Kiwi oil worker's kidnappers set ransom price

By SCOTT INGLIS

The kidnappers of New Zealander Dennis Corrin and seven others in Ecuador have made a ransom demand and are refusing to negotiate the price.

The commander of Ecuador's Air Force, General Osvaldo Dominguez, said the abductors had contacted representatives of the victims and made clear they would not budge on the amount they wanted. He would not reveal further details.

Ecuador this month denied reports that the kidnappers wanted $NZ190 million.

Mr Corrin's family and his US employer, heavy-lift helicopter specialist Erickson Air-Crane, yesterday refused to comment.

The demand is a major development in the abduction of the 52-year-old Nelson pilot, snatched with nine others from an oil camp in northern Ecuador on October 12.

They were taken in the dead of night in the oil-rich El Coca region, near the Colombian border, by up to four dozen heavily armed men.

Two Frenchmen among the captives escaped two days later during a rainstorm.

The seven other captives are a Chilean, an Argentinian and five Americans, three of whom worked for Erickson Air-Crane.

Mr Corrin is an experienced pilot with 20 years' experience. His family have remained largely silent since his kidnapping.

Authorities believe the kidnappers are the same ruthless bandits who abducted seven oil workers in the same area for 100 days, releasing them a year ago today after a reported $NZ9 million ransom was paid.

One of the seven was Canadian Rod Dunbar, who yesterday agreed that the two cases shared some similarities.

"I could see it happening again even after our release ... These people said that they'd do it again," he told the Herald.

Mr Dunbar and his colleagues worked for United Pipelines Systems and were snatched by camouflaged men from Ecuador and Colombia.

For the next 100 days, they were marched relentlessly at gunpoint through Ecuador's hot jungle to evade the military.

The kidnappers told their captives it was business, not personal.

"They kept ... saying they wanted money to buy more guns and stuff like that. They were not happy with their Governments."

The men were never beaten but were often starved, and were forced to wade through parasite-ridden swamps, poked with guns and threatened with having their throats cut.

Sometimes the eight men shared a bowl of rice; other times they had to eat termite larvae and monkeys, which were skinned in front of them.



Mr Dunbar, who lost 20kg, said the group got sick and he nearly died after eating the rotten face of a wild pig.

The thought of being reunited with his Edmonton family kept him going.

He said that when the kidnapping was over the men would often weep about their ordeal, but were better now.

He has helped to write a book, 100 Days In The Jungle, about the ordeal.

Latin America is notorious for foreigner kidnappings. Ecuador and Colombia account for more than 80 per cent of the 7773 abductions of foreign workers around the world since 1992.

Many companies insure their staff against kidnapping, and professional negotiators are often used to secure the release of victims.

Herald Online feature: Kidnapped in Ecuador