A new Netflix documentary sheds a sinister light on the amazing story of four indigenous children who made international headlines last year by surviving a plane crash and then spending 40 days in the Amazon jungle.
People around the world rejoiced when the siblings of Colombia’s indigenous Huitoto tribe were found, emaciated but left to fend for themselves, after their mother and others were killed when their plane crashed.
The new show The lost children takes viewers back to the arduous rescue missions that ultimately saved the children, while revealing the troubled nature of their lives both before and after the disaster.
It shows how the children have been in government care since the rescue, amid a bitter custody battle between the family of mother Magdalena Mucutuy and the father of two of the siblings, Manuel Ranoque.
It also reveals that Ranoque has been in jail since his arrest in August 2023, awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing one of his stepdaughters before the fateful flight – charges he denies.
Worse, the mother’s relatives even say the children spent so long in the jungle because they hid from rescue teams for fear of being returned to their “abusive” father.
The siblings were 13, 9, 4 and 11 months old when the single-engine plane they were traveling in plunged into the jungle canopy on May 1, 2023, killing their mother and the other two adults on board.
The group traveled from the small village of Araracuara, deep in the Colombian Amazon, to the city of San Jose del Guaviare.
Manuel Ranoqueis is in jail awaiting trial as he prepares to fight charges that he sexually abused one of his stepchildren
The children are currently in the custody of Colombian authorities, amid the prosecution of Manuel Ranoque for sexual abuse
Magdalena died in the plane crash along with the pilot and an indigenous leader
The siblings survived the crash and lived on fruits and seeds from the rainforest before being found on June 9 by a team of special forces and indigenous volunteers.
Rescuers had spent three weeks scouring the rugged terrain around the plane crash, using sniffer dogs and helicopters to locate the children, as footage of their mission was broadcast on television around the world.
In the documentary, the eldest child, Lesly, describes how Magdalena survived the crash but died from her injuries shortly afterwards, and how she suffered a painful leg injury but knew she had to ‘keep going’.
She says she barely slept and at one point had to kill a snake to protect her younger siblings.
She knew which jungle fruits were safe to eat and made a makeshift fishing pole to catch fish, which the children ate raw even though it tasted terrible, Lesly says.
Still, they struggled to get enough nutrition, and the two youngest siblings were near death when they were finally rescued.
The 1 hour and 36 minute show includes footage of Ranoque and others cutting through the jungle to search the area around the plane, but interviews with the mother’s relatives cast an unflattering light on the father.
The children’s aunt Yeritza Mucutuy and their maternal grandmother Fatima Valencia allege Ranoque “abused” his partner when they were together.
Ranoque, who led rescue efforts for the children, says he will fight the sexual abuse allegations at trial
The six-week search for the children ended on June 9, when all four were found weak and hungry but alive
The rescue involved Colombian troops and indigenous tribes, sometimes working together despite decades of mutual distrust
Valencia says he hit her so hard with a curved stick that he left scars on her neck that she hid with her hair.
“I hate that man so much because of what happened to my sister,” the aunt says.
Sensationally, they also suggest that the children deliberately hid from rescue teams because they did not want to be reunited with Ranoque, 34.
“Lesley wanted to hide, she didn’t want to be found because she didn’t want to see Manuel,” Valencia said.
“The children hid from the search because they were afraid.”
After the rescue, a custody battle broke out over the siblings, pitting Valencia against Ranoque, who was not interviewed in the documentary.
Ranoque is the biological father of the two youngest children, Tien and Cristin.
The Cessna crashed into the dense jungle in southern Colombia, killing all three adults on board, but the four children all miraculously survived.
Colombian Air Force soldiers and staff from the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) provide medical assistance on an airplane to the surviving children of a Cessna 206 plane crash
The Netflix show features archive footage and dramatic recreations of the jungle rescue mission
Members of Colombia’s indigenous groups took part in the rescue efforts, using their knowledge of the jungle and local customs
A baby bottle was found in the jungle near the crash site. The youngest child Cristin Mucutuy was only 11 months old at the time of the accident
He also lived with the two older children and their mother for several years before the crash.
Ranoque was jailed in August 2023 over allegations that he sexually abused one of the children when they lived together.
Prosecutors in Colombia formally charged Ranoque in October 2023 with sexually abusing a minor, a charge he denies and says he will challenge in an upcoming lawsuit.
The children are in the care of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF), which posted a photo of them with their faces blurred on the one-year anniversary of the rescue in June.
In a statement, the institute said they were healthy and growing up successfully under state care.
“The Mucutuy siblings today spend their days enjoying life and learning,” the statement said.
“They are accompanied by a team that specializes in ethnic affairs and ensures that they do not lose their customs while they are far from their territory.”
The ICBF did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for an update on the children and the prosecution.
Speaking to DailyMail.com after the rescue, Ranoque admitted to cheating on his partner during a visit to Colombia’s capital Bogota, calling it a “one-off thing.”
“I am made of flesh and bones and I make mistakes,” Ranoque said in an interview at a hotel in Bogota.
“Yes, I had a wife, but it was never to leave Magdalena.”
The documentary was directed by Oscar winner Orlando von Einsiedel and released on November 14.
Einsiedel says he tried to treat a “painful human tragedy with the deep respect and sensitivity they deserve.”
The show is about “not only the children’s struggle to survive alone in the forest, but also how indigenous rescuers and the military were able to overcome their mutual distrust and fear,” he says.