Young Girl Used 'Survival Games' To Keep Her Little Brothers Alive In The Amazon Jungle

Credit: Ministry of National Defense of Colombia

Using "survival games," a 13-year-old girl kept her brothers alive in the Amazon jungle for 40 days.

Rescuers have lauded Lesly, the oldest of the four at 13 years old, for using her knowledge and abilities to keep her siblings alive. To obtain fruit and even survive in the Colombian forest, this involved participating in "survival games" and even grinding flour.

Credit: NBC

Lesly, 13, Soleiny, 9, Tien Noriel, 4, and baby Cristin were going on a light plane when it crashed shortly after takeoff, leaving them unaccounted for.

The jet issued a mayday notice on May 1 due to an engine failure before coming down in the jungle of Colombia's Caquetá department.

Tragically, the tragedy claimed the lives of the two pilots, their mother, and an indigenous leader.

AFP

When the kids went missing from the wreckage, a massive search was started, and rescuers followed their footprints and found half-eaten fruit.

The military signal "miracle," which indicates the discovery of a missing child, was now blasted four times over military radios to indicate the recovery of all four children after a week-long search.

In order to survive, Lesly utilized her expertise.

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Knowing which fruits to avoid and even securing a camp with her hair ribbons were all part of this.

Fatima Valencia, the grandmother of the kids, expressed her gratitude for the kids' survival following their tragedy.

She said: "I am very grateful, and to mother earth as well, that they were set free. She [Lesly] gave them flour and cassava bread, any fruit in the bush, they know what they must consume."

Credit: Ministry of National Defense of Colombia

Guanano group leader John Moreno from southeast Colombia said: "They were raised by their grandmother. They used what they learned in the community, and relied on their ancestral knowledge in order to survive."

Lesly has received a lot of appreciation for using her knowledge and abilities to save both her life and the lives of her siblings.

Ivan Velasquez, Colombia's minister of defense, said: "It is thanks to [Lesly], her value and her leadership, that the three others were able to survive, with her care, her knowledge of the jungle. In general, the children, the boy, and the girls are in an acceptable state, according to the medical reports they are out of danger."

The four kids are currently being treated in a hospital in Bogota. They were discovered alive, bit, and dehydrated.

Carlos Rincon, a military doctor, said: "We will begin the process of incorporating food when we complete the process of clinical examinations that will be done today. If things go well, we believe they will stay in the hospital for two to three weeks."