2023 Caquetá Cessna Stationair crash
San Jose del Guaviare , Colombia | |
| Occupants | 7 |
|---|---|
| Passengers | 6 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 4 |
On May 1, 2023, a
History of the flight
The Cessna 206 aircraft, operated by Avianline Charters, departed on the morning of May 1, 2023, from
Passengers and crew
On board the aircraft were the pilot, Hernando Murcia Morales, and six passengers: a mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, with her four children aged approximately 13, 9, 4, and 1 years old, and a local indigenous leader, Herman Mendoza Hernández. The pilot and Mendoza died on impact and the mother died four days later. The four siblings survived. The family was part of the Witoto, an indigenous group familiar with the jungle environment and who are taught to hunt, fish and gather from an early age.[2][4][5]
Search and rescue
After the crash, as the children subsequently related to the authorities, their mother urged them to "leave and get help."
Search
Search and rescue teams from the Colombian military and local indigenous communities started searching the area for wreck and remains. They located the wreckage of the Cessna on May 15, two weeks after the crash. Colombian President Gustavo Petro initially tweeted that the children had been found at that time, but that tweet was retracted less than 24 hours later. They also found items belonging to the children, including a child's drinking bottle, and traces of a makeshift shelter, suggesting that the children could still be alive.[5] A small footprint was found a week later.[8] Loudspeakers with a range of a mile were used to broadcast messages in the Witoto language to the children, advising them to stay in one location so that they could be found by the searchers.[9] The head of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare said the fact that "the jungle was in harvest" meant the children could find and eat fruit that was in bloom.[6][2][5]
Rescue
Forty days after the crash, on June 10, 2023, the four children were found and evacuated to the Colombian capital Bogotá for medical treatment.[2] According to the rescuers, the children were malnourished and had many insect bites, but no major health issues.[10] By the time the children were discovered, about 150 troops and rescuers and 200 volunteers from local indigenous groups were searching for them; specialist search and rescue dogs found them. President Petro said it was "an example of total survival which will remain in history".[2][4][11]
Aftermath
Following the rescue of the children, their maternal grandfather, Narciso Mucutuy, requested that the children be relocated closer to their family in Villavicencio.[2] A custody battle ensued between the father of the two youngest children, Manuel Ranoque, and their grandfather, who laid claims of domestic violence against their father.[7] The two elder children have a different father and Ranoque has not been granted access to them following the accident. As of 13 June, a child protection agency was in the process of interviewing relatives to determine the most suitable custody arrangement and said it was investigating the allegations of domestic abuse.[7]
References
- ^ a b "Four children found in Colombian jungle 40 days after plane crash". Al Jazeera. June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Murphy, Matt; Pardo, Daniel (June 12, 2023). "How children survived 40 days in Colombian jungle". BBC News. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ^ Moss, Loren (May 1, 2023). "Commercial Flight Reported Missing, Last Contact Was Over Remote Colombian Amazon Region". Finance Colombia. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
- ^ a b Pozzebon, Stefano (June 10, 2023). "Missing children found after 40 days in Amazon survived like 'children of the jungle,' Colombian president says". CNN. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Durbin, Adam; Buschschlüter, Vanessa (May 18, 2023). "Colombia plane crash: Children reportedly survived 16 days in jungle". BBC News. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ^ a b Walsh, Aoife (June 12, 2023). "Colombia plane crash: Mum told children to leave her and get help". BBC. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Colombia plane crash: custody battle breaks out between relatives of children". The Guardian.
- ^ Buschschlüter, Vanessa (May 24, 2023). "Colombian plane crash: New clues found in search for lost children". BBC News. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ^ Genevieve Glatsky (June 9, 2023), "4 Missing Children Found Alive After 40 Days in Colombian Jungle", The New York Times
- ^ "Mother of rescued Colombia children survived 4 days after jungle crash". Agence France-Presse. June 11, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2023 – via Yahoo! News.
- ^ Walsh, Aoife (June 10, 2023). "Colombia plane crash: Four children found alive in Amazon after 40 days". BBC News. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
External links
- Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
- Avianline Charters website
