7-Year-Old Girl Reunited With Her Parents After Being Rescued From Jungle In Colombia

A seven-year-old Colombian girl missing for three weeks has been reunited with her parents after she was rescued from the jungle by the police.

The Mirror reports:

The young girl, Jessica Patricia Arias, went missing in northern Colombia’s natural reserve Tayrona Park when she was collecting coconuts with her parents. Hundreds of officers spent 18 days searching on both land and in the air. The youngster was located after an anonymous tip off was made to the family and a guard station at the park, officials reported. She was discovered in an abandoned hut in the jungle.

Santa Marta police commander, Colonel Sandra Vallejos said: “There was an anonymous call to the family and the guard station. The police started searching, they arrived at the site and actually found the girl in a bad state in an abandoned hut.” Authorities do not know how the little girl arrived at the abandoned hut or how she survived her jungle ordeal.

A local official in the Magdalena region, Albeis Fuentes, told the media that the injuries on the girl’s feet indicate she may have travelled long distances.

He said: “She’s stable, she’s in a state of moderate malnutrition, in a state of moderate dehydration too with some lacerations on her feet which I imagine from the long journeys she had to travel on these paths.”

The girl was reunited with her distraught parents on her way to hospital where she is receiving medical treatment. Jessica’s mother, Elena Cortes, was hugely relieved to have her little girl back.

Mrs Cortes said: “God himself helped her to survive so many days. It’s 18 days to the day since she went missing and she re-appeared on the 18th day. Thank you to God and the national police.”

Authorities are investigating the girl’s disappearance amidst questions over the anonymous call to the police and how the seven-year-old survived in the jungle.