Lost in the Jungle

When I got to the airstrip,

my mom said, "Lesly, we're flying to Bogotá."

We were going to live with my stepfather.

I didn't want to go.

I was living with my grandma, Fátima.

I was going to school.

I was actually very happy there.

This was my first time on an airplane.

It wasn't too long after we took off then.

The plane began making a lot of strange noises.

- - I was getting really scared.

And then the engine sounded like it was going to stop.

The pilot called to the control tower.

"We need help."

He couldn't control the plane.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Then, all of a sudden, we started to fall.

- -

- -

- That's the last thing I remember. -

At about 08:30 in the morning, I got a call.

"What happened?"

"Magdalena's plane never arrived. It must have crashed in the jungle."

My sister Magdalena was on it with her four children.

That's when it hit me.

The sadness.

My other daughters kept calling me, "Mom, don't worry."

How could I not worry?

When a plane crashes, no one is spared. Never.

My heart ached.

My daughter left with her kids and didn't even tell me she was going.

Magdalena had called me.

She said, "I'm on the plane with the kids."

But they never arrived.

I didn't know what to do.

I couldn't stop thinking about my wife.

My only son.

His life had just begun, and the thought of losing him...

My baby daughter.

My two stepdaughters.

My dream was for them to come and live with me in Bogotá.

Are they still alive?

Are they dead?

Today, a Censa-Doscientos-Seis aircraft

that flew from Araracuara was swallowed up by the jungle.

Search efforts have begun with aircraft and helicopters in the area.

These works have been seen to be complicated by the forests' weight.

The authorities do not rule out the fact

that the migrants continue to live in the middle of the jungle.

When I finally woke up, we were on the ground.

There was so much blood on my face, all over my clothes, everywhere.

I was in so much pain.

- I saw Tien. -

Zeleny was crying.

I saw my mom.

My leg hurt really bad.

The seat had collapsed and my shoe was stuck.

I needed to get to Cristin.

I could see that she was trapped under my mom's body.

She couldn't breathe.

So, I slipped my foot out of my shoe and left it there.

I struggled, but I was able to get my siblings out of the plane.

I needed to try and stop the bleeding that was gushing from my head.

I found the first aid kit.

Cristin cried and cried. She was thirsty and hungry.

I searched through the bags...

and found a hammock...

...a mosquito net...

and Cristin's bottle.

I arranged some leaves on the ground...

and we all lay down.

Cristin just wouldn't stop crying.

I wasn't able to sleep. My head and my leg hurt too much.

For five days,

the Colombian Air Force flew back and forth over the area,

searching for the missing plane, but we didn't find anything.

Each day that passed greatly reduced the chances of finding them alive.

The high command called and said,

"Pedro, we need you on this. It's time to do a ground search."

This was my first rescue mission. We don't often get a chance to save lives.

As Special Forces, our assignments usually involve fighting guerrilla groups.

Using the plane's last verified coordinates

and after calculating a reasonable margin of error,

we were able to establish a search area of approximately 320 square kilometers.

The terrain was very dense.

It's an untouched jungle with trees up to 40 meters tall,

with dangerous animals and poisonous snakes.

But the greatest risk we faced was getting lost in the jungle.

The jungle is like an enormous carpet.

It's like searching for... a needle in a haystack.

We moved quickly to search for the plane,

and hopefully find survivors.

Let's advance a little further.

Listen for anything unusual.

Let's go.

We were prepared to encounter the worst.

Narco-guerrilla groups like the FARC

are known to operate in this area.

We've been at war with them for 60 years.

The FARC at one time, actually controlled many parts of Colombia.

They commit acts of violence, drug trafficking, and kidnappings.

In the process of fighting them, we've lost many soldiers.

We made ourselves as invisible as possible to go undetected by the enemy.

Currently, 60 commandos are keeping hope alive

that they will find survivors.

Manuel Ranoque is living with the uncertainty of this tragedy.

My four kids and my wife are missing.

I couldn't stand by and wait for the military to locate the plane.

I'm going to go out there and search for my family.

I'm not coming back until I find them.

I needed to ask for the help of my indigenous friends

from the Araracuara community.

We know how to navigate the jungle. We're experts at it.

The jungle is a part of us because we grew up here.

I volunteered. No questions.

Because those in danger are a part of our indigenous family.

It was a long journey,

about 12 hours by boat from the nearest town.

No one lives there.

We believe that the jungle finds a way to connect man to nature,

and then through nature, to the creator.

But the jungle is also very dangerous.

Certainly because of the things you see,

but especially because of the things that cannot be seen, not with human eyes.

As we finally entered the jungle,

the weather changed drastically.

It rained and rained.

Our elders believe that when a spirit, an enchanted being, if you will,

gets angry, it causes a storm.

I fell behind my companions.

I called out to them, but they were nowhere to be found.

I tried retracing my steps three times.

I kept thinking, "Is a spirit playing with me?"

I was filled with fear. I can't deny it.

I prayed, "Don't get angry, I'm a child of the jungle.

"I am indigenous.

"I come here not to harm the jungle,

"but to search for what is ours."

And just like that, my partners reappeared.

We were all starting to get worried.

"How are we going to find the plane with all this rain?"

There's no trace of anything at all.

This went on for days.

We were losing hope of finding the plane.

Every day we searched, looking through the trees, bushes, vines.

And in every direction you could look, it was nothing but green.

And then, I saw something that stood out.

A small baby bottle in the middle of this immense jungle.

If you think about it, what are the chances of actually finding,

you know, a small baby bottle like that in a jungle of this magnitude?

We immediately start to imagine what could have happened.

Could the bottle have somehow fallen out of the plane?

- -

We were mentally prepared to find the family dead.

Wherever we see the vultures around,

that's where we'll find the plane, and unfortunately, the bodies.

- We spotted a king vulture. -

We decided that we would try and follow it.

Then we spot the vulture.

He was sitting on top of something. We could see that it was something... white.

I got a lump in my throat.

Mrs. Magdalena was lying there. Her body was on the seat.

It was terrible.

"How will Manuel take the news?"

- -

I couldn't believe that she was gone, that she had abandoned me.