Mother and infant son found alive five days after plane crash in Colombia

The Colombian Air Force said: 'It's a miracle. It is a very wild area and it was a catastrophic accident.'

A young mother and her child have been found alive in Western Colombia five days after their plane crashed in the jungle.

Maria Nelly Murillo, 18, and her son, five months old, were found by rescuers near to the crash site of the Cessna 303 plane in the Alto Baudo region.

Ms Murillo had some injuries and burns, but her baby appeared unharmed after surviving the crash, the cause of which is not yet known.

The couple were airlifted to a hospital in Quibdo.

The plane had been flying on a 43 mile journey from Quibdo, the capital of the Choco region, to Nuqui on the pacific coast, when it crashed on Saturday.

Rescuers reached the twin-engine plane on Monday and found the doors ajar, with the pilot, Carlos Mario Ceballos, dead in the cockpit.

Ceballos body was the only one found in the wreckage, of which the mother and her baby were the sole passengers.

Ms Murillo and her baby Yudier Moreno, were only found after a 14-person team searched the jungle for three days.

It is suspected that the survivors forced the doors ajar to clamber out of the wreckage, but the reasons as to why are not yet known.

Colonel Hector Hector Carrascal of the Colombian Air Force told AFP news agency: "It's a miracle. It is a very wild area and it was a catastrophic accident."

"His mother's spirit must have given him strength to survive."

Investigators are looking at the cause of the crash.