Colombia Awards Medals To Rescuers Who Found Missing Children After 40 Days In Amazon

Colombian President Gustavo Petro honoured the rescuers who took part in an operation to find children missing for 40 days in a forest, according to Al-Jazeera. The children survived a plane crash in the Amazon and lived for more than five weeks in the forest. The children, aged 1 through 13, survived the May 1 crash that killed their mother and two other adults and were found earlier this month. They were found by volunteers from the Indigenous Muruy people who undertook a large and complex search operation.

"More than the medals, which are symbolic... the great prize, the great reward, is called life," President Petro said while presenting 86 medals to the rescuers.

The ceremony was held in capital Bogota where he gave the Order of Boyaca - the second highest distinction in the armed forces and the highest for civilians - the Al-Jazeera report said.

The children's knowledge of the jungle, as well as the eldest sister's courage, have been credited by officials with saving their lives.

"Now there is no debate about whether Western or traditional wisdom is more important," Mr Petro said of the rescue efforts. "Together they brought the children back."

The siblings remain hospitalised but the government has said they are recovering satisfactorily.

The search saw the military deploy helicopters, satellites and loudspeakers playing a recording of the children's grandmother, among other tactics.

The Indigenous rescuers they collaborated with say they connected with "mother Earth" thanks to ayahuasca, a traditional drink with hallucinogenic properties.

The Colombian President also awarded a medal to a dog named Drugia - the mother of military rescue canine Wilson that at one point apparently located the children in the dense jungle, but got then separated from them and remains lost.