Exhausted but ‘happy’: the four children who survived a 40-day wandering in the Colombian jungle are resting in a Bogota military hospital as Colombia celebrates the ‘miracle’.

“I just saw my grandchildren. First of all, they have life in them. Although they are very exhausted, they are in good hands,” their grandmother Fidencio Valencia, a native of the Uitoto tribe, 47, told reporters.

“They are happy to see the family (…) they have all their senses,” said their grandfather, wearing a traditional poncho around his neck, in front of the military hospital in the Colombian capital. “They are children of the wilderness and they know how to survive in the jungle.”

“We leave no one behind!”

“At first they survived by eating some flour (that was on the plane) and then seeds,” their grandfather explained.

After wandering for 40 days in the Guaviare jungle in the Amazon, Leslie (13), Soleini (9), Tien Noriel (4) and Christine (1) were found alive by rescuers on Friday afternoon.

Members of the Uitoto tribe, the children, who were rescued from the Cessna 206 crash that killed their mother and two other adults, were found 5 kilometers from the crash site.

The military has announced that it is continuing to search for Wilson, the sniffer dog, a magnificent six-year-old Malinois who went missing in recent days in the dense vegetation. “Our principle: we leave no one behind.”

The bond with nature

It was the fighting nature of Leslie, the older sister, that allowed them to survive, their grandmother believes. “She usually took care of her siblings when their mother was at work. He gave them to eat flour, cassava bread, fruits of the bushes.”

According to the National Organization of the Amerindian Peoples of Colombia (Opiac), an important factor that played a role in their survival is the fact that they are indigenous, it is this very special bond with nature that defines them.

“The survival of the children is a testament to the knowledge and relationship that indigenous people maintain with nature, a bond that is taught from the time they are in their mother’s womb,” Opiac wrote in a statement.