At 7:34 am local time, the pilot made a distress call reporting engine failure, and radio contact was lost shortly after.

[1][3] On board the aircraft were the pilot, Hernando Murcia Morales, and six passengers: a mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, with her four children aged approximately 13, 9, 4, and 1 years old, and a local indigenous leader, Herman Mendoza Hernández.

The family was part of the Witoto, an indigenous group familiar with the jungle environment and who are taught to hunt, fish and gather from an early age.

[8] Loudspeakers with a range of a mile were used to broadcast messages in the Witoto language to the children, advising them to stay in one location so that they could be found by the searchers.

[9] The head of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare said the fact that "the jungle was in harvest" meant the children could find and eat fruit that was in bloom.

As of 13 June 2023, a child protection agency was in the process of interviewing relatives to determine the most suitable custody arrangement and said it was investigating the allegations of domestic abuse.