Four indigenous children who survived plane crash found alive

Four children from an indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the south of the country more than five weeks after the plane crashed in thick jungle, Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, said.

The children were rescued by the military near the border between Colombia's Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, close to where the small plane had crashed.

A joy for the whole country! The four children, which were lost in the Colombian jungle, appeared alive, Petro said in a message via Twitter.

The plane a Cessna 206 was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a May 1 warning due to engine failure.

The pilot and three other people, including the pilot, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. The children, all 13 and nine, and a 11-month-old baby, survived the impact.

Preliminary information from the civil aviation authority, which led the rescue efforts, suggests that the children escaped the plane and set off into the rainforest to find help.

There was initial confusion over whether the children had been found alive, after claims from the president that they had been found were contradicted by military sources.

Rescuers, supported by search dogs, had previously discovered discarded fruit the children ate to survive, as well as improvised shelters made with jungle vegetation.

Colombian military and air force aircrafts and helicopters participated in the rescue operations.