A South American man missing for three months was found hiding up a tree in the rainforest.

Sergio Rodrigo Guimaraes Martins, 29, said he suffered a breakdown after walking out of his job in Valenca, eastern Brazil, on March 24.

He was not located until June 5, nearly 80 miles away, deep in the Salvador rainforest in Bahia, when a search party discovered him hiding 40ft up in the tree canopy.

Officials said it took firefighters 36 hours to persuade him to come down.

Dramatic footage shows Sergio squatting in the branches of a tree as firefighters try to talk him down. On the forest floor, rescuers set up a makeshift medical centre with a canopy, a water urn, and a tent.

Local media reported that the tree was just inside the boundary of Salvador Airport.

Sergio later claimed he had survived by eating jamelao - a plum-like tropical fruit - and drinking coconut water during his four months in the rainforest.

He said he had been working in Valenca when he had a bust-up with a co-worker. After walking out, he intended to head home but suffered a breakdown en route to Salvador Airport.

He explained: 'I couldn't catch the plane and I freaked out. I ended up in the woods, up in the tree.'

Sergio said his outburst had frightened people nearby, prompting him to seek refuge in the forest canopy.

Initially, he communicated with his wife by mobile phone, but later lost the device.

Sergio said: 'I peeled the coconut with my teeth and my nails - look how they are. Then I'd break the coconut and drink the water.'

He was taken to Juliano Moreira Psychiatric Hospital in Narandiba for treatment. Local media reported that he shattered a window in the ambulance during transport.