"I'm hungry" and "my mom is dead" were the first words the four indigenous children said to their rescuers after 40 days lost in the jungle of Guaviare and Caquetá, in Colombia. Survivors have shared limited but harrowing details of their ordeal with their family, including that her mother survived the plane crash they were traveling in and did not die on impact along with the two other adults as previously believed.
The eldest of the siblings, 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, has described how her mother was alive for about four days after the plane went down due to engine failure on May 1. Manuel Ranoque, the father of the two youngest children, confirmed that before dying, the mother told them: "Go ahead, go," asking them to leave the scene of the accident to survive, according to local media. According to the information released by the authorities, the children took the plane with their mother to flee from the threats of the FARC.
Details of what happened to the children, and what they did, have been emerging bit by bit and in small bits and pieces. Henry Guerrero, an indigenous man who was part of the search group, recounted that the children were found with two small bags containing clothes, a towel, a flashlight, two cell phones, a music box, and a bottle of soda. Guerrero mentioned that they used the bottle to collect water in the jungle, adding that after being rescued, the brothers complained of being hungry. “They wanted to eat rice pudding, they wanted to eat bread,” he said. Fidencio Valencia, uncle of one of the children, told the Noticias Caracol media outlet that one of them explained that they hid in the trunks of trees to protect themselves in a jungle area full of snakes, animals and mosquitoes.
Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, another relative, told the local media that one of the children expressed his desire to start walking. "Uncle, I want shoes, I want to walk, but my feet hurt," said one of the brothers. Authorities and relatives have said the brothers survived by eating cassava flour and seeds, and that some familiarity with the fruits of the rainforest was also key to their survival. In any case, the children "speak little", assure their relatives.
Particularly moving was the on-set story of the search team, the children's saviors, complete with hats, colorful scarves and walking sticks. The commander of the search operations, General Pedro Sánchez, in uniform and a burgundy beret on his head, was also present. "They are the heroes," he commented, to the attention of the fifteen indigenous people present. That being said, the rescue teams had passed several times between 20 and 50 meters from where the children were.
Soldiers in helicopters dropped boxes of food into the jungle, hoping it would help the children survive. Planes flying in the area fired flares to help search teams on the ground overnight, and rescuers used loudspeakers that played a recorded message from the brothers' grandmother telling them to stay in one place.
Both the maternal grandparents and the children's father are fighting for custody of the siblings, after the maternal grandparents expressed interest in taking legal responsibility for them. The four brothers are in Bogotá, recovering after almost five weeks lost in the jungle. At the moment, the state is in charge of the children while a custody decision is made.
