Four Children All Under the Age of 14 Survived a Plane Crash and 40 Days in the Amazon Jungle

Consuelo de Vengoechea, a Colombian anthropologist and linguist, has been studying the Huitoto culture and language for 30 years. For a brief time, Consuelo lived near Araracuara, Colombia partially due to the kindness of one family, reported NPR.

She told the outlet they "opened their door to me," so she could conduct research about their people. Five members of this family boarded an airplane in June 2023 that would crash in the Amazon jungle.

The accident killed 33-year-old Magdalena Mucutuy, along with the two other adults on board. Not only did Magdalena's four young children walk away virtually unscathed, but they survived for another 40 days before finally being rescued.

Consuelo would later say this was because they are "taught from a very young age how to take care of themselves." Where are the Mucutuy siblings now? Here's what we know.

When the Mucutuy children were finally found, they were severely emaciated as well as dehydrated. Lesly was the oldest at 13, followed by Soleiny (9), Tien (4), and Cristin (11 months). Losing their mother was devastating, but what came next was almost as hard. A year after the rescue, NBC News reported that the four siblings were still in purgatory when it came to who would gain custody of them.

A legal battle had erupted between their maternal grandparents and their mother's romantic partner, Manuel Ranoque, who was the father of Magdalena's two youngest children.

Her older children were from a previous marriage, and it was their father they were going to visit when the plane crashed.

This situation was made far more difficult when in August 2023, Ranoque was accused of sexually abusing one of the children prior to the crash. He was formally charged in October but denies any wrongdoing.

As they wait for the courts to decide their fate, the world is given the occasional update via social media. On June 9, 2024, Colombia’s Institute for Family Welfare posted a blurred photo of the children to X (formerly Twitter).

In a statement, they said, "The Mucutuy siblings today spend their days enjoying life and learning. They have been accompanied by a team that specializes in ethnic affairs and works, so that they don’t lose their customs while they are far from their territory."

Consuelo reiterated the fact that the Mucutuy siblings were more prepared than most when it came to surviving this horrific ordeal.

"Their parents and grandparents are all the time teaching these children what they can eat and why," she told NPR. This is how they knew it was safe to eat an Amazonian fruit known as juan soco, which is akin to passionfruit. They also consumed milpesos palm tree seeds, which are rich in oil and vitamins.

Thankfully the Mucutuy children already had an 11-pound bag of yuca flour, which was on the plane. They dissolved flour in water and used that to feed the baby, using a leaf to drip it into her mouth. As far as shelter goes, they covered a mosquito net and a plastic tarp with banana leaves. This was necessary for two reasons.

First of all, it was always raining so the children were never dry. Secondly, it gets surprisingly cold in the jungle at night.

A rather unorthodox rescue mission helped locate the children. The first "person" to find them was a Belgian Shepherd rescue dog named Wilson, who sadly went missing soon after. He was never found but was honored with a mural at a nearby army base, per the Wall Street Journal.

The story of the Mucutuy siblings is being told in the Netflix documentary The Lost Children, which is available to stream on Nov. 14, 2024.