A young mother who withstood five days in the Colombian jungle with her baby after a plane crash says she drank coconut water and ate leaves to survive.
Marinella Murillo, 18, built a little roof to protect herself and her eight-month-old son from the rain, local media reported. The reports said she and her son, Yudier Moreno, were helped by some local indigenous people.
She was found Wednesday in a jungle ravine in the Choco western province of Colombia, not far from where the plane in which she was traveling had crashed.
"I had to go into the river to drink water, and I went along with the river, and I got to a point where it was really high and I couldn't go through," she told reporters.
"There was a big stick, and I sat there, asleep with the child there, and after enough screaming, and they came to rescue me."
She also drank coconut water to survive, as well as leaves from the trees, local media reported.
The twin-engine Cessna 303 plane, which was also carrying fish and coconuts, went down while flying between Quibdo, the departmental capital and Nuqui, a tourist resort on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, according to a statement from the Air Force. The pilot was killed in the crash.
It disappeared from radar 20 minutes into the flight, aviation authorities reported, and crashed for reasons not yet known.
The wreckage was found on Monday by rescuers from the Colombian Air Force and relief agencies. The dead pilot's body was inside.
Air Force Commander Juan Francisco Mosquera said rescuers never lost hope they would track down Murillo after finding the cabin door open and clues, such as cell phones, a flip-flop and the baby's birth certificate in the jungle.
Doctors have registered Murillo as stable and she was expected to recover from her injuries, including burns. Her child is also said to be in good health.