Colombian Children’s Amazon Survival: New Details Emerge

Four Colombian indigenous children were lost for 40 days in the Amazon jungle in 2023 after the plane they were traveling in crashed. One year after the accident, which claimed the lives of their mother and two other adults, new details have been revealed.

In a report published by the Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil) on Thursday, May 2nd, the crucial role played by Lesly Mukutui, the 13-year-old elder sister, was highlighted. She took care of Soleiny Mukutuy, nine, Tien Noriel Ronoque Mukutuy, five, and Cristin Neruman Ranoque, a baby who celebrated her first birthday in the jungle.

The Technical Director of Investigation, Miguel Angel Camacho, explained, “There were aspects that showed maturity beyond her age, such as the simple act of counting the days (…) she speaks with a level of detail that would be expected from an adult.” Camacho also mentioned that the children stayed at the crash site for two days and took food, water, clothes, and documents belonging to the deceased adults from the plane.

Furthermore, the children stayed by the Apaporis River, hoping to find people there. The 13-year-old girl crawled to the location because “she had a significant wound on the back of her right leg.” “When they realized that the river did not offer favorable conditions for survival and that they would not be found there, they returned to the jungle with the intention of finding populated areas,” Camacho recounted.

Leaflets aided in the rescue of Colombian children in the Amazon

The children heard aircraft, but these had difficulty locating them due to the height of the trees. They also heard announcements, not only in Spanish but in their native language as well. Additionally, the children received one of the leaflets dropped by authorities, but did not receive the food kits.

“It saved their lives because the leaflet instructed them to stay still, do this and that, which facilitated their location, and that’s what happened. They stayed in one place until day 30, and that’s where they were found,” the official emphasized. Search teams found the children extremely weakened, with the 4-year-old unable to stand.

The children were found as part of ‘Operation Esperanza‘ on June 9, 2023. The joint effort of soldiers, indigenous people, and government institutions mobilized more than 200 individuals who searched for the children for over a month in the dense and untouched jungle near Chiribiquete National Park, between the departments of Caqueta and Guaviare,