The four French tourists, including a 6-year-old boy, were found alive after wandering for two days in the jungle of northern Guatemala.

“They were found slightly dehydrated and their health condition has stabilized,” Gustavo Ara, head of volunteer firefighters in the Petin region, near the border with Mexico and Belize, told AFP.

According to a press release issued by the Tourism Institute of Guatemala, they are a 41-year-old man, two women (ages 40 and 68) and a 6-year-old boy – all members of the same family.

In images released by rescuers, the four tourists can be seen receiving medical attention before being taken to the Guatemalan capital.

Their tracks were lost on Wednesday in Tikal National Park, one of the main Mayan archaeological sites in Guatemala, which is about 500 kilometers from the capital. It has imposing pyramids and temples, while since 1979 it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. But it is located in an isolated area, where drug-trafficking gangs operate.

In early January 2022, a German tourist was found dead in the same park, two days after he went missing in the area. The 53-year-old man had become separated from a group visiting the park, wanting to explore some other trails in the archaeological site.

In 2001 many tourists, American and European, were attacked by armed masked men who killed a ranger when he tried to defend them.

Guatemala, a country of 18 million people, has been plagued for decades by organized crime, corruption and poverty. It is one of the most violent regions of the American continent, where last year there were 17.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to UN data. At least half of these homicides are attributed to criminal gangs and drug traffickers.