A Sussex teenager who was lost in the Bolivian jungle for 19 days has spoken of his ordeal.

Luke Dance was backpacking in the South American country when disaster struck.

He fell from a mountainside, plunged down a 15ft waterfall and struggled free from a whirlpool.

That left him trapped on a ledge just 2ft by 1ft wide.

The only way out would have been to risk his life by throwing himself down a 30ft waterfall, swimming the rapids and walking through the jungle to safety.

Luke set up camp and waited to be rescued but after 19 days help had still not come and he had run out of rations - so he jumped.

Now back home with his parents in Worth, West Sussex, the 19-year-old has been reliving his experience.

He said: "I am not an emotional person. I tried to keep calm at all times, even when I almost drowned under the waterfall."

Luke, who before his South American adventure was planning to start a management science degree at Loughborough University, made a mistake after straying from the path through the jungle.

Although he had maps, a tent, sleeping bag, three days supply of food and a water-purifying kit, he set off alone without telling anyone when he would be back.

Near the remote village of Cacapi, he took the wrong turning and admits he was foolhardy not to turn back.

He said: "My maps didn't show any fork in the trail but I carried on. It was wet and steep and I slipped and toppled about 10ft down the slope before the vegetation stopped me.

"I suppose I could have tried to climb up if I had left my pack, but it was incredibly steep and I reasoned that, as I was heading for the river anyway, I would slip and slide my way down the mountain.

"I wasn't frightened because I knew there was a bridge nearby and if I fought my way down the mountain I would find the river."

But at the bottom Luke could not find the bridge and decided to follow the river downstream.

He said: "It got steeper and swifter and narrower, and that's when disaster struck.

"I had to climb over some rapids but my foot slipped and my pack was so heavy that I stumbled and fell over a waterfall.

"I was terrified but I knew I had to keep my head up and try to reach the rocks at the side. Every time I got near them, the current would sweep me back under the waterfall.

"I remember thinking, 'I am going to die here. I am going to drown'.

"The water was freezing and I thought my backpack was dragging me down, so I unclipped it.

"But it had a waterproof lining and acted as a float, so I clung on to it. It probably saved my life."

Eventually Luke was able to clamber on to the rocks. He spent the next 19 days in his tent on the tiny ledge trapped between two waterfalls, reading a guidebook to Bolivia.

Until he missed his flight home, no one even knew he was missing.

On September 22 Luke decided his only option was to jump into the second waterfall.

A day later, after surviving the freezing cold Takesi River, Luke reached the bridge he had been looking for.

He hitched a ride to the nearest town, where officials recognised him from missing person posters.