Colombia plane crash children told by mother to 'save yourself' before she died

A devastated husband has revealed that the mother of the four children astonishingly rescued from a Colombian jungle survived for four days before passing away after their light aircraft crashed. Manual Ranoque has told how his eldest surviving daughter Lesly, 13, heartbreakingly informed him that his wife Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia fought to stay alive, until ultimately telling them to save themselves.

Ranoque, speaking in the Colombian capital Bogota about the children’s astounding 40-day ordeal before being rescued by the military said: “Let’s be clear, the girl (Lesly) knows everything.

“The only thing that she clarified is that the mother was alive for four days. Before she died… she told them “Go!” And you will find out what your dad is made of… and what your father’s love is like.”

This crushing development comes as the four children – Lesly Jacombaire Mucutuy, Soleiny Jacombaire Mucuty, nine, Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucuty, four, and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucuty, one – are currently in a military hospital in Bogota following the unbelievable ordeal.

The father expressed annoyance with hospital authorities on Sunday as they stopped him from seeing two of the children while they recovered.

Read more: Moving moment four children airlifted out of Colombian jungle

The plane crashed on May 1, when the family caught a regular flight on a Cessna 206 from Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare.

Boats and light aircraft are usually the only feasible means of transport due to the country’s dense jungle.

Just minutes into the 350km (220 mile) journey, problems with the engine were reported by the pilot just before the plane disappeared from radars.

Upon the discovery of the plane wreckage after weeks of hunting, not only were the children surprisingly not found dead alongside the adults, there was a part-eaten fruit that indicated all of them had survived.

This triggered a massive hunt across miles of the dense and isolated Amazon rainforest, with President Gustavo Petro accidentally causing false hope by mistakenly saying the children were safe before altering his statement to say that there was just evidence they may still be alive.

After they were unbelievably discovered, shocking footage shows how the four children were winched up into a rescue helicopter having been bitten and feeling dehydrated and malnourished.

But most importantly of all, they were alive, and were taken to safety for medical treatment.

“It is a joy for the whole country,” Mr Petro tweeted after they were found.

“They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.”

Ranoque, who is understood to be the father of the two younger children, and stepfather of the older two, told MailOnline: “I was so excited the moment I saw my children.”

He continued: “You have got to understand I can’t speak about the situation inside the hospital because it’s very sensitive.. but I can say they are doing way better.”

Ranoque believes the children, who are members of the Huitoto group, survived due to their strong link to their Indigenous roots, saying: ”The kids are possessed by nature.”

However, the father revealed his frustration at authorities who did not allow him to see the two older children.

“This is not a game.

“They are fine. I cannot talk to the (two older) children, I cannot tell you anything about them until the father, the creator (apparently referring to God) allows me to…

“You will never understand our world. We are indigenous people. We cannot lose time getting an education, we have shown our skills, what we are capable of, we found the airplane, we found the kids, what else do you want?

“Now may God continue to protect them.”

He continued: “I have only been able to see my two little kids, because the Government will not allow me to see my other two daughters. I don’t know why I can’t see them.

“They (the authorities) haven’t completely understood that I am coming from 40 days in the jungle, they think I’m coming from a bar or from the streets.”

He added: “I want to thank the military hospital, the kids are in good hands and I think after a month I will have my kids with me, that is my dream.

“They (the authorities) don’t understand I am their father. The government has taken this as a joke to step over me.

“I am the father I went to look for them, I searched for them and now that I brought them back, now I cannot see them how is that possible? And the other search teams, the other people, can see them.

“They are allowed to see them, to take pictures with them. And us, my colleagues that have come from suffering, they haven’t been given any medical attention. I fought 40 days on my knees in the jungle.

“I have only seen the two older children in photos. And that worries me.

“I call upon the nation to please respect that I am the dad. They (the older children) have got to talk to me first. How come they are talking to people who when I was in the jungle didn’t even send a glass of water while I was dying of hunger and thirst in the jungle?

“I never had any support and now the kids are here there are people trying to make money out of this.”

