A boat made of reeds has set sail from Spain to try to prove that ancient mariners could have crossed the Atlantic ocean.

Its crew of eight hope to reach the Caribbean coast of Colombia after a voyage of up to five months.

The Mata Rangi III is made of reeds from Lake Titicaca on the Peru-Bolivian border.

Its Spanish captain, Kitin Munoz has already made two attempts to cross the Pacific in a reed boat but both failed.

Thirty years ago, the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl sailed the Atlantic on a boat made from papyrus reed, to try to prove that the ancient Egyptians could have done the same.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service