How did four children survive a plane crash and 40 nights in deadly jungle

For 40 terrifying days and nights, four young children including a baby, having survived a plane crash, were trapped in the Amazon jungle. In the harsh environment, where pumas and jaguars stalk for prey, and there are deadly snakes, insects and poisonous plants everywhere, amazingly they survived. It’s like a miracle straight out of the Old Testament. A documentary airing on Channel 5 tonight at 10pm, Air Crash: The Miracle Children Of The Amazon, rakes over the incredible details.

The crash on May 1, 2023, over the jungle in Colombia killed their mother and two other adults instantly, leaving the four children, aged 13, nine, four and 11-months-old (cushioned in her mother’s arms), the only survivors. After a massive, unrelenting search, against impossible odds, they were found hungry, emaciated, afraid, but alive with only minor injuries.

But there are many questions. What took so long to find them? Did they not want to be found? Why were they on the plane in the first place? Why did they hide from rescuers? Were they being used as pawns in a war? This documentary is on the ground in Colombia, investigating the theories, politics and nasty family battles, including domestic issues surrounding the father, since there are many elements that simply don’t add up.

It turns out that the family was on the run, and what followed was a bitter family fight over custody of the children. The story starts when the single engine plane, with a pilot and six passengers, loses engine power and crashes nose-first in the unforgiving jungle. It takes two weeks for Colombian rescue teams to find the plane and the remains of the three adults - then they realise, the kids are missing. Signs of life nearby included a baby bottle, half-eaten fruit and tiny footprints, but the children were nowhere to be seen…

READ MORE: Dad of kids who survived plane crash and 40 days in Amazon arrested

The search intensified, with more than 200 members of the special forces and dozens of local indigenous people scouring the dense jungle, filled with vicious animals. Just as hope was nearly gone, a miracle happened and the children were found. They hugged their rescuers, but how they survived this ordeal became a mystery.

Les Stroud, a survival expert, says: "I think they would have gone through a whole succession of panic and fear and anger and misery and then strength and hope and camaraderie and helping each other emotionally and even spiritually to the point where they said, we need to get out of here, we need to survive."

READ MORE: Four children who survived 40 days stranded in the jungle are OUT of hospital

It turns out that the children survived the plane crash because they were at the back of the plane, which was relatively unscathed. The baby was protected in her mother's arms. Their maternal grandfather Narciso Mucutuy says: "They had three pounds of flour, they were holding on to that and stayed next to the aeroplane for four days, hoping someone would rescue them. But after four days they saw that nobody was coming, they decided to walk. "

But what followed is astounding. The easiest story to buy is the most unbelievable, that the kids somehow survived conditions that would be incomprehensibly brutal to most people. But there are other theories, including one that they became pawns in a war between a rebel group and the government. Was it a tragic accident or something more?

*AIR CRASH: THE MIRACLE CHILDREN OF THE AMAZON airs tonight (Aug 7) on CHANNEL 5 at 10pm

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