Hands bound, into a river: how a French Foreign Legion soldier escaped Colombian rebels

A French Foreign Legion soldier overpowered one of his Colombian captors and then jumped into a river with his hands tied in a dramatic escape from a guerrilla group that reads like the plot of a thriller.

A senior Colombian military source on Tuesday described how Jose Melo Charry made it to safety after nearly a month captive at the hands of drug-trafficking rebels.

Melo Charry, a Colombian citizen, was on leave in his homeland when he was abducted in southwestern Narino department on August 6 by a dissident faction of the defunct FARC guerrilla group.

He escaped by asking to be taken to the bush to relieve himself.

Once he was away from the rebel camp, he wrestled with his guard, immobilized him and took his rifle.

He still hand his hands bound but jumped into a river and managed to free himself, the military source related.

The soldier, who is in his mid-thirties, then walked for four days through a region of the Colombian Andes that is bristling with armed groups before locating a police station where he sought help.

Along the way, he stopped to eat at a farmer's house but was fearful that the family would betray him to the guerrillas.

During his escape, he found a way to contact his family, through whom he sent a message to the security forces notifying them that he was roaming the mountains.

"He managed to escape by hiding at night. Every time a motorcycle passed, he hid," behind rocks and in trees, the source, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

The source added that Melo Charry was considered a "big fish" by the guerrillas and had his hands, feet and neck bound for most of his captivity.

A photograph shared by the French Armed Forces with AFP showed him dressed in an olive T-shirt and pants at a hospital, where he was airlifted for medical tests, with no visible injuries.

On Monday, authorities reported he was in good health and remained under military protection at the hospital.

The Central General Staff (EMC), the biggest of the dissident FARC factions that rejected a historic 2016 peace deal between the rebel army and the state, claimed responsibility for his abduction.

The EMC did not demand a ransom for his release but had warned Colombia's new right-wing president, Abelardo De la Espriella, against "any attempt at a rescue operation."

France's Defense Ministry said that Melo Charry had not received authorization to travel to Colombia.

He was traveling with a woman who was also taken hostage and released hours later.

Kidnapping is commonly used by Colombian armed groups for extortion purposes or to exert political pressure.

Colombian-French politician Ingrid Betancourt became a symbol of the scourge of kidnappings in Colombia when she was captured by FARC in a jungle area in 2002, while campaigning for the presidency.

She was rescued six years later in a military operation.