire
1 min read
Four Colombian children survived a plane crash only to be lost deep in the Amazon rainforest for well over a month. This is how they survived this horrifying situation
It’s most people’s nightmare:
surviving a plane crash only to be
stranded in a jungle with no way of
contacting the outside world. But
this was reality for four Colombian
children, and in an incredible story of
resilience, they survived.
The crash
The children, aged 13, nine and
four, as well as an 11-month-old baby,
were flying with their mother from
their village in the Amazon to visit
their father in San José del Guaviare.
The single-engine Cessna on which
they were flying experienced engine
problems and disappeared on May 1,
2023.
Bad weather prevented the
army from finding the crash site for
two weeks, where they then found the
dead bodies of three adults, including
the children’s mother.
Children raised in the jungle
How did these children survive
conditions that would be an
unimaginable struggle for most
adults? They are members of the
Huitoto Indigenous group and were
raised in the jungle. As such, they
have an intimate understanding of the
rainforest. They know which fruits are
safe to eat and which plants should be
avoided.
"They survived off of juan soco (a fruit similar to passion fruit) and seeds"
Working with, rather than
against, the Amazon, they survived off
of juan soco (a fruit similar to passion
fruit) and seeds, while feeding the
baby water mixed with yucca flour
that they found on the plane.
Search team success
The children survived in the jungle because of their indigenous group knowledge. Credit: mauricio pineda
While the children got on with the
business of surviving, the Colombian
army worked with Indigenous
volunteers to find them.
After 40 days
of searching, the children were found
and taken to recover at a military
hospital in Bogota.
Knowledge of the Amazon rainforest
While many around the world have
taken this survival story to be a
miracle, others point out that it is the
result of an ancient and intimate
knowledge of the rainforest that has
been passed down through
Indigenous communities over the
generations.
"Indigenous tribes have a close relationship to the Amazon, marked by a deep respect for the forest"
Indigenous tribes have a
close relationship to the Amazon,
marked by a deep respect for the
forest that provides them with shelter
and sustenance. It is their close
connection to and understanding of
the rainforest that undoubtedly
helped the children to survive.
Banner credit:
Keep up with the top stories from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter