Four children missing in jungle after Colombia plane crash found alive after 40 days

Four children who survived a plane crash have been found alive after 40 days lost in a Colombian jungle, according to the country’s president.

Gustavo Petro announced that the four siblings who disappeared after a plane they were on went down in the Amazon rainforest had survived their ordeal and were receiving medical treatment.

“A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle appeared alive,” Mr Petro tweeted on Friday.

The president said the youngsters, who were found alone, are an “example of survival” and predicted their saga “will remain in history.”

The siblings - 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, nine-year-old Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, four-year-old Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy and 11-month-old Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy - were travelling in a Cessna 206 plane when it crashed on 1 May near the Guaviare province.

Their mother Magdalena Mucutuy, the plane’s pilot, and another passenger died in the accident but the minors were nowhere to be found, according to the Colombian Air Force.

Days into the initial search Mr Petro announced that the minors had been located and were in good health. But hours later, he walked back that assertion, clarifying that the Air Force and indigenous communities had established contact with the children, but their location remains unknown.

Mucutuy was travelling with her children to Bogotá to meet her husband Manuel Ranoque and start a new life together.

According to El Tiempo, Mr Ranoque, who is related to a local political leader, previously lived in the indigenous reserve of Puerto Sábalo with his family.

He had to flee the community on foot after receiving threats from crime groups operating in the area. Mr Ranoque completed his odyssey through the jungle and eventually arrived in Bogotá.

He reportedly found a job and saved money for a month and a half to afford his family’s transport from their remote community to the Colombian capital.