The youngest was only 11 months old.
The oldest was 13.
And for 40 days, four siblings survived alone in the Colombian Amazon.
On May 1, 2023, a small plane carrying the Mucutuy family crashed deep in the rainforest.
The three adults on board, including the children’s mother, Magdalena, died.
But Lesly, 13, Soleiny, 9, Tien, 4, and baby Cristin survived. 💔
Suddenly, Lesly wasn’t simply an older sister.
She was responsible for keeping three younger children alive.
She recovered supplies from the wreckage, including fariña, a cassava flour, clothes, a bottle and other useful items. When that food began running out, the children relied on fruits and seeds from the jungle. Lesly knew which ones were safe because of knowledge passed down through her Indigenous Huitoto family.
She collected rainwater.
She carried the baby.
She even chewed hard palm seeds herself before giving the softer pulp to her younger siblings.
When the rain became overwhelming, the children sheltered inside hollow tree trunks or beneath makeshift shelters Lesly built from branches. 🌿
Meanwhile, one of Colombia’s largest search operations was unfolding around them.
Soldiers, Indigenous trackers, helicopters and search dogs followed tiny clues through the forest: footprints, a baby bottle, discarded diapers and partially eaten fruit.
Military teams later said they collectively traveled more than 2,600 kilometers through the jungle during Operation Hope.
Then, on June 9, rescuers finally found them.
All four were alive.
They were thin, dehydrated and exhausted, but stable enough to be airlifted to Bogotá for treatment. Cristin had even celebrated her first birthday somewhere in the jungle. 🥹❤️
Officials later credited Lesly’s leadership and Indigenous knowledge as major reasons the younger children survived.
At 13 years old, she had done something most adults could barely imagine.
She kept three children alive for 40 days in the Amazon.
How would you even begin to find that kind of courage at just 13 years old?
