Kids missing in Colombian Amazon probably alive, authorities say

BOGOTA: Four Indigenous children lost since a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon almost a month ago are believed to still be alive, the military said on Monday. The children -- aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months -- have wandered in the jungle since a light aircraft crash in Colombia´s southeast claimed the lives of the pilot, an Indigenous leader and their mother on May 1.

Satellite images reveal hints of a path the kids have taken, and rescuers have since come across some of their belongings, a makeshift shelter and a half-eaten fruit. Last week, they found a pair of shoes and a diaper. “Based on the evidence, we concluded that the children are alive,” rescue team leader General Pedro Sanchez told W Radio on Monday.

“If they were dead, it would be easy to find them because they would be still” and the sniffer dogs would find them, he added. Some 200 soldiers and Indigenous people with knowledge of the terrain were combing a dense jungle area of some 320 square kilometers -- about double the size of Washington, DC.