‘Miracle’: 4 kids hospitalized after surviving 40 days lost in jungle, plane crash killing mom

Colombian President Gustavo Petro shared this photograph on Saturday of one of the four children who survived 40 days in the jungle after also surviving the plane crash that killed their mother. (Courtesy photo)

The Miracle in the Jungle: That’s how the Colombian military described the survival of four children who were lost in a remote area where natives still believe in gnomes and goblins.

One-year-old Cristin; 4-year-old Tien, 9-year-old Soleiny, and 13-year-old Lesly were lost in the world’s largest tropical rainforest for 40 days after walking away from a fatal plane crash, officials reported.

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Early Saturday morning, a military helicopter flew the four survivors after their rescue Friday from the remote Amazon jungle to a town’s airport where they boarded a plane to fly to the capital city of Bogotá.

“The children’s father did not rest during this whole time,” Alicia Mendez, of Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper, reported in Spanish adding that the children had arrived malnourished and dehydrated and doctors were treating them at a military hospital.

For over a month, highly-trained teams of Colombian special forces had been searching for the four siblings and officials provided regular updates. Camilo García, of Colombia’s El Espectador newspaper, reported the soldiers found signs of survival that included a baby bottle, hair bows, footprints, and an abandoned suitcase.

“The Military Forces also used three trained dogs for the search,” García reported. “One of them, Ulises, was the first to enter, but he got sick and had to leave the area. There was also Shaina and, finally, Wilson, who is still lost in the jungle.”

Colombian soldiers stand for a photo with the four children who survived the plane crash that killed their mother and 40 days lost in the jungle. (Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.)

The children had boarded a Cessna 206, registered as HK 2803 and operated by Avianline Charter, with their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, on May 1, according to officials.

Hernando Murcia, the pilot; was flying with Herman Mendoza, the co-pilot, from the remote village of Araracuara north to the town of San José del Guaviare when he reported engine failure and shouted, “MAYDAY!”

The single-engine propeller plane dived into the dense rainforest. A search team found the wreckage and the bodies of Murcia, Mendoza, and Mucutuy before the military “Operation Hope” started.

Volunteers from Indigenous communities in Siona and Araracuara joined the search that made headlines worldwide. Reporter Salud Hernández-Mora, of Colombia’s Semana magazine, reported from the jungle.

“There was a concern about how difficult it was to find your way around the sun, given the cloudy skies and a canopy of trees,” Hernández-Mora wrote in Spanish. “The usual thing, what experts predict, is that those lost in the jungle turn around and become disoriented for days on end.”

Colombian soldiers find four children who survived 40 days lost in the jungle after a plane crash. (Courtesy photo)

There was a miscommunication and Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrongly reported the rescue on May 18. But on Friday, Petro had images to support his report that the kids had survived.

“The jungle saved them,” Petro told reporters in Spanish. “They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”

The four siblings and their late mother are members of the Witoto tribe, an Indigenous people in southeastern Colombia and northern Peru.

“The training of these children from their Indigenous families on how to eat in the jungle helped them survive,” Lucho Acosta, an Indigenous leader, told Caracol, a Colombian radio station, in Spanish.

The Colombian military released images of the search crew that found a group of children who were lost alone in the jungle for 40 days after surviving a plane crash. (Courtesy photo)

Mendoza, the co-pilot who died, was a leader of the Yaruro tribe, a Circum-Caribbean Indigenous people. Colombian authorities praised his advocacy work at both the local and national levels after news of his death.

Petro, who was returning to Bogotá on Friday from Cuba after negotiations with what was left of the leftist guerrilla he had once belonged to, also told reporters that he was looking forward to meeting the children.

Colombia’s Department of Defense reported on Saturday that Iván Velásquez Gómez, Colombia’s defense minister, met the children and Indigenous leaders at the hospital in Bogotá. The Colombian military reported the search for lost K-9 Wilson continued in the jungle.

Related social media (Colombian authorities):

Photographs of the crash site and search:

FILE - In this photo released by Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office, a soldier stands in front of the wreckage of a Cessna C206, May 18, 2023, that crashed in the jungle of Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia. The discovery of footprints on May 30 of a small foot rekindled the hope of finding the children alive after their plane crashed on May 1. Soldiers found the wreckage and the bodies of three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother. (Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office via AP, File)
Volunteers from an Indigenous tribe wait to board a military helicopter to join the search for lost children in Calamar, Colombia, on May 23. (AP Foto/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
A military helicopter takes off with a group of Indigenous at a military base in Calamar, Colombia, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, to help search for four Indigenous children who are missing after a deadly plane crash. The May 30 discovery of footprints of a small foot rekindled the hope of finding the children alive after their plane crashed on May 1. Soldiers found the wreckage and the bodies of three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Military and Indigenous leaders wait at the airport for the survivors on Saturday morning in Bogota, Colombia. (AP Foto/John Vizcaino) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Military personnel unload from a plane one of four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Air Force officers applaud during the arrival of four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Paramedics carry to an ambulance one of four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle. (AP Photo/John Vizcaino) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Military personnel unload from a plane one of four Indigenous brothers who were missing after a deadly plane crash at the military air base in Bogota, Colombia, Saturday, June 10, 2023. The children survived a small plane crash 40 days ago and had been the subject of an intense search in the jungle. (AP Photo/John Vizcaino) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.