Absolute Survival! 4 children including baby found alive 40 days after plane crash in dangerous Amazon jungle

News Network
June 10, 2023

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Bogota, June 10: Four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a small plane crash have been found alive, President Gustavo Petro said Friday.

"Today we have had a magical day," Petro told the media in the capital Bogota after announcing their rescue.

"They are weak. Let's let the doctors make their assessment," he added.

The president earlier posted a photo on Twitter showing several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, tending to the children as they sat on tarps in the jungle. One rescuer held a bottle to the mouth of the smallest child, whom he held in his arms.

"A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle were found alive," he wrote on Twitter.

Video shared by the Defense Ministry late Friday showed the children being pulled up into a helicopter as it hovered over the tall trees in almost complete darkness.

Originally from the Huitoto Indigenous group, the children -- aged 13, nine, four and one -- had been wandering alone in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed.

The pilot had reported engine problems only minutes after taking off from a jungle area known as Araracuara on the 350-kilometer (217-mile) journey to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.

The bodies of the pilot, the children's mother and a local Indigenous leader were all found at the crash site, where the plane sat almost vertical in the trees.

Officials later said that the group had been fleeing threats from members of an armed group.

A massive search by 160 soldiers and 70 Indigenous people with intimate knowledge of the jungle had been underway ever since for the youngsters, garnering global attention.

The area is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators, as well as armed drug smuggling groups, but ongoing clues -- footprints, a diaper, half-eaten fruit -- led authorities to believe they were on the right track.

Worried that the children would continue wandering and become ever more difficult to locate, the air force dumped 10,000 flyers into the forest with instructions in Spanish and the children's own Indigenous language, telling them to stay put.

The leaflets also included survival tips, and the military dropped food parcels and bottled water.

Rescuers had also been broadcasting a message recorded by the children's grandmother, urging them not to move.

According to the military, rescuers found the children about five kilometers (three miles) west of the crash site.

'Absolute survival'

Huitoto children learn hunting, fishing and gathering, and the kids' grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, had told AFP the children are well acquainted with the jungle.

News of the rescue came as Petro returned home from Cuba, where he signed a six-month truce with Colombia's last active guerrilla group, the ELN.

"Getting closer and attaining peace in the agreement that is moving forward with the ELN... And now I return and the first news is that indeed the Indigenous communities that were in the search and the military forces found the children 40 days later," he told reporters in Bogota.

"They were alone, they made it on their own. An example of absolute survival that will go down in history," he said.

Seventeen days after the children went missing, Petro announced that they had been found alive, but he retracted the statement a day later, saying he had been given false information.

On Friday, he praised "the effective coordination between the military and the Indigenous people" during the search, saying it was an "example of an alliance for the country to follow."

Valencia told AFP that the children had been found by a native of Araracuara who had been participating in the search.

"I need a flight or a helicopter to go and get them urgently," the grandfather said.

Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez paid tribute to the various army units' "unshakeable and tireless" work, as well as to the Indigenous people who took part in the search.

Army rescuers "immediately took charge of and stabilized" the four siblings, who were to be transferred to San Jose del Guaviare, according to the minister.

"Tomorrow, depending on their medical assessment and condition, we hope they will be transferred to Bogota, to the military hospital," Velasquez said. 
 

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News Network
September 8,2023

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The BJP and the JD(S) have sealed their alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024 in Karnataka, BJP leader and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa confirmed on Friday. The agreement has been for four seats, Yediyurappa said adding that Amit Shah agreed to give four Lok Sabha seats to JD(S). JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda recently met BJP chief JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah and the meeting indicated that BJP and the JD(S) would walk into an alliance -- only the details were pending.

JD(S) came into an alliance with the Congress and formed the government with HD Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. The government was ousted after it lost the trust vote in 2019, a year after it came to power.

According to reports, JDS wanted to contest from Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chickballapur and Bengaluru Rural. BJP reportedly agreed to let it contest on four seats -- Kolar, Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru rural.

The move comes days after Deve Gowda claimed that his party was neither with the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) nor with the NDA. JD(S), Deve Gowda said, would fight the Lok Sabha elections independently.

Once an ally of the Congress -- though unnatural -- JDS was not invited to the INDIA meeting held in Bengaluru. "Some (Karnataka) Congress leaders did not want me... Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is my good friend (but) since Congress doesn't want me... I skipped," Deve Gowda said when the second meeting of the opposition alliance was held in the city.

