Wilson, dog who helped rescue plane crash kids from Amazon, still missing

The jungle returned four kids who were lost and stranded for 40 days after a plane crash, rescued by a military-led deep forest search operation. However, it took away Wilson, a Belgian Shepherd who had helped them in their search.

Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy (13), Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy (9), Tien Ranoque Mucutuy (4), and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were stranded in the jungle on May 1, as the only survivors of a deadly plane crash.

They were discovered alive on June 9, while six-year-old Wilson went missing on June 8.

According to The Guardian, the siblings, who were found about three miles away from the crashed plane, told rescuers that they had been accompanied by a large dog during their days of survival.

Wilson is suspected to be that dog. He was the one who discovered Cristin's baby bottle approximately 4 kilometers away from the wreckage. Among the team of 10 military search dogs deployed to locate the children, he stands out as one of the invaluable members.

The children were traveling with their mother and two other adults, all of whom died, from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare at the time of the plane crash.

Colombian military spokesperson Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez said the children "spent three or four days with Wilson and said that they found him quite skinny," as reported by People.

Soldiers are in full action to find the canine hero. The rescued children expressed gratitude for Wilson.

The Colombian Ministry of Defense also shared a picture drawn by Lesly, where she has tried to outline Wilson under a tree.

Both military officials and the children's relatives are convinced that Wilson met the children by chance while on duty for the search operation. According to the children's grandfather, the highly trained canine from the Special Forces became a loyal companion to the children, accompanying them on multiple occasions, as reported by CNN.

"We saw him about 40 meters away, and we tried to call him," dog handler Carlos Villegas told local outlet El Tiempo, as per The Guardian. "My companion approached him, tried to play with him in order to grab him, but Wilson ran off."

The military believes that the six-year-old Belgian Shepherd, possibly disoriented by the dense vegetation or potentially influenced by an encounter with a hazardous predator, might have exhibited altered behavior from his usual demeanor.

Shortly before the rescue team reached the children, canine footprints were discovered in close proximity to theirs, suggesting that he might have been the first to come across them.