A kidnapped American teen from Campbell County escaped from suspected al-Qaida-linked militants and wandered without shoes for two days in a southern Philippine jungle before villagers found him, ending his five-month captivity, officials said Sunday.
Kevin Lunsmann's father, Heiko, who lives in Campbell, says his son is a hero. Heiko Lunsmann says friends gave him strength to hope during the ordeal.
Kevin Lunsmann, 14, told his four armed captors that he would take a bath in a stream and then made a dash for freedom Friday in Basilan province, police Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo said. He followed a river down a mountain until villagers found him late the next day, de Ocampo said.
Exhausted, hungry and still stunned, the boy initially fled from the villagers, de Ocampo said.
"He was in fear, so there was a bit of a chase before the villagers convinced him that they were friends," de Ocampo said. He said the boy was fine but was exhausted and had bruises on his arms and feet.
Initial reports had said the boy was freed by his captors.
Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said he has been flown to Manila and turned over to U.S. officials there.
U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas said the boy would be reunited with his family soon.
"In this holiday season nothing makes me happier than knowing that an innocent victim is returned to his family in time for holiday celebrations," Thomas said in a statement. "I also want to acknowledge the courage of Kevin himself, and his family, throughout this long ordeal."
Thomas said there would be a "speedy investigation and prosecution of all those involved in the kidnapping of American citizens."
Lobregat said the boy has talked by phone with his Filipino-American mother, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, who was in the United States. He, his mother and a Filipino cousin were vacationing with relatives on an island near Zamboanga City when they were snatched July 12 and taken by boat to nearby Basilan.
The captors then called the family in Campbell County to demand a ransom, officials said.
The mother was freed two months ago after she was dropped off by boat at a wharf on Basilan. The boy's Filipino cousin escaped from their captors last month when Filipino army forces managed to get near an Abu Sayyaf camp in the mountains of Basilan, about 550 miles south of Manila.
Lobregat said he was unaware if any ransom changed hands.
Army Col. Ricardo Visaya said the kidnappers were believed led by Abu Sayyaf militant Puruji Indama, who is notorious for ransom kidnappings and beheadings.
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