Plane Carrying Americans Crash-Lands in Rebel-Held Territory [Colombia]

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A small plane carrying as many as five Americans crashed Thursday short of an airport in rebel territory in southern Colombia, a Colombian aviation official said. The U.S. Embassy said it was "investigating the disappearance of a U.S. government aircraft."

"We are working to ascertain the facts around the disappearance," a U.S. Embassy spokesman told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Colombian aviation official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Cessna Caravan was flying from Bogota to the Florencia area, 235 miles to the south, when radio contact was lost eight minutes before landing.

The military high command had no immediate comment, but one military officer said five Black Hawk helicopters had been sent to the area.

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Small U.S. Plane Crashes in Colombia

By JAVIER BAENA
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A U.S. government plane carrying four Americans and a Colombian crashed Thursday in rebel territory in southern Colombia, and those on board may have been spirited away by leftist rebels, officials said.

The Cessna was flying from Bogota to the Florencia area, 235 miles to the south, when radio contact was lost eight minutes before landing, Colombia's Civil Aviation agency said. There were four Americans and one Colombian aboard the plane, according to the agency.

A Colombian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press there were reports Colombian army troops found no one on board the wreckage, and that it was feared they had been taken by rebels. Other officials suggested those aboard the Cessna may be hiding, if they survived the crash, to avoid capture by the rebels.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the American government plane, a single-engine Cessna 208, "crashed near Florencia during an attempted emergency landing shortly before 9 a.m. this morning. The cause of the crash was apparently engine failure."

The fate of the pilot, co-pilot and three passengers aboard was unknown, the embassy spokesman said.

The military high command had no immediate comment. One military officer said five Black Hawk helicopters were sent to the area.

Florencia is the biggest town on the edge of a huge rebel safe haven that the Colombian government granted to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC - the country's main rebel group - at the end of 1998 as a site for peace talks.

The government revoked the sanctuary on Feb. 20, 2002, and canceled the peace talks after FARC rebels hijacked an airliner, forced it to land on a rural road and kidnapped a Colombian senator who was aboard.

Government troops have moved into the main towns of the former safe haven, but rebels still control the countryside.

Florencia is also located near vast coca fields - the main ingredient of cocaine - controlled by rebels and rival paramilitary groups. U.S. pilots contracted by the State Department have been flying crop dusters in the region as part of a massive fumigation campaign against the drug crops.

The United States has sent nearly $2 billion in anti-drug aid into Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine and most of the heroin sold in the United States. Washington is now expanding the assistance to counterinsurgency efforts.

Last month, 70 U.S. special forces arrived in Arauca state in eastern Colombia to train Colombian troops to battle the FARC and a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army.

The Colombian Civil Aviation official said the crashed plane bore the registration number N1116G. Records show the Cessna 208 with that registration number was leased by a company called One Leasing, Inc., based in Wilmington, Del. No further information was immediately available.

Colombia's civil war, nearly four decades long, pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against the government and a handful of outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups.

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