NEW DELHI: It was a tale of fortitude, courage and survival when four kids, aged 11 months to 13 years, were miraculously found alive after 40 days in the dangerous Amazon jungle.The discovery of the kids marked a happy ending to an intensive search-and-rescue saga which involved sniffer dogs, helicopters and aircraft and had the entire nation of Columbia on the edge.In a jungle infested with snakes, mosquitoes and other predators, it would have been a miracle for even an adult to survive for so many days.

Naturally, the survival of the "lost" kids, one of whom wasn't even a year old, has now prompted questions about their extraordinary story.Here's what happened and how the kids survived ..The plane crashThe group of four children was travelling with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare when the plane crashed on May 1.The crash took the lives of the pilot, the mother and a third adult.

The pilot had reported engine problems only minutes after taking off from a deep Amazon area known as Araracuara on the 350-kilometer (217-mile) journey to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.Officials said the group, who are members of the Huitoto Indigenous group, had been fleeing threats from members of an armed group.Lost in the jungleThe children had wandered into the jungle after surviving the plane crash, lost and scared.First, they survived by eating a little flour (which was on board the plane) and then some seeds.They also survived on roots and plants which they knew were edible thanks to their upbringing.Fidencio Valencia, an uncle of the children, told reporters outside the hospital that the survivors were happy to see family members, who are taking a “day-by-day” approach to the situation.1/13Children lost for 40 days in Colombian Amazon found alivePreviousNextShow Captions<p>Children lost for 40 days in Colombian Amazon found alive<br /></p><p><br /><br />​<b>The four Indigenous children who had been missing for more than a month in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a small plane crash have been found alive, President Gustavo Petro announced Friday.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p><br /><br />​<b>"A joy for the whole country! The 4 children who were lost 40 days ago in the Colombian jungle were found alive," Gustavo Francisco Petro wrote on Twitter.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p><b>President Petro post included a photograph of several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, attending to the children who were sitting on tarps among the dense forest.</b></p><br /><br />​<p><b>Originally from the Uitoto Indigenous group, the children aged 13, nine, four and one had been wandering alone in the jungle since May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p style="line-height:1.2;text-align: justify;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;">The bodies of three adults who had been with them their mother, the pilot and a relative were all found at the crash site by the army.</p><p><br /><br />​<b>A massive search by 160 soldiers and 70 Indigenous people with intimate knowledge of the jungle had been under way ever since for the youngsters, garnering global attention.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p><br /><br />​<b>The area is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators, as well as armed drug smuggling groups, but ongoing clues footprints, a diaper, half-eaten fruit led authorities to believe they were on the right track.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p><br /><br />​<b>Worried that the children would continue wandering and become ever more difficult to locate, the air force dumped 10,000 flyers into the forest with instructions in Spanish and the children's own Indigenous language, telling them to stay put.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p><p style="line-height:1.2;text-align: justify;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:10pt;margin-bottom:10pt;">The leaflets also included survival tips, and the military dropped food parcels and bottled water.

Rescuers had also been broadcasting a message recorded by the children's grandmother, urging them not to move.</p><p style="line-height:1.2;text-align: justify;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;">Huitoto children learn hunting, fishing and gathering and the kids' grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, had told AFP the children are well acquainted with the jungle.</p><p><br /><br />​"They were alone, they made it on their own.

An example of absolute survival that will go down in history," Colombia President added.

<br /><br />​<br /></p><p><br /><br />​<b>Valencia, the children's grandfather, confirmed to AFP on Friday that the children had been found.

"I need a flight or a helicopter to go and get them urgently," he said.</b><br /><br />​<br /></p>“When the plane crashed, they took out (of the wreckage) a fariña, and with that, they survived,” Valencia said, referring to a cassava flour that people eat in the Amazon region.

“After the fariña ran out, they began to eat seeds.”When they were rescued, the children were found to be "very weak." General Pedro Sanchez, who led the search operation, said they had only enough strength to breathe or reach a small fruit to feed themselves or drink a drop of water in the jungle.The oldest guided the other 3The youngest two children, now five and one, spent their birthdays in the jungle, as Lesly, the oldest at just 13 years old, guided them through the ordeal."It is thanks to her, her courage and her leadership, that the three others were able to survive, with her care, her knowledge of the jungle," defence minister Ivan Velasquez said.The children's grandmother Fatima Valencia said 13-year-old Lesly kept her younger siblings safe with her "warrior" spirit.Massive search operationIt took a massive search operation involving 160 soldiers and 70 indigenous people with intimate knowledge of the jungle to find the kids.

The operation also garnered global attention.Army chief Helder Giraldo said rescuers had covered over 2,600 kilometers (1650 miles) in total to locate the children.

"Something that seemed impossible was achieved," Giraldo said on Twitter.Columbian President Gustavo Petro posted a photo on Twitter showing several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, tending to the children as they sat on tarps in the jungle.

One rescuer held a bottle to the mouth of the smallest child, whom he held in his arms.He heralded the success as a "meeting of Indigenous and military knowledge" that had demonstrated a "different path towards a new Colombia."Small clues led to rescueDuring the search, trackers found clues such as footprints, a diaper, and half-eaten fruit led authorities to believe they were on the right track.Worried that the children would continue wandering and become ever more difficult to locate, the air force dumped 10,000 flyers into the forest with instructions in Spanish and the children's own indigenous language, telling them to stay put.Petro on Friday said the children were first found by one of the rescue dogs that soldiers took into the jungle.

He added that for a while he had believed the children were rescued by one of the nomadic tribes that still roam the remote swath of the jungle where the plane fell and have little contact with authorities.“The jungle saved them,” Petro said.

“They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”General Sanchez also credited the Indigenous people involved in the rescue effort with finding the children."We found the children: miracle, miracle, miracle!" he had exclaimed when they were found.'Children of the bush'"They are happy to see the family...

they have all their senses," the children's grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, told reporters shortly after visiting them."They are children of the bush," Valencia said, adding that they know how to survive in the jungle.The area is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators, as well as armed drug smuggling groups.

But the siblings were not strangers to the jungle."They are indigenous children and they know the jungle well.

They know what to eat and what not to eat.

They survived because of this and their spiritual force," said Luis Acosta of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia.'Example of survival'President Petro, who visited the children Saturday, called them an “example of survival” and predicted their saga “will remain in history.”Damaris Mucutuy, an aunt of the children, told a radio station that “the children are fine” despite being dehydrated and with insect bites.

Mucutuy, who arrived at the hospital at dawn with other family members, said the children had been offered mental health services.Defence minister Velásquez told reporters Saturday the children were being rehydrated and cannot eat food yet.

“But in general, the condition of the children is acceptable,” he said.(With inputs from AP, AFP)