The four children who managed to survive unaided for 40 days in the Amazon jungle and were found by rescuers in early June have now been discharged from the hospital where they were treated, the Colombian government announced yesterday.

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 survival of the children is largely attributed to the familiarity they had with the dense vegetation, but also to the courage of the 13-year-old who guided her siblings during their wanderings in the Colombian jungle.

“They have regained the desired weight, they are really doing very well,” Astrid Caceres, director of the national social welfare center, told reporters, adding that the “second sentence” is beginning in terms of “their care and protection.”

The four brothers will remain under the protection of the center because of the “complicated family situation,” Caceres said.

The mother’s family and the father of the two younger children are vying for custody, but a decision is not expected before the end of the year.