Angel Ariel Escalante Perez found 3 days after he was thrown from bridge

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Angel Ariel Escalante Perez, 12, was ordered to carry out murder by a gang
When he refused, he was given choice of death by machetes or from bridge
He chose the latter and plunged nearly 450ft from structure but survived
Lay hidden in thick foliage until he was found three days later by his father

Published: 09:31 EST, 15 October 2015 | Updated: 18:11 EST, 15 October 2015

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Cradling him tenderly in his arms, this is the heartbreaking moment a father finds his dying son who was thrown from a bridge three days earlier for refusing to carry out a murder.

Angel Ariel Escalante Perez, 12, had been walking home school when he was ambushed gangland thugs who ordered him to shoot a random bus driver or be killed himself.

Because his father, Luis Escalante, worked as a bus driver, the brave schoolboy refused and said he would rather they killed him.

He was then given the choice of being murdered by machetes or thrown off a bridge.

Heartbreaking last goodbye: Luis Escalante cradles his dying son Angel Ariel Escalante Perez who was thrown off a bridge three days earlier for refusing orders from a gang to carry out a murder in Guatemala

Tragic: Angel had been walking home school when he was ambushed gangland thugs who ordered him to shoot a random bus driver or be killed himself. He was thrown off the bridge when he refused

Angel chose the latter and he was hurled over the Incensio Bridge in the Guatemalan capital of Guatemala City.

Despite plunging nearly 450ft, he survived after landing in the thick foliage below.

But it also meant he remained hidden while lying critically injured for three days until his father and search teams eventually found him.

He was taken to hospital, where medics fought for 15 days to save him, but he died from his injuries.

Angel is taken to hospital by fire crews. Medics fought for 15 days to save him, but he died from his injuries

Critically injured: Angel lay hidden in thick foliage for three days until his father and search teams found him

Javier Soto, a spokesman of the Guatemala fire service, said of the incident, which happened in July: 'The father said his son had been gone for 72 hours and told him that six alleged kidnappers threw him off because he refused to kill a bus driver.

'The child was asked how he would prefer to die – whether it would be through stabbing or by being thrown off a bridge – and he chose the latter'.

This week, it emerged a 14-year-old boy blasted a man at point-blank range after being hired as a hitman in Mexico.

Ulises Abraham shot Guillermo Gastelum Jacques in the face, chest and shoulders after being given a revolver and pressured into carrying out the killing.

Local media said he had been promised the equivalent of £1,200 for the hit.

The victim was rushed to hospital but died on the operating table in the border city of Tijuana, in the north-western Mexican state of Baja California.

Gangland victim: Because Angel worked as a bus driver, the brave schoolboy refused to carry out the killing. He was then hurled over the Incensio Bridge in Guatemala City. His funeral is pictured (right)

The incident, which happened in the early evening, has stunned Mexican police because of the age of the gunman.

Officers said they had by chance witnessed the murder in the Zona Centro district and as a result arrested him straight after the killing.

His case is just one of many that have come to light of children being exploited to commit killings because they cannot be prosecuted.

Children recruited by organised crime gangs are common in Latin American.

Given the lack of education, often poor background and the capacity to smuggle drugs or guns unnoticed, many children have been coerced into joining criminal gangs.

Speaking earlier this year after Angel's case, human rights activist Edgar Guerra said: 'This type of phenomenon can be seen much more frequently – the use of underage children for murders.'