The mother of four indigenous children, who were rescued after surviving for more than five weeks lost in the Colombian jungle, remained alive herself for four days before succumbing to her injuries, her widow has said.

The three girls – aged 13, nine and one – and a five-year-old boy were found on Friday wandering alone deep in the Amazon rainforest after the plane they were travelling in with her crashed 40 days earlier.

All four youngsters survived but the three adults on board the Cessna 206 aircraft, including their mother and a pilot, died.

During their ordeal, the children, who are members of the Huitoto indigenous group, are thought to have eaten cassava flour and seeds.

Also key to their survival was their familiarity with the rainforest’s fruits, said authorities and relatives.

Manuel Ranoque, the father of the two youngest survivors, said the eldest child told him their mother was alive for about four days after the plane went down on 1 May while flying between Araracuara airport in Caqueta and San Jose del Guaviare.

The Cessna had issued a mayday alert due to engine failure. The bodies of the three adults were found inside the plane two weeks after the crash but the children were nowhere to be found.

Speaking to reporters outside hospital, Mr Ranoque said that before she died, the mother would have likely told the four to “go away”, apparently asking them to leave the wreckage site to survive.

After being rescued in Caqueta province, the children are set to stay in hospital for at least two weeks but some are already talking about their experiences.

One of them said they hid in tree trunks to protect themselves in a jungle area filled with snakes, animals and mosquitoes, according to an uncle, Fidencio Valencia.

“They at least are already eating, a little, but they are eating,” he said after visiting them at the military hospital in the Colombian capital, Bogota.

A day earlier, Defence Minister Ivan Velasquez said the children were being rehydrated and could not eat food yet.

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Four children aged between 11 months and 13 years old found alive in jungle

Another uncle, Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, told local media that one of the children said he wanted to start walking.

“Uncle, I want shoes, I want to walk, but my feet hurt,” Mr Mucutuy said the child told him.

“The only thing that I told the kid [was], ‘when you recover, we will play soccer,” he said.

After being rescued, the children were taken in a helicopter to Bogota and then to the military hospital, where President Gustavo Petro, government and military officials, and relatives, met the children on Saturday.

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