Father of Colombian Indigenous Children Rescued from Amazon Accused of Sexual Abuse

Colombian prosecutors on Saturday, August 12, charged the father of two of the four indigenous children rescued from a plane crash in the Amazon with sexual abuse. According to Reuters, prosecutors stated in a statement that Manuel Ranok is accused of sexually abusing his 13-year-old stepdaughter. This girl gained fame for her survival along with her younger brothers during the over five-week ordeal in the Amazon and was among the survivors of the incident. Ranok, who is accused of abusing his stepdaughter since she was 10 years old, was arrested on Friday. The children, aged 1 to 13, were hospitalized for over a month after their rescue in June and have since been under the care of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, where prosecutors say signs of the alleged abuse first emerged. The children's plane crashed on May 1 while flying over the Colombian Amazon. The mother of the four children and two pilots died, but they managed to survive for 40 days in the jungle before being found by rescuers on June 9. The oldest is 13 years old, with the other three children aged 9, 5, and 1. Some Colombian officials stated that the passengers of the plane were fleeing threats from members of an armed group. Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed happiness over the children's rescue, referring to it as a 'miraculous rescue.'