The Colombian singer Shakira (46) thanked the search teams after rescuing four children from the rainforest of the South American country. "Lesly, Soleiny, Tien and Cristin's suffering and the miracle of their lives has shaken us all and given us the best example of unity and resilience," the musician wrote on Twitter. "From the bottom of our hearts we thank all those who made the search for them and their rescue possible."

The children were found on Friday after 40 days in the jungle. They crashed on May 1 with a Cessna 206 propeller plane in the Caquetá department in southern Colombia. The children's mother, the pilot and an indigenous leader were killed in the accident. For more than a month, soldiers and indigenous people searched for the siblings in the impassable area. After the rescue, the children, aged 13, 9 and 5 and one year old, were taken to a military hospital in the capital, Bogotá.

Shakira comes from the Colombian port city of Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast. Most recently, she lived mainly in Barcelona and Miami. However, she is very attached to her home country and, among other things, runs a foundation there to support needy children. According to media reports, she traveled to Colombia a few days ago to assist her father during an operation.