Rescued Colombian Indigenous kids 'coloring, drawing'
In this handout photo released by the Colombian Presidential Press Office, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro greets a nurse tending to one of the four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive, at a military hospital in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10. AP-Yonhap
The four Indigenous children rescued in the Colombian Amazon after wandering the jungle for 40 days were showing "satisfactory" recovery, welfare officials said Monday.
Siblings Lesly, Soleiny, Tien Noriel and Cristin ― ages 13, nine, five and one respectively ― were receiving treatment at a military hospital in Bogota after they were found hungry and dehydrated last Friday, having survived a plane crash more than five weeks earlier.
Their mother had died in the aftermath of the crash, which killed the two other adults they were travelling with.
By Monday, the children were "in high spirits," Adriana Velasquez of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute said in a video sent to media.
"They have been coloring, drawing. They love to talk," she added.
Manuel Ranoque, the father of two of the youngest Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults, and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive, speaks to the media from the entrance of the military hospital where the children are receiving medical attention, in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, June 11. AP-Yonhap
The older siblings had been fighting fever spikes, a colleague of Velasquez, Astrid Caceres, told W Radio, while Tien Noriel was being monitored for a possible reaction to something he ate.
Tien Noriel was too weak to walk by the time rescuers found the four after searching more than 2,600 kilometers (1,615 miles) of jungle only to discover them some five kilometers from the wreck of the small plane.
The youngest of the siblings remains in intensive care "not due to any serious condition but for closer monitoring due to her age," said Caceres, adding that all four had been catching up on lost sleep.
The children are expected to remain in hospital for another two to three weeks. (AFP)
In this photo released by Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office, soldiers and Indigenous men pose for a photo with the four Indigenous children who were missing after a deadly plane crash, in the Solano jungle, Caqueta state, Colombia, Friday, June 9. AP-Yonhap