Colombian media reported Tuesday that a custody battle is unfolding between relatives of four children who survived alone for 40 days in the Amazon rainforest after a plane crash in which their mother died.
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The four children, who were rescued over the weekend, are expected to remain hospitalized for several more days and, meanwhile, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare is interviewing their family members to determine who is fit to raise them.
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The plane that the children and their mother boarded that crashed in the Amazon rainforest
(Photo: AFP / Colombian military)
The process is taking place amid allegations from the children's maternal grandparents that their father used to abuse their daughter.
The four children, ages 1, 4, 9 and 13, were found late Friday night, 40 days after the plane crash on May 1 in which their mother, the pilot and another crew member were killed.
The plane’s wreckage and the bodies were found by rescue teams two weeks after the crash, but the children were missing, and signs found around the crash site, including a baby bottle, sandals and a makeshift camp, strengthened speculation that the children survived.
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Baby bottle found at the crash site, crashed airplane the family boarded
(Photo: AFP / Colombian military)
After weeks of extensive searches, during which rescue teams dropped food packages and flyers from helicopters and played the children's grandmother's voice calling for them through loudspeakers, the four were eventually found.
They told rescuers that their mother was severely injured during the crash and survived for another four days, but then succumbed to her injuries.
Thoughts about the children's future arose soon after an interview with Colombian media, in which Narciso Mucutuy, the children’s grandfather and father of their mother, Magdalena Mucuty, claimed that her husband, Manuel Ranoque, used to beat her. Mucutuy said that when conflicts arose between the couple the children would hide in the forest.
Ranoque himself admitted that his relationship with his wife was problematic but preferred its details to stay private. When asked if he had physically attacked his wife in the past, Ranoque replied: "Verbally, sometimes, yes. Physically, very little. We had more verbal fights.”
He claimed that since the children’s rescue he hasn’t been allowed to meet the youngest two, who are currently hospitalized. According to some reports in Colombia, Ranoque is the father only to the two youngest children.
As a result, Astrid Cáceres, head of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, said that both the father and the mother's parents are now demanding custody of the two youngest children, and for the time being a social worker has been assigned to them at their grandparents’ request.
"We are going to talk, investigate, learn a little about the situation," said Cáceres, emphasizing that the institute hasn’t yet ruled out the possibility that the mother and her children suffered from domestic violence.
“The most important thing at this moment is the children’s health, which is not only physical but also emotional, the way we accompany them emotionally,” she added.
In the military hospital where the four children are hospitalized, authorities are trying to assist them while respecting cultural sensitivity. The children are members of the indigenous Huitoto group, and upon their arrival at the hospital, the staff arranged for their traditional spiritual ceremonies to take place while providing them with the food they’re familiar with.
Estimations say that the fact the Huitoto children were familiar with jungle life helped them survive. Special praise went to the eldest daughter, 13-year-old Lesly, who led the group during the 40 days they spent alone in the forest.
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Footprint found by the rescue team near the crash site
(Photo: AFP / Colombian military)
According to the children's testimonies, during their month in the jungle, they sustained themselves by eating cassava flour, seeds and fruits they found. Throughout their ordeal, they had to protect themselves from local dangers, including snakes, poisonous frogs, mosquitoes and other animals.
A volunteer from the indigenous community who joined the Colombian soldiers in the search efforts also reported that the children managed to build a makeshift tent and spread a towel on the ground.
He said they stayed near the river, and Lesly searched the area carrying a small bottle and filled it with water. The children were found after the rescuers heard one of them crying.
“The eldest daughter, Lesly, with the little one in her arms, ran toward me, and said, 'I'm hungry,'" said Nicolas Ordonez Gomes, one of the rescue effort’s crewmembers. “Lesly said: ‘I’m hungry,'” he added.
“One of the two boys was lying down. He got up and said to me: ‘My mom is dead,'” Ordonez Gomes recounted, adding that the rescue team immediately tried to encourage the children for their bravery.
On Monday, it was revealed that during her conversations with the family after the rescue, Lesly said that, contrary to what the rescuers believed, their mother didn’t die immediately in the crash but survived for another four days before dying.
Their father, Ranoque, said that according to Lesly's testimony their mother urged her children to leave her, move away from the crash site, and save themselves.
“Before she died, their mom told them something like, ‘You guys get out of here. You guys are going to see the kind of man your dad is, and he’s going to show you the same kind of great love that I have shown you,'” Ranoque claimed.