Couple stay despite kidnap attempt

[CatoCooper13]

An Australian couple who were almost abducted by Colombian guerrillas plan to keep on travelling.

Barry Tuite, the father of 33-year-old Mark Tuite, said his son had called him from Colombia to reassure his family that he and partner Michelle Walkden were all right.

The pair and four others had been left behind when armed guerrillas woke them at 4.30am on Friday in the remote Sierra Nevada mountains area, about 750km north of the Colombian capital Bogota.

They only had sandals as footwear but eight other members of their trekking group who had hiking boots were marched away.

Mr Tuite and Ms Walkden took two days to walk to the town of Santa Marta, where they now plan to await news of their travelling companions and replace their passports, which were stolen by the rebels.

Mark Tuite called his family at their home in Julatten, north of Cairns.

"I heard from them yesterday morning after they got off the mountain and he rang me this morning to reassure us everything is good," Mr Tuite told AAP.

"They are fit and well and they are going to carry on with their journey.

"He said it was the shoes which saved him."

"When one of the rebels had told him, `Get your shoes on', Mark had said, `We are wearing them - that's it'.

"They just said, `Oh well, OK' and left them.

"But lucky, oh boy, if you are taken in Colombia, they usually don't see the people ever again."

Mr Tuite said he was relieved his son was safe now and had not tried to caution him about travelling in dangerous parts of the world.

Mark and Michelle were just adventurous and loved the excitement of travelling, he said.

"He said he's not fazed by it," Mr Tuite said.

"They are still enjoying themselves and probably looking for more adventure."


©AAP 2003

 

[VamPyroX]

Now, that's what I call... a crazed tourists!

 

[CatoCooper13]

Well, I reckon they didn't want that experience to throw them off from their planned travelling holidays they had planned for a long time. Of course, they have put down some extra precautionary measures for their protection for the rest of their holiday's.

 

[CatoCooper13]

**update**

Sandals "saved" Aussie hiker in Colombia

AFP - An Australian backpacker in Colombia said he and five colleagues escaped being kidnapped by leftist guerrillas because they were wearing sandals, not mountain boots.

Eight other young men were kidnapped in the north of the country on Saturday and forced to march into the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

James Schultz, an Australian, told Colombian radio he was one of six hikers who were left behind by the kidnappers because of their footwear.

"We were asleep when suddenly four armed men woke us to order us to accompany them to a safer place because they said they had just heard shots. They said they were paramilitaries," Schultz told Coracol radio.

A few seconds later the 14 hikers were confronted by about 15 armed rebels. "Then we realised they were 'guerrillos'," he added.


"The eight who were taken away by the rebels had mountain boots," Schultz said. "But we didn't, us six only had sandals. That was the determining factor which saved us. We were not equipped for a long march."

Schultz said the rebels were not aggressive and the tourists were well treated.

About 2,000 troops and police with helicopters and tanks were searching the mountains for the kidnappers and their victims.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is believed to have seized the four Israelis, two Britons, one German and a Spaniard late on Saturday from the group hiking near the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 1,000km north of Bogota.

Vice President Francisco Santos said he hoped the army would be able to rescue the tourists.

"The young men will be going through a difficult time," Santos told reporters, adding "we are searching for them and hope to close off the rebels' exits."

Police operations chief General Luis Alfredo Rodriguez said a FARC commando unit had led the eight up towards the 6,000-metre high snow-flanked Sierra Nevada.

"We believe that they took them to the upper part of the mountains, where we know that there are also several paramilitary squadrons" belonging to extreme right-wing Self-Defence Units of Colombia, Rodriguez told reporters.

The Israeli captives were identified by authorities as Benny Daniel, 26; Orpaz Ohayun, 22; Ido Yosef Guy, 26; and Erez Altawil, 24. Officials said the other hostages were Matthew Scott and Mark Henderson, of Britain, Reinhilt Weigl of Germany and Asier Huegun Etxeberria of Spain.

Army First Division troops, based in Santa Marta, 955km north of Bogota, and regional police have launched search operations on the mountain.

"We are engaged in intense military operations in the region, mainly in a wide area of the Tayrona park and in parts of the Sierra Nevada where the terrorists often hide their hostages," said their commander, General Leonel Gomez.

FARC, Latin America's biggest guerrilla group with 17,000 fighters, is currently holding 21 politicians hostage, including ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

The latest abductions come as Colombia's high commissioner for peace Luis Carlos Restrepo called on the rebel group to adhere to International Committee of the Red Cross conventions, and allow the hostages to receive visitors.

The request from Restrepo was for the Red Cross to "verify the state of health" of the hostages, and to look at "possibly freeing" the sick.

So far, FARC has given no response, but the rebel group has issued videos showing hostages who are alive, including Betancourt.

The FARC is holding 800 civilians captive, some of them for up to six years, as well as 47 army officers and three US nationals taken on February 13 when their plane crashed in southern Colombia.

At least 3,000 people are kidnapped every year in Colombia, and some 200,000 people have been killed in civil conflict since 1964.


©AAP 2003