ECUADOR: TWO FRENCH WORKERS KIDNAPPED ALONG WITH EIGHT OTHER FOREIGN OIL WORKERS IN COUNTRY'S AMAZON REGION ARRIVE IN QUITO AFTER ESCAPING CAPTIVITY

Record ID: 641465

  • Title: ECUADOR: TWO FRENCH WORKERS KIDNAPPED ALONG WITH EIGHT OTHER FOREIGN OIL WORKERS IN COUNTRY'S AMAZON REGION ARRIVE IN QUITO AFTER ESCAPING CAPTIVITY
  • Date: 17th October 2000
  • Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 17, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS'S: EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. VARIOUS OF FRENCH WORKERS, JEAN LOUIS FROIDUROT (NAVY BLUE JACKET) AND JAMY MARCELLY (CHECKERED JACKET) ARRIVING AT HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.38 3. PAN: VEHICLE CARRYING WORKERS LEAVING HOSPITAL 0.47 4. VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF FRENCH
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Reuters ID: LVACBL56NIXQ96KTACV6L7TDXCK3
  • Story Text: Two French workers kidnapped with eight other foreign
    oil workers in the Amazon region of Ecuador have escaped from
    their captors and found refuge in Quito.



    Jean Louis Froidurot and Jamy Marcelly broke free from
    their kidnappers on Monday (October 16) and returned to Quito,
    where they are currently under the protection of local
    law-enforcement officials, the government said.

    "We do not know their demands, all we know is that the
    kidnapping occured. We are not discounting this was
    politcally motivated, but we must wait for the investigation,"
    presidential spokesman Alfredo Negrete told reporters on
    Tuesday (October 17).

    Ten foreign oil workers -- five U.S. citizens, two French
    citizens, a New Zealander, an Argentine and a Chilean -- were
    taken captive by an unidentified armed group on Thursday at
    one of the oil fields owned by Spanish energy giant
    Repsol-YPF. They were transported in a stolen helicopter that
    was found later near the border with Colombia.

    "They used them to pilot the helicopter, under threat of
    course. Then a large group of the kidnappers and the other
    eight hostages were left at another location. They had to
    continue with a smaller group of kidnappers to take the
    helicopter to the San Miguel river and they left from there,"
    said French Ambassador, Philipe Moreau.

    The kidnapping occurred in Ecuador's eastern Amazon region
    more than 150 miles (250 km) south of the 375-mile (600-km)
    border between the two nations. The area is replete with oil
    deposits that bankroll some 40 percent of the public budget in
    the small Andean nation of 12.4 million people.

    Negrete said earlier that Ecuador would ask the embassies
    representing the various captives to act as mediators in talks
    between the government and the kidnappers. The kidnappers had
    said they would make contact via radio.

    On Thursday (October 12), the Ecuadorean government
    accused Colombia's biggest left-wing guerrilla group, the
    Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), of committing
    the crime. But a leader of the group, Joaquin Gomez, quickly
    denied that it was involved in the kidnapping.

    Negrete later confirmed that the FARC was not involved.

    Last year 12 foreigners working for a Canadian oil firm in
    Ecuador's Amazon region were kidnapped by an unidentified
    group and released unharmed three months later. No one claimed
    responsibility for the kidnapping.


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