(CNN) — A month after four children went missing in the Colombian Amazon, a preliminary report from the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil offers clues as to how they may have survived the devastating plane crash that killed all adults on board.
The extraordinary story of the missing children has generated great interest in Colombia and around the world, as an army-led jungle search operation continues.
On the ill-fated May 1 flight were pilot Hernando Murcia Morales, Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández, an indigenous woman named Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, and their four children, the oldest aged 13 and the youngest just 11. months.
According to the report, shortly after taking off early in the morning from the remote community of Araracuara, the pilot radioed air traffic control that he would look for an emergency landing site.
“…Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, 2803, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, engine low, I’m going to find a field,” he said.
The pilot later reported that the engine had regained power and continued on its course, only to have trouble again less than an hour later: “…Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, 2803, 2803, engine gave out again … I’m going to look for a river … I have a river on the right…”.
This time the problem has not been solved.
According to the report, air traffic control later detected the plane veering to the right. Then he disappeared from the radar.
According to the report, the plane probably first collided with trees in the dense forest, ripping off its engine and propeller, and then fell vertically. (Credit: Accident Investigation Technical Department)
Despite air and water searches that immediately followed the crash, the plane was not found until more than two weeks later, according to the report, a time that could yet prove significant for the fate of the plane’s passengers.
Five days after the plane went missing, the Colombian military deployed special forces units on May 6 to scour the ground. Ten days later, on the night of 16 May, they finally located the wreckage of the plane.
All three adults were found dead at the scene. However, the four children disappeared completely, leading rescue teams to assume they had survived, evacuated the plane, and made their way through the jungle on their own.
Photos of the crash site taken by investigators show an aircraft’s raised tail painted blue and white, nose and nose crashed into jungle terrain. According to the report, the plane likely first collided with trees in the dense jungle, ripping off its engine and propeller, and then dropped vertically to the jungle floor.
“Detailed inspection of the wreckage indicated that, upon landing in the trees, there was an initial impact with the trees; this impact caused the engine with its cover and the propeller to separate from the aircraft structure ”, says the report. . “Due to the heavy deceleration and loss of control on the first impact, the aircraft fell vertically and collided with the ground.”
Seat map
While noting that forensic examinations are ongoing, the report suggests adults seated in the front of the aircraft’s cabin sustained life-threatening injuries as a result of the crash. “The crash injury table recorded fatal injuries to the occupants in positions 1 (driver), 2 (adult male occupant), and 3 (adult female occupant),” the report said.
However, the rear seats, where the older children were, were less affected by the impact, according to the report, offering a possible explanation for their survival and signs of life — including a bottle, used diaper and footprints — later found in the jungle by search and rescue teams.
The impact into trees caused the engine and propeller to separate from the plane’s structure, according to the report. (Credit: Accident Investigation Technical Department)
According to the report, two of the three seats occupied by children remained in place and upright despite the crash, while one child’s seat was detached from the cell. The baby may have been in the mother’s arms, according to the report.
The children “were not in the area of the accident and there was no indication that they had been injured, at least not seriously. An intense search was therefore launched to find them,” the report reads.
A total of 119 Colombian special forces and 73 indigenous scouts have been deployed so far to scour the area, according to the report.
Relatives had already said the children were familiar with the jungle, but were worried if they would understand that the outside world hadn’t given up on their search.
“Maybe they’re hiding,” Fidencio Valencia, the children’s grandfather, told Colombian TV Caracol earlier this month.
“Maybe they don’t realize they’re looking for them, they’re children.”
