Children rescued in Amazon after 40 days survived on cassava flour, roots

A Colombian military special forces official said that the rescued four children stayed alive on cassava flour in the dense Amazon jungle for 40 days after their plane crashed.

Spokesperson Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez Suarez said that the children ate “three kilogrammes (six pounds) of farina, a coarse cassava flour which is generally used by the Amazon region's indigenous tribes.”

“Days after the crash, they ate the farina which they had carried there… but they (eventually) ran out of food and decided to look for a place where they could stay alive. They were malnourished but fully conscious and lucid when we found them,” Suarez said.

“Their indigenous origins allowed them to acquire a certain immunity against diseases in the jungle and having knowledge of the jungle itself – knowing what to eat and what not to eat – as well as finding water kept them alive – which would not have been possible (if they) were not used to that type of hostile environment,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking to AFP, the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia's (ONIC) Luis Acosta said that the children also ate fruits, seeds, plants and roots which they were able to identify as edible because of their upbringing in the Amazon region.

ALSO READ |In Pics | Four children missing for 40 days after plane crash in Amazon jungle found alive

Children are dehydrated, ‘cannot eat food’

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The four rescued children – 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9-year-old Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 4-year-old Tien Ranoque Mucutuy and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy – have been hospitalised in Bogota after they were taken there by Colombian Air Force's air ambulance on Saturday, officials stated.

According to medical reports, the children are dehydrated and still “cannot eat food” – but are doing well and are out of danger. “What’s required now is to stabilise (their health),” said Colombian Defence Minister Ivan Velasquez while speaking to reporters outside the hospital.

WATCH | Colombia plane crash: Four children found alive in Amazon after 40 days

The mother of the children, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, died in the plane crash on May 1, leaving the kids alone and stranded in the Amazon forest. The pilot of the plane Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernandez also died in the accident.

The disappearance of the children led to a massive military-led search operation in which more than one hundred Colombian special forces troops and 70 indigenous scouts scanned the deep forest. Eventually, the four children were found in an area clear of trees.

The children told officials that they came across a dog, which was a Belgian Shepherd search dog named Wilson and was owned by the special forces. “The dog had gone missing on May 18,” said Suarez. “The kids told us that they spent three or four days with Wilson and that they (found) him quite skinny,” he stated.

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