New Delhi: Operation Hope is not over.
After rescuing the four children who survived a deadly plane crash, the Colombian military now have another mission – to find rescue dog Wilson who was the first to sniff out the children, much before humans reached them.
According to the statement of the children rescued on 9 June, the six-year-old Belgian Shepherd is believed to have reached the children first and accompanied them for a week in the forest.
He went missing soon after – nearly another week before the search team discovered the children. A drawing of a dog found on the eldest sister, Lesly, has stark similarities with Wilson.
According to searchers, once the rescue team discovered the children, they found paw marks of the Belgian Shepherd in the area.
The dog helped the rescue team reach the Cessna 206 aircraft, and was also credited for smelling out the kids using a feeding bottle of the youngest child.
The Colombian military announced Tuesday that it would restart Operation Hope, the original rescue mission, aimed at the safe return of Wilson.
The ill-fated Cessna 206, carrying seven passengers, crashed in the forest on 1 May after its engine failed. The three adults in the aircraft, including the children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy, were killed in the accident.
The children escaped from the plane but eventually got lost in the Amazon forest.
The search for the missing youngsters involved 160 soldiers, many search dogs and 70 indigenous people who had first-hand knowledge of the forest.
Also read: Four Colombian children found alive weeks after plane they were on crashed in jungle