Pubdate: Sat, 24 July 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: Richard Chacon, The Boston Globe ANTI-DRUG FLIGHT WITH U.S.TROOPS VANISHES Bogota, Colombia - A U.S. anti-narcotics plane carrying five American soldiers and two Colombians disappeared Friday in the hazy mountains of southwestern Colombia, U.S. and Colombian officials reported. U.S. officials said a search and air rescue operation was being coordinated with the Colombian authorities. The disappearance comes two days before a visit by U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who has urged Washington to triple its military aid here to $1 billion to help slow the drug flow from Colombia, the world's No. 1 source of cocaine and a growing supplier of heroin. The plane, a four-engine DeHaviland RC-7, departed from the eastern Colombian airbase of Apiay about 1:30 a.m. Friday on a routine reconnaissance mission. The crew was due to return at 9 a.m. and had not been heard from. The reason for the disappearance remained unclear, although U.S. officials said the plane had been flying in adverse weather. U.S. and Colombian officials declined to say whether the incident had anything to do with the government's civil war against FARC leftist guerrillas. Recent attempts by President Andres Patrana to start peace talks with the rebels have been unsuccessful. "It was a routine counterdrug mission gathering information to support the Colombians in the counterdrug effort," said Air Force Capt. Jack Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami. Miller said authorities last communicated with the plane about an hour after it took off - and the plane missed scheduled hourly updates since. The aircraft carries about eight to 10 hours of fuel and was last contacted from southwestern Colombia near the Ecuadorean border. At least three American civilian pilots, engaged in aerial spraying of illegal drug plantations, have died in crashes in Colombia over the past 2 1/2 years. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake