Relatives say the children managed to survive thanks to Lesly's deep knowledge of survival in the jungle, with its many inherent dangers ? including snakes, predatory animals and armed criminal groups. It took nearly 200 military and Indigenous rescuers with search dogs to track the children down.

In May 2023, four Indigenous children—aged 13, 9, 4, and 1—survived a plane crash and 40 days in the Amazon rainforest through a combination of ancestral knowledge and resourcefulness. The eldest, Lesly Mukutuy, used her Huitoto Indigenous upbringing to identify edible fruits and seeds while avoiding poisonous ones. They initially survived on a supply of fariña (cassava flour) salvaged from the wreckage and later found a medical kit with some food dropped by rescuers. They learned to extract water from leaves and navigate the dense jungle by following the sounds of birds and the direction of the sun. Their survival is also attributed to their familiarity with the terrain; the children were accustomed to the "pulse" of the jungle, allowing them to remain calm and find shelter under makeshift coverings to protect themselves from torrential rains and predators until they were eventually located by the Colombian military and Indigenous Guard in June 2023.