Five people have been rescued after spending 36 hours atop a plane in an alligator-infested swamp in the Amazon after it was forced to make an emergency landing, local authorities said.

The small plane was found by local fishermen in Bolivia's Amazonas region on Friday having been missing for 48 hours.

The survivors - three women, a child and the 29-year-old pilot - were rescued in "excellent condition", Wilson Avila, director of the Beni Department's emergency operations centre, said.

A search and rescue mission was launched on Thursday after the plane disappeared from the radar of the Beni Department in central Bolivia.

The pilot told local media that an engine failure had prompted an emergency landing near the Itanomas River during a flight from Baures in northern Bolivia to the city of Trinidad.

Andres Velarde said that the plane had suddenly started to lose altitude and he had been forced to land the craft in a swamp near a lagoon. The five that had been on board stood on top of the plane and were "surrounded by alligators that came within three metres of us". Velarde added that he believed petrol leaking from the plane had kept the predators at bay. They also saw an anaconda in the water, he said.

While awaiting rescue, they ate local cassava flour one of the passengers had brought. "We couldn't drink water and we couldn't go anywhere else because of the alligators," Velarde said.

After fishermen discovered the craft, a helicopter was sent to transport the survivors to hospital.

Ruben Torres, Director of the Beni Region Health Department, said that there had been "a lot of speculation about the case" and "many theories" after the plane went missing. "I am really happy because in the end all the institutions joined together to be able to find the missing people and save those lives," he told Reuters.