Custody battle ensues for crash survival kids

BOGOTA, Colombia — A custody battle has broken out among relatives of four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash and 40 harrowing days alone in the Amazon rainforest in an extraordinary showing of youthful resilience that captivated people around the world.

The siblings, ranging in age from 1 to 13, remained hospitalized Monday and were expected to stay there for several more days, a period that Colombia’s child protection agency is using to interview family members to determine who should care for them after their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, died in the May 1 crash.

Astrid Caceres, head of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, said in an interview with BLU radio a caseworker was assigned to the children at the request of their maternal grandparents, who are vying for custody with the father of the two youngest.

“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 said.

The children were traveling May 1 with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to the town of San Jose del Guaviare when the pilot of the Cessna single-engine propeller plane declared an emergency due to engine failure. The aircraft fell off the radar a short time later, and a search began for the three adults and four children who were on board.

For more than a month, the children survived by eating cassava flour and seeds as well as some fruits they found in the rainforest, which they were familiar with as members of the Huitoto Indigenous group.

They were finally found Friday and helicoptered to the capital, Bogota, and then to a military hospital where they have been given psychological services and other support. Officials have sought to do so in a culturally sensitive way, arranging for spiritual ceremonies and food the children are accustomed to.

As they convalesce, the children have told relatives harrowing details of their time in the jungle.

The oldest, Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, said their mother was alive for about four days after the crash before dying, Manuel Ranoque, who’s accused of beating the mother, said Sunday.

The plane was found two weeks after the crash in a thick patch of rainforest. The bodies of the three adults were recovered, but there was no sign of the children, prompting hopes that they could be alive.

Relatives and officials have praised Lesly for guiding her younger siblings through the 40 days in the jungle. The youngest turned 1 while they were missing.