The children are members of the Huitoto indigenous group and their grandfather told Colombian media that their knowledge of edible fruit and seeds had been key to their survival.

The eldest child, 13-year-old Lesly, has been credited with keeping her siblings alive.

Henry Guerrero, an indigenous man who was part of the team which finally located the children, said they managed to build a small shelter.

"They had made a small tent from a tarpaulin and placed a towel on the ground. They always stayed near the river and she [Lesly] carried a small soda bottle which she used to [fill with and] carry water."

In footage released on Sunday of the children's rescue, the four siblings appeared to be emaciated from the weeks they spent fending for themselves in the wilderness.

Mr Guerrero said that "the only thing they had in mind was to eat, eat", when they were found. "They wanted to eat rice pudding, they wanted to eat bread," he said.

Ms Mucutuy and her children had been travelling on the Cessna 206 aircraft from Araracuara, in Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare, on 1 May.

Their plan was to join the children's father, who had fled their home after receiving threats from a rebel group.

The plane crashed nose first in dense jungle in the south of Colombia after experiencing engine failure. It took search teams two weeks to locate the wreckage.

The bodies of the adults on board - the children's mother and the two pilots - were found at the crash site by the army but it appeared that the children had wandered into the rainforest to find help.

The missing children became the focus of a huge rescue operation involving more than 100 soldiers, local indigenous people and sniffer dogs.

The search teams repeatedly spotted signs in the jungle, including footprints and fruit that had been bitten into, which led them to believe the children had survived the crash.

Helicopters flew over the area broadcasting a recorded message from their grandmother in the Huitoto language urging them to stay put to make it easier to locate them.

The children told their rescuers that they had heard the helicopters and the message.

They were finally located on Friday in a small clearing by a team of rescuers who had heard one of the siblings crying. "When we found them, it was really a great happiness," Mr Guerrero said, describing the moment.

Their grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, said they were "very weakened, they have small wounds and bruises, they have illnesses that they contracted in the jungle, but overall they're well, they're in good hands".

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS