A sinister twist was unveiled in the tale of the native children who were lost in the Amazon jungle and forced to fend for themselves for 40 days until they were rescued by Colombian forces.

The children, who survived a plane crash in the jungle as their family attempted to escape narco-gang activity in the area, have been in government care since they were rescued.

Manuel Ranoque, 34, the biological father of the two youngest children, was involved in a bitter custody battle with their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, and her family, it was reported, before she died in the plane crash alongside the pilot and another person.

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Ranoque, who is stepfather to the other surviving children, is accused of abusing his stepdaughter and is facing charges in a Colombian court.

The survival of the children from Colombia’s indigenous Huitoto tribe and their eventual rescue was published in groundbreaking Netflix documentary The Lost Children. The show takes viewers inside the arduous rescue missions that ultimately led to the successful recovery of the emaciated children.

But it also reveals the harrowing prospects after their return, including the possibility that they could be reunited with Ranoque, who is accused of sexually abusing one of his stepdaughters before the flight. He was arrested in August 2023, two months after the children’s recovery, and denies all of the allegations against him.

The children have all been in government care since their rescue as Ranoque continues to fight for custody of them. The children, aged, 13, 9, 4 and 11 months, all miraculously survived the plane crash in the early morning hours of May 1, 2023.

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The siblings had been traveling with their mother, a pilot and another man over a remote region of the Amazon rainforest from their village of Araracuara to the Guaviare region in the north. From Colombia’s indigenous Huitoto tribe, the family had hoped to escape the narco-gang activity that was ramping up in the region but instead encountered more danger than they could have ever imagined.

The eldest daughter described how their mother survived the crash but died shortly thereafter and how she had to take care of her siblings, leading them through the rainforest and helping them find food out of fruits and seeds they came across.

When the children were eventually found on June 9 by a special team of soldiers and indigenous volunteers, they were severely emaciated, but alive. It was determined that the engine of their single-engine Cessna aircraft had failed as they flew, and radio signals to towers cut out. Down the plane went, killing all the adults.

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The rescue teams used sniffer dogs and helicopters to locate the children, it was reported, with footage from their mission broadcast worldwide. The eldest daughter detailed the children’s harrowing journey as she worked to provide for them with a painful leg injury that hindered her drastically.

She said she barely slept and even resorted to killing a snake at one point to protect her younger siblings. She also knew which jungle fruits were safe to eat and how to make a makeshift rod to catch fish, which the children ate raw despite the horrible taste, she said.

They still struggled to eat enough, however, and the younger siblings were reportedly close to death when they were rescued. Footage shows Ranoque among the rescue teams searching for the children, but interviews with the family members of the mother, including the children’s aunt Yeritza Mucutuy and maternal grandmother Fatima Valencia detailed the “abuse” Ranoque inflicted not only on the children but on their mother when they were together.

Valencia alleged that he would beat Magdalena with a curved stick so hard that it left scars on her neck, which she had to hide with her hair. “I hate that man so much because of what happened to my sister,” Yeritza added.

They both alleged that the children hid in the rainforest because they didn’t want to be reunited with Ranoque, who is the biological father of the two youngest children.

Colombian prosecutors formally charged Ranoque with sexual assault of a minor in October 2023, which he denies happened and said he would be challenging in court.

The children are currently being cared for by Colombia’s Institute for Family Welfare, which posted a picture of them on the one-year anniversary of their rescue with their faces blurred. The institute said they were healthy and growing up successfully under the state’s care, with the state ensuring they keep their native heritage and learn traditions, too.

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