A missing teenager was found emaciated but alive 10 days after disappearing in a forest while he was foraging for food with his friends.

Youngster Nitit Saten, 17, had ventured into the woodlands to collect mushrooms in Lampang province, northern Thailand, on September 21.

The others emerged safely from the forest later that day, but Nitit had lost his way and failed to return home.

After receiving a missing persons report, officials sent a search party of more than 50 volunteers to scour the area for the teenager.

For 10 days and nine nights, the rescue team combed through the wilderness, with no sign of Nitit.

However, their efforts finally bore fruit on September 30, when officials trekking along a steep mountain range found the villager alive, but injured, starving, and dehydrated.

The teenager was sapped of his strength and had become gaunt after spending more than a week wandering in the woods.

A relieved Nitit said: ‘I went into the forest with my friends, but then I got lost so I started roaming around. I ate whatever I could find in the wild, from bananas to acacia seeds, for survival.

'I was so happy when the volunteers finally found me.'

Nitit has been taken to the Phayao Hospital to recover.

Lieutenant Colonel Santi Kabkaew, Mae Ka police station captain, said: ‘More than 50 volunteers took part in the search from September 21 to 30.

'Everybody searched for him day and night before finally discovering him in a mountain area between Phayao province and Lampang province.'