Colombia marks 1st anniversary of 4 children's rescue after plane crashed in the Amazon
Colombia marked the first anniversary of the rescue of four Indigenous children ages 13, 9, 4 and 11 who survived a small plane crash in the Amazon rainforest and fended for themselves for 40 days.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia marked the first anniversary Sunday of the rescue of four Indigenous children who survived a small plane crash in the Amazon rainforest in an operation that gripped the world’s attention. A small ceremony was held in a Bogotá military base that included an emotional reunion between soldiers and Indigenous volunteers.
But the four children, who were found in a remote patch of rainforest a year ago after fending for themselves for 40 days, still face an uncertain future as authorities wait for a case worker to decide who should be awarded custody.
The siblings from Colombia’s Huitoto tribe were aged 13, 9, 4 and 11 months old when the single-engine plane they were traveling in nosedived into the rainforest’s canopy, killing their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, and the other two adults on board. The group was travelling from the small village of Araracuara, deep in the Colombian Amazon to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.
Fatima Mucutuy, right, grandmother of the four rescued Indigenous children, at the commemoration of the rescue.Raul Arboleda / AFP - Getty ImagesOn Sunday, Colombia’s Institute for Family Welfare posted a photo of the four children with their faces blurred on its X account, formerly Twitter, and published a statement saying they were healthy and were growing up successfully under state care.
“The Mucutuy siblings today spend their days enjoying life and learning. They have been accompanied by a team that specializes in ethnic affairs and works so that they don’t lose their customs while they are far from their territory,” the statement read.
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