Custody battle over rescued jungle kids

Relatives' dispute after plane crash ordeal in Amazon

A CUSTODY battle has broken out among relatives of four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash and 40 days alone in the Amazon rainforest.

The children were travelling with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to the town of San Jose del Guaviare on May 1 when the pilot of the Cessna single-engine propeller plane declared an emergency due to engine failure.

The aircraft fell off the radar a short time later, and a search began for the three adults and four children who were on board but the children were the only survivors of the crash.

For more than a month, the children survived by eating cassava flour, seeds and fruits they found in the rainforest.