“The Lost Children” tells the true story of the Mucutuy siblings, four children who survived for 40 days in the Colombian Amazon following a tragic plane crash that killed all adults onboard.
The popular Netflix documentary shows how oldest child, Lesly Mucutuy, 13, bravely cared for her siblings — Soleiny, 9, Tien Noriel, 4, and Cristin, who turned 1 during their ordeal — as she shrewdly navigated their way to safety.
The documentary features interviews with the Mucutuy children’s family members and those part of the search effort, which included members of the military and the Indigenous community.
The children’s mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, died in the accident, which happened when the single-engine Cessna plane the family was flying in crashed in the jungle on May 1, 2023, also killing two other adults onboard, NBC News reported in an article about the search in 2022.
Lesly and her siblings, who are members of the Indigenous Huitoto community and grew up with knowledge of forests and wildlife, used supplies from the wreckage to stay alive, authorities later revealed.
Here’s what to know about the Mucuty siblings’ incredible story and what their lives are like today.
What happened to the Mucutuy siblings?
The four Mucuty siblings were flying on a single-engine Cessna plane with their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, and two other adults on May 1, 2023 when the plane crashed in the Amazon jungle. Also killed were pilot Hernán Murcia and Indigenous leader Indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Morales, CNN reported.
The family was traveling from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to the town of San José del Guaviare, in southeastern Colombia, NBC News reported.
Fatima Valencia, the other of Magdalena Mucutuy, told NBC News in 2023 this was the first time her daughter had ever left her village.
After the crash, oldest sibling Lesly Mucutuy, 13, cared for her younger siblings — Soleiny, 9, Tien Noriel, 4, and Cristin, who turned 1 during the rescue efforts — until all four could be found.
Narciso Mucutuy, the children’s maternal grandfather, told reporters about how the children survived. At first the children stayed by demolished plane, where they ate the cassava flour they were traveling with to survive.
When no one came to rescue them, the children began walking in the jungle in search of help, he said.
“(Lesly) said she didn’t know where she was going, and they started leaving clues, so if someone was looking for them noticed, they started leaving clues at the places they were sleeping,” he said, per Reuters.
Lesly brought camping gear from the plane and also a towel, an empty water bottle and a flashlight, The children walked along a nearby river so they could have access to water, according to their rescuers.
Lesly fed baby Cristin formula she took from the crash site. When the formula ran out, she fed him water, her grandfather said.
The children ate berries and seeds they found in the jungle to stay nourished.
“I asked them what they did when it rained, they said they took branches and large leaves and took cover under them,” Narcisco Mucutuy said, per Reuters.
How were the children found?
Rescuers didn’t discover the plane’s wreckage — or the bodies of the three dead adults — until 16 days after the crash.
A search team — comprised of both Colombian army soldiers and Indigenous trackers — knew the children likely survived the crash because they found remnants of half-eaten fruit as well as small footprints, a baby bottle and a small pair of shoes in the forest, NBC News reported.
When they were finally discovered, about three miles from the crash site, the children were painfully thin and weak. They were sitting together, with brave Lesly was holding baby Cristin between her legs.
Nicolas Ordonez, a member of the Indigenous Guard, told reporters in Spanish, “I received the little girl in my arms, and Lesly said, ‘I’m hungry.’”
“After hugging them (the girls), giving them human warmth, we approached the boy, who was laying down. He stood up and very consciously said ‘My mother died,'” Ordonez said. “We instantly changed the narrative into a sweet one — ‘But your grandmother is looking for you. Your dad and your uncle are here.’ That’s when he said, ‘I want farina (cassava flour) with chorizo.”
The children were taken to a military hospital to recover.
Where are the Mucutuy siblings now?
Following their rescue, Adriana Velasquez, the deputy director of the Institute for Family Wellness where the children were being treated, gave an update on their health.
“Soleiny, Lesly, Tien and Cristine’s health is improving. The children are stable, they are following all the medical indications,” Velasquez said, per Reuters. “They are in good spirits, they have been drawing, colouring. They love to talk, to draw and colour pictures, they have been interacting with books.”
The children were honored in Colombia in June 2024 on the first anniversary of their rescue.
Colombia’s Institute for Family Welfare posted a photo of the children with their faces concealed on its official X account at the time. The organization shared a statement confirming the children were in good health and living under state care.
“The Mucutuy siblings today spend their days enjoying life and learning. They have been accompanied by a team that specializes in ethnic affairs and works so that they don’t lose their customs while they are far from their territory,” the statement read, per the Associated Press.
The Associated Press reported at the time that the children’s future was uncertain because of unresolved custody issues. Following their rescue, the children’s maternal grandparents entered into a custody battle with their late mother’s partner, Manuel Ranoque.
Ranoque is the father of the two youngest children, Tien and Cristin, and also lived with the family for several years before the plane crash.
NBC News spoke to the children’s maternal grandmother, Fatima Valencia in 2023, who shared that Ranoque had caused her daughter “pain,” and that she wanted custody of the children.
In August 2023, Ranoque was arrested after being accused of sexually abusing one of the children for years prior to the crash, per AP.