A meeting was held on Wednesday at the residence of Deve Gowda to seek the opinion of the party functionaries on the prospective alliance. Most leaders have given their opinion in favour of an alliance with the BJP.

In 2019 Lok Sabha election, JDS won Hassan where Deve Gowda's grand nephew Prajwal Revanna contested.

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News Network
September 9,2023

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A rare, powerful earthquake that struck Morocco late Friday night, killing hundreds of people and damaging historic buildings, was "exceptional", according to an expert. According to latest reports at least 632 people died and 329 were injured in the quake.

Residents of Marrakech, the nearest big city to the epicentre, said some buildings had collapsed in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and local television showed pictures of a fallen mosque minaret with rubble lying on smashed cars.

Earthquakes are relatively rare in North Africa. Speaking to Moroccan news network 2M TV, Lahcen Mhanni, Head of the Seismic Monitoring and Warning Department at the National Institute of Geophysics, said, "Mountainous regions in general do not produce earthquakes of this size,” he said. "It is the strongest earthquake recorded in the region.”

In 1960, a magnitude 5.8 tremor struck near the Moroccan city of Agadir and caused thousands of deaths. The Agadir quake prompted changes in construction rules in Morocco, but many buildings, especially rural homes, are not built to withstand such tremors.

Shallow quakes more dangerous

The US Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 when it hit at 11.11pm (3.11am UAE time), with shaking that lasted several seconds. The US agency reported a magnitude-4.9 aftershock hit 19 minutes later.

The USGS said the epicentre was 18 kilometres below the Earth’s surface, while Morocco’s seismic agency put it at 8 kilometres down. In either case, such shallow quakes are more dangerous.

The epicentre of Friday's tremor was high in the Atlas Mountains, roughly 70 kilometres south of Marrakech. It was also near Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa and Oukaimeden, a popular Moroccan ski resort.

The quake was felt as far away as Portugal and Algeria, according to the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere and Algeria's Civil Defense agency, which oversees emergency response.

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News Network
September 19,2023

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New Delhi, Sept 19: India on Tuesday summoned Canadian envoy Cameron MacKay to inform him of the government’s decision to expel a “senior Canadian diplomat” in response to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the death of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The move marked a further deterioration in bilateral relations, which are currently in tatters over the Canadian side’s response to India’s concerns over the activities of pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil.

“The High Commissioner of Canada to India was summoned today and informed about the decision of the Government of India to expel a senior Canadian diplomat based in India. The concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days,” the external affairs ministry said in a brief statement.

Unlike the Canadian side, the statement did not name the Canadian diplomat being expelled.

People familiar with the matter said Olivier Sylvestere, the Canadian intelligence agency station chief in India, was the official asked to leave the country.

“The decision reflects Government of India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities,” the statement said, without giving details.

India has already rejected Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s contention that there are “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar in June, describing the claim as “absurd and motivated”.

Soon after Trudeau spoke on the matter in Canada’s Parliament, foreign minister Mélanie Joly announced the expulsion of a “top Indian diplomat”. Joly’s office later identified the official as Pavan Kumar Rai, head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Canada, according to public broadcaster CBC.

People familiar with the matter had earlier said on condition of anonymity that India was expected to expel a Canadian official as a response. It is not unusual in international diplomacy for such expulsions by one country to be responded to by the other country with a tit-for-tat measure.

With the Indian Parliament holding a special session, external affairs minister S Jaishankar is expected to make an official statement in the House on the matter, the people said.

India-Canada relations have been at an all-time low for some time now, largely because of New Delhi’s anger over Ottawa’s perceived indifference to the activities of pro-Khalistan elements. These elements have incited violence against Indian diplomats, including putting the officials’ photos and other details on posters, and targeted Indian diplomatic facilities several times in recent years.

Canadian diplomats, including the high commissioner in New Delhi, have been summoned to the external affairs ministry in the past for formal protests over the activities of Khalistani elements.

In June, the Indian government was particularly angered after a float at a pro-Khalistan rally in Toronto depicted the assassination of former premier Indira Gandhi in a gory manner and eulogised her killers.

Several efforts in recent years to reset India-Canada relations have run aground over the Canadian side’s persistent stance that the activities of pro-Khalistan elements are covered by the freedom of expression guaranteed to Canadian citizens.

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