Pubdate: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2000 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4066 Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/ 5 AMERICANS AMONG 10 SEIZED IN OIL FIELD QUITO, ECUADOR Troops scoured Ecuador's Amazonian jungles Friday in search of gunmen involved in the kidnapping of at least 10 foreign workers, including five Americans, during a raid on oil fields. Soldiers found the helicopter used by the gunmen to flee with their captives, the government said. It had been abandoned near the San Miguel River, which divides Ecuador from Colombia. There was no sign of the captives or the gunmen, who Ecuador's government said were Colombian rebels who acted in retaliation for Plan Colombia, an anti-drug trafficking initiative backed by $1.3 billion in U.S. aid. The kidnappers were thought to have fled into Colombia, where leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in a furious battle for control of cocaine production in the border region. Foreign-owned oil companies began evacuating their foreign personnel. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager