HOW A MIRACLE UNFOLDED IN THE COLOMBIAN JUNGLE

Children found alive 40 days after deadly plane crash

On June 9, an army commando deployed in the depths of the Colombian jungle uttered the word "milagro" four times over his radio.

Milagro means "miracle" in English. Transmitting the word this number of times signified that four children missing since a plane crashed in the jungle had been found alive after 40 days. News of the discovery made headlines around the world.

"A joy for the whole country! The children lost 40 days ago have been found alive," Colombian President Gustavo Petro tweeted along with a photograph of military personnel and indigenous people providing first aid to the children as they waited to be airlifted out of the jungle in Caqueta province.

The photo confirmed that Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and 1-year-old Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were alive.

Such confirmation was needed, not only for the president but for the entire country, as on May 17, Petro incorrectly tweeted that the children had been found. As news emerged that he had been mistaken, hope for the four faded.

The children were traveling in a single-engine Cessna U-206G bearing the registration HK-2803, along with their mother, an indigenous leader and the pilot. The aircraft, which crashed on May 1, was found two weeks later by a group of highly trained Colombian Army special commandos deployed to the rainforest on May 6 after authorities failed to locate the plane from the air.

Some 33 minutes after the plane took off from La Araracuara airport, a small rural airfield serving the town of Solano, which sits alongside the Caqueta River, former taxi driver turned pilot Hernando Murcia transmitted: "Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. 2803.

"I have the engine at minimum. I'm going to look for a field," Murcia transmitted after the early morning takeoff as he sought an emergency landing spot.

Air traffic control told him he was close to two airfields, but received no response for 15 minutes.

Then, another message was sent: "2803, the engine picked up power again. I am at 120NM (nautical miles) from San Jose, climbing to 8,500 (feet, or 2,590 meters)."

Murcia continued toward his destination, Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Torres airport, which serves San Jose del Guaviare, capital of Guaviare province, on the edge of the Amazon jungle, some 280 kilometers southeast of Bogota, the Colombian capital.

Eleven minutes later, Murcia was heard again over the radio. "Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. 2803.2803. The engine failed me again. I'm going to look for a river. I have a river on the right … 103 miles (165 kilometers) out of San Jose. I'm going to water."

That was the last message received from the pilot before the plane crashed 2.7 km short of the Apaporis River.

Esteban Hernandez, who has flown Cessna and Piper airplanes, which are used widely in Colombia, said: "You must be very careful in a single-engine plane … With any minimal failure, such as engine pressure, or any failure indicated by the instruments, you have to know if you can continue the flight or not."

The terrain in Colombia is not well suited for an emergency landing, and there are not many other options, Hernandez said.

On May 16, authorities found the three adults' bodies in the plane but to their surprise, the children had gone. It was raining heavily, and the searchers had to wait two days for the bodies to be airlifted as they tried to piece together what had happened to the children.

Assuming that they had left the plane by their own means, the authorities believed the children had not been seriously injured, and launched a huge search operation.

Dogs aid hunt

Some 120 soldiers were deployed along with a group of 40 indigenous people. They combed 2,625 square kilometers of jungle for more than three weeks until the children were found on June 9 some 6 km from the crash site.

Four search and rescue dogs were key to finding traces of the children, including a pacifier, scissors and a diaper.

Engels Cortes, a psychological expert in crisis situations and an international evaluator of search and rescue dogs, said: "The dogs have very good capabilities. They fulfill three tactical objectives — reducing operating time, cost and risk. In other words, dogs make a search faster, more cost-efficient, and fewer personnel are required. A well-trained dog and its owner can cover a lot of ground quickly and reduce risks."

In Colombia, there are 20 to 30 internationally certified teams comprising dogs and their handlers, Cortes said.

Juan Sora, a volunteer and dog handler for search and rescue work at the Civil Defense Force in Colombia, said: "We were activated on May 30, because the last traces of the children were discovered — a footprint that rekindled hope of finding them. From that moment, more resources were invested and the search was intensified."

Sora and his golden retriever Akhela were on one of the two Civil Defense Force teams in the search.

"Entering this terrain is tricky because of the vegetation, humidity and other factors. In addition, the heat and constant rain made it exhausting work," Sora said.

Even though the children were found, the operation was not complete, as Wilson, a Belgian Shepherd dog, was missing in the jungle. Sora said he was one of the last people to see the dog.

"The operation is not over until Wilson shows up, as he was an important part of this mission. The loyalty that dogs show in the work area, in daily life and during training is indescribable," Sora said.

