Director of the Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF) Astrid Caceres speaks during a press conference in Bogota, Colombia July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Four Colombian Indigenous children who survived a plane crash in the country's Amazon region and lived for more than five weeks in the jungle have been released from hospital after a 34-day stay, the government said on Friday.
The children, aged 1 through 13, survived the May 1 crash that killed their mother and two other adults and were found last month.
The Indigenous children's knowledge of the jungle, as well as the eldest sister's courage, have been credited by officials with saving their lives.
"They have recovered size and weight, really they are very well," Astrid Caceres, the director of the country's child welfare institute, told journalists. "The second phase of caring and protecting them begins."
The siblings will remain under the care of the institute because of a "complex family situation," she said, and final custody arrangements for them will be decided in six months.
"We're entering a transitional phase for the protection of the children," Caceres added.
Both the father of the two youngest children and their mother's family have told media they want custody.
(Reporting by Carlos Vargas; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; editing by Deepa Babington)
