The extraordinary story recounts the May 1, 2023, crash of a Cessna 206 (HK2803) deep within the dense, treacherous Colombian Amazon. The crash killed three adults, including their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia. Miraculously, her four indigenous children—Lesly (13), Soleiny (9), Tien (4), and Cristin (11 months)—survived the impact.

Their 40-day ordeal hinged on Lesly’s leadership and jungle survival training. She salvaged vital items like farina (cassava flour), scissors, and diapers from the wreckage, and led her siblings to safe foods like juan soco fruit and milpeso seeds.

The intense search, Operation Hope, was complex, involving elite CCOES soldiers and indigenous volunteers, despite initial mutual distrust. The military eventually incorporated indigenous spiritual guidance, including performing rituals to appease a duende spirit and using the psychoactive brew yage. The children were deliberately avoiding the armed searchers, fearing they were rebels.
On June 9, indigenous volunteers located the children, severely malnourished but alive. The rescue was celebrated nationally, but was followed by a bitter custody battle involving allegations of domestic violence against their father, Manuel Ranoque.


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