Lost children in the jungle of Colombia: 4 amazing stories of survival and rescue that shook the world

After a tragic accident, many think of the worst.

The rescue of the four children lost in the Colombian jungle More than 40 days after the plane her mother was traveling in crashed and she and two other adults died, she shocked the world.

The Soleiny brothers, Tien, Lesly and Cristin – aged 9, 4, 13 and 1 respectively – were found by military personnel on Friday with signs of dehydration and insect bites, although they were fine.

Throughout history there have been several dramatic cases where it was almost impossible to get someone back alive, but we did. Here are four of these rescues.

1. Tragedy of the Andes

On October 13, 1972, a group of rugby players belonging to the Old Christians Club of Montevideo, Uruguay, traveled to Santiago de Chile with friends and family to play a tournament between teams from different countries

But the Uruguayan Air Force plane they were flying in crashed into the Andes Mountains.

Without knowing the exact whereabouts of the crashed plane, rescue groups searched for the remains of the plane and passengers for days between the mountains and the snow, unsuccessfully, and stopped work.

They were all left for dead.

But at the time of the accident, 12 of the 45 people on board died. As the days passed, others died, eight of them in an avalanche that covered the inside of the plane with snow.

When the food on the plane ran out, the survivors turned to the human flesh of the deceased for sustenance.

In December of that year, two of the rugby players – Roberto Canessa and Fernando Parrado – embarked on a long ten-day hike to seek help and 72 days after the accident, 14 more survivors were rescued from the mountain.

2. The “Wonder Babies” of Mexico

On September 19, 1985, a devastating earthquake of magnitude 8.1 shook Mexico City and hundreds of buildings were severely damaged or collapsed, killing thousands.

The exact number of fatalities from the earthquake that day is not known for certain, but it ranges from the government figure of 3,692 to more than 10,000, according to the Red Cross.

After working through the rubble for days, rescuers managed to get several newborns alive, who were christened as “miracle babies”.

One of them was Jesús Francisco Flores, known as the “earthquake child” or “prodigy child”, who was still in his mother’s womb at the time of the earthquake. She died in the collapse of her house, but he survived thanks to his grandmother who took a razor blade and her daughter opened it to save him.

3. “We 33 are fine in the shelter”

On August 5, 2010, a gold and copper mine in Copiapó, in Chile’s Atacama Desert, collapsed. 33 miners captured about 700 meters deep.

Initially, the scenario was pessimistic. But the search for survivors began with the hope that the men who were there could have found a place of refuge where they could be safe in the mine.

On August 22, the place where they were refugees was found and a message of hope reached abroad: “We are fine in the refuge de 33”.

The rescuers had to use excavators to drill through the rock and get to where the workers were without harming the conditions of those trapped.

The plan was to send a pod that would take them out of the depths one by one.

Finally, after 69 days underground, the miners were rescued.

4. Children of the cave in Thailand

On June 23, 2018, in Northern Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, 12 children went for a walk with their football coach.

When the practice was over, they raced their bikes through the rice paddies and into the wooded hills that had been covered in rain for the past few days.

His destination: the Tham Luang cavea favorite place for teenagers, who loved to explore the passages and corridors of the Mae Sai Mountains.

The children entered the cave carrying only their flashlights.

That’s all they needed. After all, they were only planning to stay there for an hour.

But the cave quickly flooded and not only could they not get out, but they had to go deep into the cave so as not to be submerged.

The group used rocks to dig 5 meters deep into a small rock platform about 4 kilometers from the cave entrance they created a cave where they could be together and keep warm.

Specialist cave divers from several countries traveled to Thailand to work on the rescue, and after nine days in the dark, the boys were able to see the light again.