Photo:Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office via AP, File
Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office via AP, File
Officials are sharing their first interactions with the four siblings who were rescued last week aftersurviving 40 days in the Amazon following a plane crash.
Siblings Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy, 1, were discovered alive on Friday — 40 days after the crash took place on May 1 —CNN previously reported.
Heartbreakingly, the first thing Tien told the search party was, “My mother is dead,” according toThe Guardian,
Speaking with reporterson Sunday, Manuel Ranoque — the father of the two youngest children — said that according to the eldest sibling who survived, their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia,was alive for about four days after the plane crash.
Meanwhile Tien’s 13-year-old sister Lesly gave first responders a succinct answer when they first assessed her condition. “I’m hungry,” she told them, perThe Guardian.
The four siblings are currently recovering in a Bogotá hospital, where they’re expected to remain for at least the next two weeks, according to theAssociated Press.
The children were traveling with their mom and two other adults from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare at the time of the plane crash, according toCBS. The outlet reported that the pilot declared an emergency after the single-engine failed in the aircraft, before falling off the radar.
From their hospital beds, the children told authorities that although their mother initially survived the plane crash, she later told her children to leave her behind — and for Lesly to take care of her younger siblings, per the AP.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The children, members of the Huitoto Indigenous group, ate Amazonian fruit such asCouma macrocarpaandOenocarpus bacaba, they told their parents, perThe Guardian.
Finding them was a “joy for the whole country” Petro said on social media.
source: people.com
