Former Colombian hostage Clara Rojas, who was released Thursday by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, Friday said she tried to escape together with former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, but they got lost in the jungle.

"We planned the escape, and when the chance came we left, but unluckily we got lost," Rojas told Colombian radio station La W.
 
"We did not get very far to get out of the circle of the guerrillas," she said.

Rojas said that the FARC troops spooked them by showing them the animals they could encounter in the jungle. "They spooked us with tarantulas and snakes, and told us stories about people who got lost in the forest."

Rojas said she and Betancourt made several escape attempts. After they were seized again, the troops punished them by chaining them up. "We wore chains during some 15 days first, and then only at night."