Rescuers looking for four children lost in the Amazon rainforest after a plane crash say new evidence suggests they could still be alive.
A light aircraft crashed in the Colombian jungle on May 1 and its pilot, an Indigenous leader and the children's mother, Magdalena Mucutui Valencia, were all killed.
A search for 13-year-old Lesly, nine-year-old Soleiny, and Tien Noriel, aged four, is still ongoing a month later and a newly discovered footprint suggests they may still be alive.
There was no sign of the children when the wreckage was searched, sparking a huge search operation by the Colombian military, MailOnline reports.
More than 100 people are involved in the rescue mission, and its leaders claim it's 'highly probable' the children are alive due to the clues they've been finding.
The latest hint is a footprint found on the muddy ground, which officials believe may belong to 13-year-old Lesly, the eldest of the missing children.
General Pedro Sanchez, leader of the rescue team, told W Radio on Monday: 'Based on the evidence, we concluded that the children are alive.
'If they were dead, it would be easy to find them because they would be still and the sniffer dogs would find them.'
Satellite images have revealed a path the youngsters took from the crash site, and the search has uncovered some of their belongings, a makeshift shelter, half eaten fruit, a pair of shoes and even a nappy.
Leaders from the Huitoto Indigenous group hope the children's knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills should give them better odds at being found alive.
The air force has dumped 10,000 flyers into the forest with instructions, written in both Spanish and the children's Indigenous language, telling them to stay put.
The leaflets include survival tips, and the military has also dropped food parcels and bottled water in the jungle.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
