
The four Colombian children found on Friday 9 June, after forty days spent in the Amazon forest, gave their loved ones the first elements of their long wanderings. According to the testimony collected by the father of two of the minors, Manuel Miller Ranoque Morales, the mother of the children is “he lived for four days”, after the plane they were in crashed, before succumbing to his injuries.
“Before they died, their mother told them, ‘Go ahead, go’ [rejoindre votre père] “, explained Mr. Ranoque, during a press conference in front of the military hospital in Bogota, where children are treated who, according to him, “speak little”.
“I’m waiting for the children to recover (…). It’s not that easy to ask them questions.” after what they’ve been through, he said again, pressed by a crowd of reporters. “After going through such a tragedy, they need to regain their strength (…). We really couldn’t talkcommented, for his part, Fidencio Valencia, the children’s grandfather. They play with presents [qu’ils ont reçus], they are good, they are in good hands (…). We can’t feed them too much right now. All of this is a process that will take time. »
“It is a miracle from God. We thank God that he kept the children alive”Ranoque continued. “As indigenous people, we have shown the world what we are capable of. We found the plane, we found the kids”welcomed.
Lesly (13 years), Soleiny (9 years), Tien Noriel (5 years) and Cristin (1 year) were found alive by rescuers on Friday afternoon, wandering alone in the forest after the accident, on 1um May, from the small Cessna 206 plane in which they were traveling with their mother, the pilot and a relative. All three adults died in the crash.
” I am hungry “
The Avianline Charters plane had left a forest area known as Araracuara to go to San José del Guaviare (South), one of the main cities of the Colombian Amazon, about 350 km away, before disappearing from the radar. The pilot had just reported an engine problem.
The military found the plane between May 15 and 16, upright, nose planted on the ground, in the middle of dense vegetation, the pilot dead in the cockpit. The indigenous chief and the mother of the family were also found dead, without the soldiers specifying where exactly.
RTVC, the Colombian public television, aired Sunday afternoon the video of the moment of the encounter between the four children, who had been wandering in the jungle for forty days, and their indigenous rescuers. In these images shot with the mobile phone, the emaciated children can be seen, the youngest in the arms of one of his rescuers. Everyone is terribly emaciated.
Their rescuers, members of the indigenous guard, sing, smoke tobacco (sacred plant among the indigenous people) and give thanks with joy. Invited to the set of RTVC, they recounted the first moments of the meeting. “The eldest daughter, Lesly, with the little one in her arms, ran towards me. Lesly said ‘I’m hungry'”said Nicolas Ordonez Gomes, one of the team members. One of the two boys was lying down. He stood up and told me “my mother is dead”. » “We were immediately followed with positive words, saying that we were friends, that we came from the family, from the father, from the uncle. That we were a family”detailed Mr. Ordonez Gomes.
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Manuel Miller Ranoque Morales had protested the broadcast earlier in the day “on social networks” photos of her children in their hospital room: ” It’s not right “, he estimated. The Colombian press began providing details of their ordeal. During the trip, the children were able to use a mosquito net, a towel, a minimum of camping equipment, two mobile phones (with quick-discharge batteries), a flashlight and a small music box.
The father threatened by a dissident armed group of the FARC
Mr. Ranoque also returned to the threats that caused the family’s departure by plane from Guaviare. “I am threatened by the Carolina Ramirez Front” of FARC dissidents, he said, without specifying the reasons for these threats. “I know these unscrupulous people can start pressing again and I will never allow it. They said they would pick me up in Bogota (…). All they want is financial interest, and until you join them you’re an enemy.”he accused.
All this Amazonian part of the south of the country is a historical stronghold of the FARC, which impose a “tax” revolutionary. The army’s search for the children was also a race against time to prevent this armed group, with which the government had just broken a fragile ceasefire, from getting their hands on the young survivors first. .
After more than a month of fruitless searches, the army was about to reduce its assets when it discovered the children. “Each day that began we said to ourselves: today we find them! »said one soldier, quoted by a weekly. The Army today says it is continuing its search to find a tracking dog lost in the jungle while tracking the children.