The mum of four children who were miraculously rescued from a plane crash in the Amazon told them to "go" and save themselves before she died, her widower has revealed.
Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia's children - aged between 11 months and 13 - were saved after surviving for 40 days in the Colombian jungle after the disaster on May 1.
Harrowing details of their experience have emerged as husband Manual Ranoque revealed the heartbreaking message given to Magdalena's eldest daughter, Lesly, as she lost her battle to stay alive.
Speaking to press in Bogota, Mr Ranoque said: "My daughter has told me that their mother was alive for four days."
He added: "Let’s be clear, the girl (Lesly) knows everything.
"The only thing that she clarified is that the mother was alive for four days.
"Before she died… she told them 'go!' And, 'you will find out what your dad is made of… and what your father’s love is like'."
The tragedy unfolded when a light plane the family were travelling on the Cessna 206 from Araracuara, Colombia, to San Jose del Guaviare, disappeared from radars after the pilot experienced engine malfunctions.
The small aircraft fell into the jungle below, where its wreckage was later discovered by military.
The discovery prompted a major operation to find Magdalena and her children who were missing, with eaten fruit at the scene also indicating they had survived the crash.
It has since transpired that Magdalena clung to life for four days before telling the four children to leave her and save themselves.
Since being discovered about three miles from the crash site and pulled to safety on Friday, the four children - Lesly Jacombaire Mucutuy, Soleiny Jacombaire Mucutuy, nine, Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy, four, and one-year-old Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy - remain in a military hospital in Bogota.
Fidencio Valencia, a child's uncle, told media outlet Noticias Caracol the children were starting to talk and one of them said they hid in tree trunks to protect themselves in a jungle area filled with snakes, animals and mosquitoes.
"They at least are already eating, a little, but they are eating," he said after visiting them at the military hospital in Bogota, Colombia.
Dairo Juvenal Mucutuy, another uncle, told local media that one of kids wanted to start walking, but couldn't because his "feet hurt".
Authorities and family members have said the children, who are from the Huitoto Indigenous group, survived eating cassava flour and seeds, and that some familiarity with the rainforest's fruits were also key to their survival.
An air force video released on Friday showed a helicopter using lines to pull the youngsters up because it couldn't land in the dense rainforest where they were found.
The military also tweeted pictures showing a group of soldiers and volunteers posing with the children, who were wrapped in thermal blankets.
Mr Ranoque said the rescue shows how as an "Indigenous population, we are trained to search" in the middle of the jungle.
"We proved the world that we found the plane... we found the children," he added.
Some Indigenous community members burned incense as part of a ceremony outside the Bogota military hospital Sunday to give thanks for the rescue of the kids.
Luis Acosta, coordinator of the Indigenous guard that was part of the search in the Amazon, said the children were found as part of what he called a "combination of ancestral wisdom and Western wisdom... between a military technique and a traditional technique."
