Family waits anxiously for news of NZ hostage

By SCOTT INGLIS and AGENCIES

Family members of a New Zealand helicopter pilot kidnapped by armed rebels in South America were last night waiting desperately for news of his fate.

Dennis Corrin, a 52-year-old from Nelson, was among a group of at least 10 people kidnapped by Colombian leftist rebels in northern Ecuador on Thursday night.

The group were in the El Coca jungle region, about 240km southeast of the capital, Quito, working for US-based Erickson Air Crane company.

Erickson has had staff in Ecuador for about a year, transporting equipment for an oil drilling programme.

Oil companies evacuated 132 employees from the Amazon in northeastern Ecuador after the kidnapping.

The rebels fled with their captives in a stolen Erickson helicopter, which has reportedly been found by Ecuadorean troops hunting the kidnappers.

Mr Corrin's sister, Yvonne Burns, said last night that the family had not received any news. "I think it's just a waiting game."

She did not know of any plans for family members to travel to Ecuador.

Mr Corrin has been a helicopter pilot for about 20 years.

Erickson Air Crane is outraged that kidnappers had targeted its staff. The Oregon company's chief operating officer, Lee Ramage, said last night that it also knew nothing of the group's fate and had been advised by US authorities to keep some aspects of the kidnapping secret for security reasons.

There has been no contact with the kidnappers, nor have any demands been made.

An Ecuadorean technician, initially seized but later released, said around 40 gunmen, most with Colombian accents, took part in the kidnapping.

Vice-President Pedro Pinto claimed the gunmen acted in retaliation for Plan Colombia, an anti-drug-trafficking initiative

ntecosting $US1.3 billion ($3.3 billion).

Government officials said the guerrillas were members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) but a rebel spokesman denied any involvement in the kidnapping.

The kidnappers were thought to have fled into Colombia, where FARC rebels and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in a furious battle for control of cocaine production.