Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday awarded medals to the 86 rescuers – military and indigenous volunteers – who took part in the massive search and rescue operation to locate the four children who wandered for 40 days in the jungle after surviving the crash of the plane they were on. .

“There is no question of whether Western or traditional wisdom is more important… Their combination brought back the children,” the Colombian president said.

Members of the Uitoto tribe, the four children – ages 1, 4, 9 and 13 – survived the crash of the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling with their mother and another relative. The mother breathed her last four days after the plane crashed, which also claimed the lives of the other two adults on board (including the pilot and a passenger).

The fact that the four children survived for 40 days in the jungle is due to their familiarity with the dense vegetation, but also to the courage of the 13-year-old who guided her siblings.

The four brothers remain under medical observation in hospital, but the government says their health is improving at a satisfactory rate.

A medal was also awarded to the trainer of the dog Wilson, a Belgian shepherd who took part in the operation and mysteriously disappeared, having earlier tracked down the four children. After the rescue of the children, there was a great mobilization to locate the dog, but to no avail.