US troops held hostage

2003-02-14 21:13

Bogota - Colombian rebels downed a US anti-drug plane, killing two Americans, and are holding hostage two surviving US nationals and a Colombian, investigators said on Friday.

Searchers found the charred Cessna late on Thursday with the bodies of two of the five victims aboard, while the other three were taken away by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), officials said.

Two of the kidnap victims are US citizens and the third is a Colombian national, according to the same source, who said that the two dead were US nationals.

The single-engine Cessna 208 took fire and crashed in the southern province of Caqueta while on an anti-drug mission, the government sources said.

"Two of the passengers, US citizens, were found dead from gunshot wounds near the craft and their three companions, two US citizens and a Colombian non-commissioned officer, were kidnapped by the ... FARC," the source said.

Colombian officials had said in a statement Thursday that the plane had crashed because of mechanical failure. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA