Colombian rebels release five backpackers
Colombian kidnappers have ended the 102 days nightmare of a British backpacker and four Israelis by handing them over to a Roman Catholic Church commission in an apparent humanitarian gesture.
Israelis Benny Daniel, Ido Guy, Erez Altawil and Orpaz Ohayon and Briton Mark Henderson smiled as they climbed onto helicopters at a secret jungle hand-over location in Colombia’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains on Monday.
Mr Henderson, a thirty-two year old TV producer from Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire, told reporters: “It’s something that we’ve all been waiting for, for three months. It’s all a bit overwhelming.”
The party was among the eight hostages abducted at gunpoint by the National Liberation Army, or ELN, while visiting the ruins of an ancient Indian city in the Sierra Nevada on September 12th.
The Colombian Marxists released two of the hostages – a Spaniard and a German – in late November.
Matthew Scott, a nineteen-year-old Brit, managed to flee from the communist rebels.
Mr Henderson said he was now looking forward to spending Christmas with his parents.
