Mom of 4 Kids Who Went 40 Days in the Amazon After Plane Crash Initially Survived, Oldest Child Says
The four siblings were discovered in the Colombian jungle on Friday — 40 days after the crash on May 1
Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office via AP, File
The mom of the 4 children who survived the Colombia plane crash was alive for four daysThe mother of the four children found alive in the Amazon following a plane crash initially survived, according to her oldest child.
Siblings Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy, 11 months, were discovered in the Colombian jungle on Friday — 40 days after the crash on May 1 — CNN reported.
According to the oldest sibling, their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, was alive for about four days after the plane crash, Manuel Ranoque — the father of the two youngest children — told reporters on Sunday.
Ranoque said Lesly told him the information, as he spoke outside the military hospital where the children were transported to on Saturday, in Bogotá, Colombia.
Related: 4 Kids — Including a Baby — Who Disappeared After Their Plane Crashed in the Amazon Are Found Alive
An update on the children’s progress was given by the children’s grandfather, Fidencio Valencia. He told the media outlet Noticia Caracol that they were “eating a little” and “drawing to let off steam.”
Colombia's Armed Forces Press Office via AP, File
Valencia shared that the children told him they survived the jungle by hiding in tree trunks to avoid contact with snakes and other potentially dangerous creatures.
An uncle, Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, also told local media that one child wanted to start walking, but their “feet hurt.”
Related: North Carolina Father and Son Killed After Plane Crashes in Virginia Cornfield
Following their discovery on Friday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that the children were able to survive 40 days in the Amazon because of “their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle,” per CNN.
He also said their time in the jungle was an example of “total survival that will be remembered in history."
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The children’s rescue, which Petro said was a “joy for the whole country” in a tweet, was the result of a military-led, deep-forest search operation, per ABC News.
According to CBS, the children were traveling with their mom and two other adults from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare at the time of the plane crash.
The outlet reported that the pilot declared an emergency after the single-engine failed in the aircraft, before falling off the radar.
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