Military vows to continue the hunt for the dog that helped locate plane crash children in the Amazon
A renewed hunt is on to find the heroic rescue dog who discovered the four siblings who survived alone in the Amazon jungle for 40 days after a plane crash killed their mother.
Wilson, a six-year-old special forces dog, was believed lost after running away from his handlers in the jungle in Colombia until his paw prints were discovered miraculously leading rescuers to the children.
The faithful dog stayed with the youngsters for several days and played with them until the search team arrived.
But during the chaos of getting the kids out of the Amazon, loyal Belgian Shepherd Wilson got lost in the undergrowth of the jungle.
However, the Colombian military has vowed to continue its search for the unsung hero of the rescue mission involving about 70 members of the armed forces as the children, who are recovering in hospital, take pictures of the dog they befriended.
Wilson, a six-year-old special forces dog, went missing as the children were frantically transported out of the jungle.
The kids who befriended the dog in the jungle have snapped photos of Wilson recovering at the hospital
Four children Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Ten Noriel, five, and Cristin, who spent his first birthday in the jungle, are recovering at a hospital in Bogota.
The armed forces said Operation Hope – the name given to the initial search – “will not end until he (Wilson) is found,” the Telegraph reported.
“We are united to get our dog commando Wilson out of the jungle and bring him back,” a spokesman added, while General Pedro Sanchez, who led the operation, said “we’re going for Wilson, we’re going to get him back.”
Dozens of soldiers now search the depths of the jungle for the animal, while the four children he helped save, Lesly, 13, Soleiny, nine, Tien Noriel, five, and Cristin who celebrated his first birthday in the jungle, recover in a hospital in Bogotá.
Reportedly, the children continue to talk about the dog they befriended after the crash.
Astrid Caceres, director of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, which looks after the young people, said Lesly told them “about a dog they lost, that they didn’t know where he was going, that he had been with them for a while.”
The eldest sibling even made a chalk drawing showing the dog sitting under the tree and by a river waving its paw. Next to it she wrote his name Wilson. Soleiny also drew a similar image of a brown dog with black pointy ears.
Even members of the public in Colombia caught up in the rescue mission have hung “Missing Wilson” posters on their windows, with many taking to social media to tag #Let’sGoForWilsosn and #WilsonNationalHero.
The eldest sibling, Lesly, drew Wilson under trees and appeared to be by a river
The children are still being treated in a military hospital in the capital Bogota
Sofia Petro, daughter of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, greets one of the indigenous children
About 70 members of the armed forces are now searching for the dog, who the children have befriended and fondly talk about as they recover in hospital
The plane crash happened in Solano, Caqueta. The aircraft was found destroyed on May 16
The eldest of four Colombian children who survived 40 days in the Amazon jungle is a thirteen-year-old girl who took care of her younger brothers
Wilson’s determined dog handler, Christian David Lara, continues to search the rainforest for his beloved canine companion.
The Belgian Shepherd was one of 10 service dogs that accompanied more than 200 soldiers during the initial search and rescue efforts.
The May 1 light aircraft accident killed all others on board, including the children’s mother Magdalena Mucutui Valencia, the pilot, and an indigenous leader. The destroyed aircraft was found on May 16.
The siblings, members of the Huitoto indigenous group, were dehydrated, malnourished and bitten by insects, but are otherwise healthy, rescuers said.
Wilson was last seen on June 8, when Civil Defense member Carlos Villegas spotted him from 40 yards away. He faces challenges to survive in the jungle, where he battles snakes, jaguars, insects and armed gangs.
“My partner tried to play with him, activate him, call him to see if he came to us to catch him, but the dog got scared and went outside and got lost again in the jungle,” he said.
On Friday, Army radios chanted the words “miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle” – the Army code for a child found alive and repeated four times to represent all four children.
Military personnel rescue one of four children from a plane who went missing after a plane crash at Bogota’s CATAM Military Airport
Colombian Presidency shows Colombian President Gustavo Petro (back) embracing Fidencio Valencia, the grandfather of the four indigenous children
President Gustavo Petro greeted a nurse who cared for one of four indigenous children who survived a plane crash in the Amazon on Friday
President Gustavo Petro rejoiced when news broke, calling the children an “example of survival” and predicting that their story “will remain in history.”
The children’s grandmother, Fatima Valencia, said after the rescue: “I am very grateful, and also Mother Earth, that they have been released.”
She added that Lesly, the eldest sibling, was used to taking care of her younger sister and brothers while their mother was at work, which helped them survive in the jungle.
“She gave them flour and cassava bread, every fruit in the bush, they know what to consume,” Valencia told the BBC.
When the wreckage was found after weeks of hunting, the children had been found alive, with only signs of dehydration and insect bites, with Damaris Mucutuy telling a radio station, “the children are fine.”
The president claimed, “the jungle saved them.” He added: “They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”