On May 1, 2023, a Cessna 206 light aircraft with seven people on board crashed in the jungle in the Caquetá Department of Colombia. Two of the occupants – the pilot and one adult – were killed on impact, while five passengers, a mother and four children, survived the crash. The mother died several days later, leaving the children to fend for themselves. The children, between 11 months and 13 years old, survived for 40 days in the rainforest before being rescued by the Colombian military and volunteers from local indigenous groups.^[1][2]

The Cessna 206 aircraft, operated by Avianline Charters, departed on the morning of May 1, 2023, from Araracuara Airport, Colombia, on a domestic charter flight to San José del Guaviare, 220 miles (350 km) to the north. At 7:34 am local time, the pilot made a distress call reporting engine failure, and radio contact was lost shortly after. The Colombian Air Force immediately sent out craft to search the area – a Basler BT-67 and Bell Huey helicopter.^[1][3]

On board the aircraft were the pilot, Hernando Murcia Morales, and six passengers: a mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, with her four children aged approximately 13, 9, 4, and 1 years old, and a local indigenous leader, Herman Mendoza Hernández. The pilot and Mendoza died on impact and the mother died four days later. The four siblings survived. The family was part of the Witoto, an indigenous group familiar with the jungle environment and who are taught to hunt, fish and gather from an early age.^[2][4][5]

After the crash, as the children subsequently related to the authorities, their mother urged them to "leave and get help."^[6] The four children walked away from the wreckage and started roaming the forest,^[5] surviving by eating cassava flour retrieved from the plane's wreckage, fruits from Bacaba palm trees and seeds from avichure trees in their surroundings based on their knowledge of native plants as members of the Witoto indigenous group.^[7]

Following the rescue of the children, their maternal grandfather, Narciso Mucutuy, requested that the children be relocated closer to their family in Villavicencio.^[2] A custody battle ensued between the father of the two youngest children, Manuel Ranoque, and their grandfather, who laid claims of domestic violence against their father.^[7] The two elder children have a different father and Ranoque has not been granted access to them following the accident. As of 13 June, a child protection agency was in the process of interviewing relatives to determine the most suitable custody arrangement and said it was investigating the allegations of domestic abuse.^[7]