Joint Special Operations Commander, Army General Pedro Sanchez, who coordinated the search efforts, said the jungle is so thick in that area that the searchers sometimes got to within 20 to 50 meters of the children but did not see them.

"My job was to conduct inspections in 1-square-kilometer quadrants. Although it may not seem much, in the jungle, 5 meters is a considerable distance. To avoid getting lost, my objective was to have the dog search in a radius of approximately 5 meters. The work was very tiring, as we had to zigzag, which meant we walked for about 10 to 15 kilometers a day in the jungle," Sora said.

In a video recorded at a military hospital in Bogota after the children were found, their maternal grandfather Narcisco Mucutuy said that at times they had seen the searchers just 10 meters away, but they kept quiet and in hiding, as they feared being punished.

"When they heard the helicopter, they hid under a palisade out of fear, and when peasants and the army were looking for them, Lesly, the eldest child, said the rescuers passed as close as 10 meters to the children," Narcisco Mucutuy said.

"The children kept still, and Lesly covered the little one's mouth to keep him quiet. When the indigenous searchers called out to the children, they never answered, because they thought that if they were found, they would be whipped for hiding."

Cortes, the psychologist, said there have been other cases in which fear poses an additional challenge to finding children in distress.

Helicopter deployed

When the children were found, they were too exhausted to hide anymore.

An army helicopter lifted them out of the jungle to an improvised helipad near the crash site.

From there, the children were flown to Calamar, Guaviare, 260 km away, before being taken to San Jose del Guaviare, from where a medical plane took them to a military airport in Bogota. They were then transported by ambulance to hospital.

The plane crashed as the children, their mother Magda Mucutuy and an indigenous leader were allegedly fleeing threats made by FARC guerrilla dissidents against the mother's partner, Manuel Ranoque.

Ranoque, father of the two older children, left their village a month earlier and paid for the charter flight for his family, aiming to reunite with them in San Jose del Guaviare. He has demanded protection from the government.

The Mucutuy children are from the Muinane ethnic group, which comprises about 500 people in the Amazon region.

A statement from the Caro and Cuervo Institute in Bogota said, "This community lives in fragile ecosystems in Amazonian territory, where it has developed slash-and-burn horticultural systems, in addition to hunting and fishing for commercial purposes."

Knowledge of the jungle may have helped the children survive.

Authorities also said that during their 40-day ordeal, the children ate cassava flour, of which there was about 1.36 kilograms on board the plane.

The flour was also included in the 100 or so survival kits dropped from the air.

The Colombian Ministry of Defense said that although the children were never afraid of being in the jungle, they hid from other people and helicopters.

This hiding has polarized public opinion in Colombia, with questions being asked about why Lesly, the eldest child, was so afraid. Her family in Solano had warned of abuse and family violence against Lesly's stepfather — the natural father of the two youngest children. Authorities have not allowed him to visit the eldest children in their rooms, and have confirmed that investigations are continuing.

"The Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, or ICBF, and delegates from the National Organization of Indigenous People of Colombia are coordinating with indigenous authorities to support decision-making by the Ethnic Family Ombudsman's Office in order to restore the children's rights," the ICBF said in a media release.

Narciso Mucutuy, whose daughter was the children's mother who died in the crash, is aware of the legal and administrative process that lies ahead.

"The children will remain in the custody of the ICBF, and after that we will reach an agreement so that they can be with us," he said in a recorded video message.

Mental health experts said healing will be difficult for the children.

Dora Garzon, a therapist, said: "With all the attention and everything that the government has promised, the easiest thing to do is place the children in a foster home. There, work can be done on the post-traumatic stress regarding the loss of the mother, to see how the children progress after the crash.

"Lesly's situation is extremely difficult. She is dealing with mourning the loss of her mother, post-traumatic stress after the accident, and the issue of malnutrition and everything that a month of hiding in the jungle entails," Garzon said. "It is very hard for the girl, because she assumed the role of a mother, and there is a background (of alleged abuse and family violence)."

Another investigation is underway by civil aviation regulators into what caused the plane, which was owned and operated by Avianline Charters, to crash. It had been rebuilt after crashing in the jungle in July 2021 due to engine failure, but it is still unclear if the rebuild met the manufacturer's standards.

Hernandez, the experienced pilot, said: "When there is an accident, it is because there is a chain of errors. In this case, one of the factors triggering the chain of errors could have been the pilot's decision to continue with the flight."

Government figures show there have been 10 accidents, five of them serious, involving civil airplanes in Colombia this year.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.