A group of four children found alive after surviving 40 days alone in the Amazon have been released from the hospital.
The siblings — Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13; Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9; Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4; and Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy, 1 — became stranded in the Amazon jungle on May 1 after a deadly plane crash that killed their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, alongside other passengers and the aircraft’s pilot.
For the next five weeks, the children lived off of seeds, roots and plants while scores of Colombian troops and Indigenous scouts raced to find them. Search crews uncovered clue after clue, including footprints and a dirty diaper, before they finally located the siblings on June 9. Officials at the time said the children’s knowledge of the jungle kept them alive amid the desperate search efforts.
The children were then taken to Colombia’s Military Hospital in Bogota. where they stayed until their release Thursday night, CNN reported. They have now been moved to a shelter home, the director of Colombian Children Welfare Agency ICBF, Astrid Garces, told reporters during a press conference Friday.
“Considering everything they went through, they are actually well,” Garces said. “Their physical health is perfect, and in the hospital, they started receiving care from a team of psychologists and anthropologists.”
The ICBF noted that it’s expected to make a case in court regarding who will receive a “reinstatement of right” and gain legal custody over the siblings. The children’s maternal grandparents and the father of the two youngest siblings have requested legal custody over them, which will be decided in family court.
