Briton kidnapped in Colombia 'trekking to freedom'

A British kidnap victim has begun his final trek to freedom in the mountains of northern Colombia, three months after he was captured by rebels.

Mark Henderson and four Israeli hostages were walking to an undisclosed location in the Sierra Nevada mountains where they were expected to be released by their captors this week, said Cesar Velasquez, a member of the commission negotiating the hostages' release. Rebels from the National Liberation Army seized eight foreign backpackers in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains on 12 September.

One of the hostages, Matthew Scott, 19, from London, escaped days later. Two other hostages - a German and a Spaniard - were released to the commission in November.

The hostages left their latest camp a few days ago and were expected to arrive at the meeting place today, where commission members were to receive them.

The rebels said last week that they would release the five hostages before the end of the year. On Thursday, Jorge Alberto Uribe, the Defence Minister, said the hundreds of Colombian troops in the region would ease offensive operations to permit the release.

Authorities have identified the remaining hostages as Beni Daniel, 26, Orpaz Ohayon, 22, Ido Yosef Guy, 26, and Erez Altawil, 24 from Israel, and Mr Henderson, 31, from North Yorkshire. The ELN said it kidnapped the backpackers to raise awareness about the alleged hardship inflicted by outlawed right-wing paramilitary factions and the army on the mainly Indian inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada.