Reports of children surviving Amazon plane crash unconfirmed, Colombian president now says

JJ Hensley, USA TODAY
·1 min read
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The president of Colombia deleted a social media post saying that four children had survived a plane crash in the Amazon, raising question about the fate of the passengers on the plane that crashed more than two weeks ago.

President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday declared "joy for the country" after initially saying military forces had found four children − ages 11 months, 4, 9 and 13 − alive in the forest.

But on Thursday, Petro deleted the tweet and said instead that reports of the discovery could not be confirmed and the search was ongoing, according to Reuters.

"I'm sorry it happened," Petro said, according to Reuters. "At this time there's no other priority other than moving forward with the search until you find them. The children's lives are the most important."

A handout picture released by the Colombian army shows a soldier with a dog checking a pair of scissors found in the forest in a rural area of the municipality of Solano, department of Caqueta, Colombia, on May 17, 2023. More than 100 soldiers with sniffer dogs are following the "trail" of four missing children in the Colombian Amazon after a small plane crash that killed three adults, the military said Wednesday.

Photos released by the Colombian army, which deployed more than 100 soldiers and search dogs to locate the children, show hair ties, scissors and a baby bottle found Wednesday on the jungle forest floor in a rural area of the municipality of Solano.

According to a preliminary investigation by officials, Avianline Charters Flight HK 280, was carrying seven people between Araracuara in Amazonas province and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare, when it apparently suffered an engine failure before it went down, killing the pilot, another adult and the children's mother.

The plane, a Cessna 206, along with the bodies of the adults, were found Monday in a forest, officials said.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence children survived Amazon plane crash: Colombian president