An American teenager kidnapped in southern Philippines five months ago escaped from his captors and is now in the custody of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, local officials announced on Sunday.

Kevin Eric Lunsmann, 14, had been on the run since Thursday and survived by eating candies and coconuts, said Lamitan Mayor Roderick Furigay, to whom the boy was initially turned over after he was found at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday by a resident of Bulingan village, 8 kilometres from Lamitan City in Basilan island.

Lunsmann told local and military officials that he escaped while his captors were sleeping, said Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The boy then followed a river until he reached Lamitan.

The boy initially ran away when villager Kenny Ismail Illul saw him near a river. The boy hid in bushes thinking that Illul was one of the kidnappers looking for him. Illul convinced Lunsmann that he is in safe hands, so he came out. Village officials then turned him over to Furigay.

Furigay told PDI that Lunsmann was skinny and had rashes all over his body when he saw him on Saturday.

Lunsmann, his mother Gerfa and cousin, Romnick Jakaria were kidnapped in Zamboanga City northeast of Basilan island, on July 12. The kidnappers had called the Lunsmann family in Campbell County, Virginia to demand $1.3 million in ransom money.

Mrs. Lunsmann, 50, was freed in Maluso town on Oct. 2 while Jakaria, 19, was freed on Nov. 12. Philippine officials claim no ransom money was paid to the kidnappers believed to be members of the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf.

Army Colonel Ricardo Visaya also said the boy told him he was not freed by his captors.

Meanwhile, other kidnapped foreigners in southern Philippines, including Warren Rodwell, 53, of NSW, remain captive. Aside from Rodwell, who was seized on Dec. 5 from his seaside house in Zamboanga Sibugay province, an Indian, a Malaysian and a Japanese are believed to be in the hands of Abu Sayyaf in Jolo Island near Basilan.

Rodwell is married to local Miraflor Gutang, 27, but they were not living together for two weeks when he was kidnapped. Australian officials have talked to Gutang, who is in an undisclosed place, her parents told the Sun-Herald.

Gutang is appealing to kidnappers to release her husband, who was shot on the foot when he resisted them.

Warren Rodwell was kidnapped in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay.