Betancourt "in surprisingly good health" - back soon to Colombia

Jul 6, 2008, 10:40 GMT

Paris - Ingrid Betancourt is in 'surprisingly good health' and plans to return soon to Colombia following her six-and-a-half- year hostage ordeal, a French newspaper reported Sunday.

The 46-year-old, who was freed from her jungle captivity Wednesday in a daring helicopter exploit by the Colombian military, had spent Saturday being checked over at a French military hospital near Paris.

'I was very much afraid I'd caught something bad - now my joy is all the greater,' Journal du Dimanche quoted her as saying after the examination. Doctors had ordered her to take a complete rest.

'The doctors were just as amazed as I was,' she added. 'The body managed to get through it all remarkably well.'

She said she had suffered bouts of sickness during her captivity, and a fellow hostage who was also freed had repeatedly kept her spirits up, and even carried and fed her during long jungle marches.

Betancourt said she now first wanted to be alone with her children and to travel in France, but she planned before long to return to Colombia, where she was a one-time presidential candidate.

Betancourt was among 15 hostages rescued when the Colombian military using a team masquerading as rebels escorting aid workers and journalists eased their way into a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) camp.