BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian prosecutors announced on Saturday that charges of sexual abuse have been filed against the father of two of the four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash in May in the Amazon region of South America.
The children were reported missing after the small plane they were traveling in crashed, resulting in the deaths of their mother and two adults.
In an official statement, prosecutors accused Manuel Ranoque of sexually abusing his 13-year-old stepdaughter, who played a significant role in ensuring her own and her younger siblings’ survival during the more than five-week-long ordeal in the Amazon. The incident captured global attention and made headlines worldwide.
According to the statement, Ranoque was arrested on Friday and is charged with sexually abusing his stepdaughter since she was 10 years old.
After hours on Saturday, Reuters was unsuccessful in locating Ranoque or his legal representation for comment.
The children, aged 1 to 13, were hospitalized for more than a month following their rescue in June. Since then, they have been under the care of Colombia’s family welfare institute, which is where prosecutors initially suspected the alleged abuse.
Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Credit: The Star : News Feed
