Colombia questions why kidnapped backpackers visited guerrilla area

Colombian officials are questioning why a party of backpackers travelled in a notoriously dangerous area occupied by guerrillas, who seized eight of them last Friday, including two Britons, in the country's biggest foreign kidnapping in two decades.

Mark Henderson, a 31-year-old television producer from Harrogate, and Matthew Scott, a 19-year-old from London, were among the tourists abducted by suspected Marxist guerrillas while trekking through the ruins of Cuidad Perdida, in northern Colombia.

The Britons, four Israelis, a German and a Spaniard were led at gunpoint into the jungle surrounding the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta by insurgents believed to be from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

The area is regarded as dangerous because of the widespread presence of Farc rebels and their paramilitary enemies, who operate freely throughout the region. As thousands of troops searched the jungle, Francisco Santos, the Colombian Vice-President, asked why the tourists were in an area known to be frequented by guerrillas. "These young people in such a complicated area. What the devil were they doing?" Mr Santos, who was a hostage of the Medellin drug cartel in the early 1990s, said yesterday. "[The government will] respond with energy until these people are freed."

While the eight tourists have not been seen since the dawn kidnapping, a further five were left behind by the rebels and trekked for two days to raise the alarm.

Yesterday Mark Tuite, 33, from Australia, described how he escaped. He said the rebels left him behind becausehe was with his wife, Michelle. He said that the kidnappers claimed to be paramilitaries, there to escort the tourists to safety because there had been a shooting in the area.

Only when the tourists saw that the two guides had been tied up did they realise their lives were in danger, Mr Tuite said. "They separated five of us off from the rest of the group and tied us up."

Christopher Henderson, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said yesterday that his son, Mark, was "pretty tough". He added: "I'm confident that he will be able to cope.

"I fully expect him to write a bestseller as soon as he gets back, and then follow it up with the movie. It's obviously quite a shock but Mark's tough. He's physically very fit. He has been trekking and scuba-diving for the last four months and was in good spirits when I spoke to him 10 days ago.

"We have got lots of friends and relatives who are holding us in their thoughts and we are drawing upon their strength at the moment."