BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's president handed out 86 medals Monday to soldiers, Indigenous volunteers and government officials who helped in the rescue of four children who spent 40 days on their own in the jungle after a plane crash.
President Gustvao Petro described the search that captivated world attention as an example of how Western technologies and traditional knowledge of Indigenous people can work together in the "preservation of life."
The children, Indigenous siblings, were on a small plane with their mother and two other adults when it crashed in the Amazon on May 1. The three adults died.
Some 70 Indigenous people worked with more than 150 soldiers to look for the children in difficult terrain, using helicopters and GPS devices but also drawing inspiration from traditional knowledge of the jungle. The children, aged 1 to 13, were found June 9 by four volunteers from the Muruy people. The children are still recovering at a military hospital in Bogota.
"The military with its satellites, and the Indigenous people with their potions - including ayahuasca - and invoking the spirits of the jungle, together, found life" Petro said during the ceremony in front of the presidential palace.
After soldiers in camouflage and Indigenous people wearing feathered headdresses received their medals, a Belgian shepherd named Drugia was saluted by the president.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro decorates a soldier that participated in the search of four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, during a ceremony at the Palace of Narino in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Military officials said the dog was the mother of Wilson, the sniffer dog who became a national hero after helping find the children.
The military has said searchers followed Wilson's pawprints, which led them into the general area where the children were eventually found three weeks later by four of the Indigenous volunteers.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Gen. Pedro Sanchez, who commanded the rescue effort, noted soldiers were still hunting for Wilson, but added that at this point there is little hope of finding the dog.
"We are going to remember Wilson forever, as we do every soldier and policeman who has offered their lives to protect Colombia," Sanchez said.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro talks to Indigenous people who participated in the search for four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro speaks during a ceremony with Indigenous and military personnel who participated in the search of four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023.
An Indigenous person attends a ceremony with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro who honored Indigenous and military personnel who participated in the search of four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Soldiers who participated in the search for four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, attend a ceremony with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro embraces an Indigenous leader who participated in the search of four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, during a ceremony in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
A Belgian Shepherd "Drugia," the mother of the search dog Wilson that went missing during the search for four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, attends a ceremony at the Palace of Narino in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro shakes hands with an Indigenous leader who participated in the search of four Indigenous children who survived an Amazon plane crash, during a ceremony in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, June 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
