A British hiker (19) who escaped his suspected rebel kidnappers threw himself off a cliff to escape, according to the Colombian army.
They abducted him at gunpoint 12 days ago near the jungle ruins of an ancient Indian city.
Speaking in broken Spanish from his hospital bed, London-born Mr Matthew Scott said he escaped while being marched along mountaintops with the other hostages - a Briton, four Israelis, a Spaniard and a German, all of whom are still missing.
"We were walking high up in the mountain, the side was very steep, very high, and I heard a river to my right," Mr Scott said, looking worn, and with cuts on his hands and arms.
"I fell badly some times, and I'm lucky I didn't break my arms or legs," he told reporters, after being airlifted to a military hospital in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta, about 700 kilometres north of Bogota.
Mr Scott said he hiked directionless for days, sometimes during heavy rain, and without eating anything until he was found on Tuesday morning by Indians living in the mountains.
"He was dizzy and vomiting. Since he barely spoke Spanish, he didn't tell me what was wrong with him," an Indian, wearing long hair and a traditional beige robe, told local television.
More than 2,000 troops, backed by helicopters, have been searching for the hostages since their September 12th abduction. Rescue operations this week had been hampered by heavy rains, officials said.
The foreign tourists had hiked up the lawless Sierra Nevada mountains for two days from the Caribbean coast to reach Colombia's "Lost City," a spectacular 2,500-year-old Indian ruin.