Mother of children found alive in Colombia rainforest survived for four days after plane crash before telling them to ‘save yourselves’

The mother of the four children who were rescued from a Colombian jungle survived for four days before dying after their light plane crashed, her heartbroken husband has revealed.

Manual Ranoque told Mail Online that his eldest surviving daughter Lesly, 13, told him his wife Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia battled to stay alive but in the end told them to save themselves.

Ranoque, speaking in the Colombian capital Bogota of the children’s astonishing 40-day ordeal before they were rescued by the military said: ‘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 new heartbreaking revelation comes as 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 after their astonishing ordeal.

On May 1 , Ranoque’s wife and kids caught a routine flight on a Cessna 206 from Araracuara to the town of San Jose del Guaviare.

Minutes after starting the 350km (220 mile) journey, the pilot reported problems with the engine and the plane disappeared from radars.

When the wreckage of the plane was found after weeks of hunting not only were the children not found dead alongside the adults, there was part-eaten fruit that suggested they had all survived.

That sparked a huge hunt across miles of dense and remote Amazon rainforest and the President, Gustavo Petro, mistakenly caused false hope when he said they were safe only to retract his statement and say there was just evidence they might still be alive.

After they were miraculously found, the children were seen bitten, dehydrated, and malnourished but mercifully alive, and taken to safety for medical treatment.

The president then delivered the good news to the nation.

‘It is a joy for the whole country,’ Petro Tweeted.

‘They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.’

The siblings, members of the Huitoto Indigenous group, were dehydrated, malnourished, and bitten by insects but are otherwise healthy, rescuers said.

It is understood Manuel Ranoque is the father of the two youngest children and stepfather of the two older ones.

He came out from the hospital again in the afternoon and was highly emotional when he told DailyMail.com: ‘I was so excited the moment I saw my children.’

He went on to say to reporters: ‘You have got to understand I can’t speak about the situation inside the hospital because it’s very sensitive.. but I can say they are doing way better.’

And he put their survival down to their upbringing, saying: ‘The kids are possessed by nature.’

But he revealed his anger at authorities who he says are not allowing him to see the two older children.

‘This is not a game,’ he said. ‘They are fine. I cannot talk to the (two older) children, I cannot tell you anything about them until the father, the creator (apparently referring to God) allows me to…

‘You will never understand our world. We are indigenous people. We cannot lose time getting an education, we have shown our skills, what we are capable of, we found the airplane, we found the kids, what else do you want?

‘Now may God continue to protect them.’

In an emotional state, he continued: ‘I have only been able to see my two little kids, because the Government will not allow me to see my other two daughters. I don’t know why I can’t see them.

‘They (the authorities) haven’t completely understood that I am coming from 40 days in the jungle, they think I’m coming from a bar or from the streets.’

He went on: ‘I want to thank the military hospital, the kids are in good hands and I think after a month I will have my kids with me, that is my dream.

‘They (the authorities) don’t understand I am their father. The government has taken this as a joke to step over me.

‘I am the father I went to look for them, I searched for them and now that I brought them back, now I cannot see them how is that possible? And the other search teams, the other people, can see them.

‘They are allowed to see them, to take pictures with them. And us, my colleagues that have come from suffering, they haven’t been given any medical attention. I fought 40 days on my knees in the jungle.

‘I have only seen the two older children in photos. And that worries me.

‘I call upon the nation to please respect that I am the dad. They (the older children) have got to talk to me first. How come they are talking to people who when I was in the jungle didn’t even send a glass of water while I was dying of hunger and thirst in the jungle?

‘I never had any support and now the kids are here there are people trying to make money out of this.’

When asked about the future of his children and he replied: ‘The children have to have a decent place to live, access to education and many big things are coming for my children.’

The father’s anger comes amid sources indicating to DailyMail.com the Colombian authorities want to have influence over the future upbringing of at least the two older children.

Ranoque, who fled his area after being threatened by FARC guerrillas, said the two older children were being brainwashed by the group into believing that he was abusing them.

But he said Sunday: ‘I am not their biological father, but they were trying to tell them I was abusing them. Lesly shut their mouths, saying I am their father.’