Colombia crash victims found

Colombia crash victims found

All three Americans aboard a US Government plane which crashed in southern Colombia on Tuesday died, officials have confirmed.

The Cessna plane wreckage was described as "incinerated".

There are reports that Colombian troops have retrieved the bodies.

The cause of the crash has not been confirmed, though government suggestions of mechanical failure have been rejected by guerrillas who say the plane was shot down.

The plane had been involved in the search for three Americans abducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 13 February after the aircraft carrying them crash-landed in the Colombian jungle.

The effort to rescue them has involved thousands of Colombian troops, helicopter gunships and US Special Forces.

The wreckage of the plane which crashed on Tuesday was found in the southern province of Caqueta, where the previous plane was also lost.

One Colombian official said that the remains of the plane had been found "completely destroyed and incinerated", the Reuters news agency reported.

Huge search

Almost 5,000 Colombian military personnel have been trying to find the abducted Americans, who were taken after a Colombian colleague and a fourth American were reportedly executed on the spot.

The FARC has accused the men of being CIA agents, but Washington says they were contractors for the Defence Department searching for illegal coca crops.

It is the first time that US Government employees have been captured during Colombia's four decades of civil war.

The Colombian Government has offered a $345,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the missing men, who have not been identified.

The United States has also taken out newspaper and radio ads in Caqueta appealing for information.