UPDATED: 1:45 A.M.
Jocelyn G. Karlan '12, a Harvard student who had been tutoring children in Ecuador for nearly six weeks and was reported missing Sunday morning during a hike in the Andes mountains, was found by a helicopter and rescued Monday evening, her mother said in an interview with The Crimson.

"They're all a bit beaten up, dehydrated and exhausted," she said. "Jocey had some scrapes but nothing that required a hospital visit...she's back in the hostel."

Karlan, one of three missing students and the only Harvard student in the group, had set out with a group of roughly a dozen hikers on Sunday to climb Imbabura, an inactive volcano and tourist attraction in northern Ecuador, her mother said. The group enjoyed lunch on the mountain after reaching the summit late Sunday morning but then split up on the way down. Karlan and her companions reportedly got lost in the rainforest and were forced to scale down waterfalls using roots and sleep in dried riverbeds before they were able to continue their trek down the mountain on Monday, Karlan's mother said.

Eventually, a helicopter spotted the three missing students after missing them on an earlier pass, Karlan's mother said, noting that cold weather, rain, and fog may have hampered the efforts. She emphasized that the U.S. Embassy and the Ecuadorian government put together a highly coordinated effort to find the students, sending out search teams by foot as well.

Karlan and her companions had been staying in the indigenous village of Otavalo working with local children as part of the humanitarian group Village Education Project. Her mother said that the trip was originally planned as a day hike, so the group had not brought much water or food. She said that her daughter had been traveling with fellow students each weekend.

After talking to her daughter earlier this evening, Karlan's mother said that "[Jocelyn] is extraordinarily resilient and always has been." She added that the missing students were good athletes and that Karlan played club soccer at Harvard.