Amazon jungle crash survivors recovering as soldiers search for missing rescue dog

Dozens of soldiers remain on the search for Wilson, a dog that formed part of the rescue mission for four siblings that survived a plane crash in the Colombian jungle. Wilson, a 6-year-old tracker dog, went missing in the jungle more than two weeks ago. 

The military vowed not to “abandon a fallen comrade” who went missing while searching for the children. Colombians have also taken to placing posters in their windows that read “Missing Wilson,” while others are posting photos of their cats and other pets carrying signs pleading for the dog’s safe return.  

“The search is not over,” the army insisted in a statement issued after the children were located, adding more than 70 soldiers remain deployed in the dense jungle to find the Belgian Shepherd.

On Tuesday, the Colombian Ministry of National Defense released a picture of the dog drawn by a rescued child.

The children were traveling with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to the town of San Jose del Guaviare on May 1 when the pilot of the Cessna single-engine propeller plane declared an emergency due to engine failure the father told CBS News.

Three adults, including the children’s mother, were killed in the crash.

It took nearly 200 military and Indigenous rescuers with search dogs 40 days to track down Lesly, 13, Soleiny, 9, Tien Noriel, 5, and 1-year-old Cristin in difficult jungle conditions. Two of the children survived after being taken care of by their elder siblings. 

They were weak and hungry when found. 

Cassava flour and some familiarity with the rainforest’s fruits were key to the children’s extraordinary survival in an area where snakes, mosquitoes and other animals abound. 

They are in good health but still at “high risk” of infection, the military hospital treating them said Thursday.