LIMA, Peru The Peruvian Air Force shot down a plane carrying American missionaries in the Amazon Jungle on Friday, killing a mother and her baby, saying it opened fire after the pilot ignored warnings to land.

The evangelist's husband and son escaped the crash unhurt when the seaplane ditched in the Amazon River, the pilot's wife, Bobbi Donaldson, told Reuters. Her husband, Kevin, also survived the crash but his leg was fractured by a bullet.

The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, identified the dead as Roni Bowers, 35, and her infant daughter, Charity, born last fall. It said Bowers' husband, Jim, and their son, Cory, were uninjured.

The Bowers, from Muskegon, Michigan, had been serving in Peru since July 1993.

"After carrying out international identification and interception procedure... which the pilot ignored... the Peruvian Air Force plane opened fire as a last resort," the Ministry of Defense said in a communique.

"The Peruvian Air Force... deeply regrets the loss of human life." It said its actions were part of its anti-drug operations procedures.