Mother and baby found alive days after plane crash

Pair found just as rescuers were about to end search in jungles of north-west Colombia.

Nelly Murillo is put on a trolley in Quibdo, Choco department, Colombia, on June 24, 2015, after being rescued from dense jungles where the light aircraft she and her baby were travelling in crashed fShow more

Bogota // A mother and her infant son who disappeared in a plane crash in the dense jungles of north-western Colombia on Saturday have been found alive and well in what authorities called a “miracle”.

Nelly Murillo, 18, and her son Yudier Moreno, not yet one year old, were discovered on Wednesday near the spot where the Cessna 303 crashed in thick brush.

“It’s a miracle. It is a very wild area and it was a catastrophic accident,” said Colonel Hector Carrascal, commander of the Colombian Air Force in Antioquia department.

“His mother’s spirit must have given him strength to survive,” he said of the baby.

Ms Murillo and her son were taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, said Col Carrascal.

“The lady has wounds and minor burns and apparently the child is unharmed,” the Colombian Air Force said.

The plane’s pilot, Captain Carlos Mario Ceballos, died in the crash and rescuers found his body in the aircraft.

They discovered the doors of the plane ajar and suspected that survivors may have climbed out.

A 14-person search-and-rescue team scoured the dense forest for several days before finding the mother and child.

The rescue team was on the last day of its work when the mother and child appeared near the site of the crash, Col Carrascal said.

The plane offered taxi services between remote areas in north-west Colombia and was travelling between Nuqui and Quibdo when it was declared missing.

Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the crash.

* Agence France-Presse