In the photo, four brave children were found in the Amazon jungle recovering in their hospital beds

For the first time since being miraculously rescued from the Colombian jungle after 40 days, four indigenous children are depicted in hospital, on the mend, playing with stuffed animals and drawing with crayons.

Exclusive photos show the siblings, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, four, and baby Cristin, one, safe in their hospital beds at a military hospital in Bogota, Colombia.

Lesly and Soleiny Mucutuy have created touching colored drawings of Wilson, the Belgian Shepherd rescue dog, who went missing on the mission to rescue them.

The siblings created the crayon drawings as their contribution to the ongoing hunt for the lost dog that played a key role in finding them after the May 1 plane crash that left the children’s mother, pilot, and Indigenous leader trying to find it. came alive – and left them behind for over a month.

The drawings were revealed when the head of the Colombian Armed Forces, General Helder Giraldo, visited the children in the hospital.

After approaching them, the elder two presented him with the drawings and request that they be given to Wilson’s handler.

In Lesly’s drawing, six-year-old Wilson is depicted next to a river full of fish, a tree, some yellow flowers and with the sun on a path.

Soleiny’s image was similar, with Wilson by a tree, a flower and the blazing sun. On one side of the drawing is the Colombian flag and the message ‘Always Blessed’.

Narciso Mucutuy, grandfather of the two elderly survivors, said, “They make them draw pictures…something they need to express themselves.”

Rescue dog Wilson was believed to be lost a few days before the siblings were found after running away from his handlers, until rescue teams found his footprints near those of the children.

The faithful dog stayed with the children for several days before getting lost again and despite proving to be crucial to the search mission, codenamed ‘Esperanza’, the Spanish word for hope, has not been found.

Carlos Andres Villegas, a civil defense dog guide, revealed that Wilson was last seen on June 8 before disappearing into the dense jungle.

“Wilson gave us directions, he looked at us and wanted to tell us something. He came out and went back into the jungle,” Villegas said.

“The other defense dog guide who accompanied me saw Wilson about 100 feet away, trying to play with him.

“He tried to call him, he tried to motivate him to come so he could get closer to him so he could catch him. But he was scared and went back into the jungle and was never seen again.’

The indigenous community in the area of ​​the jungle where the Cessna sank has called Wilson a “military warrior.”

The four children had been lost in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 they were traveling in crashed.

The pilot had reported engine problems just minutes after taking off from a deep Amazon region known as Araracuara on the 350-kilometer journey to the city of San Jose del Guaviare.

The bodies of the pilot, the children’s mother and another adult were all found at the crash site, where the plane was perched almost vertically in the trees.

But when the plane’s wreckage was found after weeks of hunting, not only were the children not found dead alongside the adults, but there was also partially eaten fruit that suggested they had all survived.

That sparked a massive hunt through miles of dense and remote Amazon rainforest, culminating in their rescue on Friday.

“The jungle saved them,” said President Gustavo Petro. “They are children of the jungle, and now they are children of Colombia.”

An army helicopter hovered over the canopy before the four children were hoisted aboard and flown to hospital for a check-up. The delighted soldiers had previously posed for photos with the children, who looked emaciated.

After the siblings were miraculously found, dramatic footage shows the four children being hoisted into a rescue helicopter, bitten, dehydrated and malnourished but happily alive, and taken to safety for medical treatment.

“It’s a joy for the whole country,” Petro tweeted.

“They were alone. They themselves achieved an example of total survival that will remain in history.”

The siblings, members of the Huitoto indigenous group, were dehydrated, malnourished and bitten by insects, but are otherwise healthy, rescuers said.

Their grandmother, whose voice was played from planes over the jungle during the search to reassure the young people they were being searched for, told reporters, “I never gave up hope, I always supported the search. I feel very happy, I thank President Petro and my ‘countrymen’ who have gone through so many difficulties.’

Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez paid tribute to the “unwavering and tireless” work of the various army units, as well as the indigenous people who took part in the search.

The children’s grandfather told Noticias Caracol that he was very grateful to the military for their help in finding them, adding, “I want to see them.”

The survival story is all the more miraculous because the jungle is home to jaguars, cougars, snakes and other predators, as well as armed groups that smuggle drugs and terrorize the local population.