MEXICO CITY: Colombian authorities were believed to have found three children and a baby alive 17 days after a plane crashed with them on board in the jungle in the south of the country, according to President Gustavo Petro on Thursday, reported German news agency (dpa).

"After arduous search efforts by our military, we have found alive the four children who went missing after a plane crash in Guaviare. A joy for the country."

Colombian armed forces were still to confirm they had located the four minors -- aged 13, nine, four, and 11 months. On Thursday morning, they found an improvised shelter built with sticks and branches in the jungle leading them to believe there were survivors.

The Colombian government deployed more than 100 soldiers, sniffer dogs and local indigenous people to find the children, who were on board a Cessna C206 light aircraft when it crashed in the Amazon in the southern Caqueta Department on May 1. The three adults on board died in the crash.

-- BERNAMA