In response to enquiries about the future of his children Ranoque replied: “The children have to have a decent place to live, access to education and many big things are coming for my children.”

His anger comes following sources suggesting the Colombian authorities want to have control over the rest of at least the two older children’s upbringing.

After he was threatened by FARC guerrillas, Ranoque said they were attempting to brainwash the two older children into thinking he was abusing them.

However he said on Sunday: “I am not their biological father, but they were trying to tell them I was abusing them. Lesly shut their mouths, saying I am their father.”

The children’s grandmother, whose voice was being played from an aircraft flying above the jungle throughout the search to ensure the youngsters knew they were being looked for, told reporters: “I never lost hope, I was always supporting the search. I feel very happy, I thank President Petro and my ‘countrymen’ who went through so many difficulties.”

Following the siblings being discovered alive army radios could be heard proclaiming: ”Miracle, miracle, miracle, miracle” – the army code for a child found alive, which was repeated four times to reflect the discovery of all four children.

Ivan Velasquez, Colombia’s Defence Minister, said: “It is thanks to [Lesly], her value and her leadership, that the three others were able to survive, with her care, her knowledge of the jungle.

“In general the children, the boy and the girls are in an acceptable state, according to the medical reports they are out of danger.”

Military doctor Carlos Rincon said that despite the children’s “nutritional deficiencies” they had survived the ordeal with just “some soft tissue injuries, bites and skin lesions”.

He continued: “We will begin the process of incorporating food when we complete the process of clinical examinations that will be done today.

“If things go well, we believe they will stay in the hospital for two to three weeks.”

Lesly has been praised by officials for saving her siblings, with family members claiming a survival game they played helped ensure they were prepared for such an ordeal.

Lesly “knew what fruits she can’t eat because there are many poisonous fruits in the forest. And she knew how to take care of a baby,” aunt Damarys Mucutuy told the Caracol news network.

“She gave them flour and cassava bread, any fruit in the bush, they know what they must consume.”

John Moreno, a leader of the Guanano group in Vaupes in the southeastern area of Colombia where the children were raised, said: “They were raised by their grandmother.

“They used what they learned in the community, relied on their ancestral knowledge in order to survive.”

The bodies of three adults and the debris of the plane were discovered by soldiers between May 15 and 16, with the plane wedged vertically in the shrubbery with its nose destroyed.

However, the children were not there.

200 soldiers and indigenous people with knowledge of the terrain had searched a colossal jungle area of 320 sq km (124 sq mi), roughly double the size of Washington, DC.

10,000 flyers had been dropped in the forest by the air force which gave instructions to the children to stay where they were.

Survival tips also featured in the leaflets, while food parcels and bottled water were also dropped for the missing children.

Strong searchlights were pointed into the area “so that the minors can approach us”, search team member Colonel Fausto Avellaneda explained to the Noticias Caracol TV show.

Huitoto children are taught hunting, fishing and gathering, and the children’s grandfather, Fidencio Valencia, has said the children are very familiar with the jungle.

The search team believed at one point it had been as close as 100m (300ft) away from the children, however storms, thick vegetation and marshy terrain prevented them from being discovered.

Traditional ceremonies were held by members of the indigenous community “speaking to the jungle”, and asking it to give up the kids.

However clues began to emerge, with photographs released by the military revealing that scissors, shoes and hair ties were found among branches on the jungle floor.

A drink bottle for a baby and half-eaten fruit had been found before the shelter’s discovery.

Almost two weeks ago a breakthrough was made when a footprint, believed by army officials to belong to 13-year-old Lesly, was discovered.

Huitoto indigenous group leaders articulated optimism that the kid’s knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills could improve their odds of being discovered alive.

To ensure the children did not become malnourished boxes of food were dropped to the jungle floor, with the president confirming that efforts at last paid off yesterday (June 10) when a rescue dog led the soldiers to the group, having followed footprints left on the muddy floor.

Petro said: “The jungle saved them.

“They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia.”