Oil workers kidnapped in Ecuador

Farc are said to have acted in relatiation for Plan Colombia

The authorities in Ecuador say Colombian guerrillas have seized a helicopter and kidnapped 10 foreign oil workers.

Military officials said the helicopter was taken from an oil company camp in the eastern Amazon jungle, near the town of Pompeya.

Those seized are said to include six Americans, a Chilean, an Argentine and two French pilots

Ecuador's Vice-President Pedro Pinto said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) had claimed responsibility.

The rebels have close links to the drugs trade

He told local radio the rebels had flown the hostages away in retaliation for Plan Colombia, the US-backed multi-billion-dollar initiative to fight illegal drug-trafficking and insurgency.

The rebels have close connections with the drugs trade, earning much of their income from the coca fields.

The kidnapping prompted an immediate response from the US.

"We call upon the abductors to release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Quito confirmed that five US citizens were among the kidnapped, but could not say who their captors were.

Rescue mission

Radio reports speculated that the helicopter was flown to Colombia after it was seized from the camp, just 75km (47 miles) inside Ecuador.

Farc have a large base in Putumayo, close to the common border

Mr Pinto pledged that his country's armed forces would help rescue the hostages, adding that border patrols were being stepped up.

Colombia is the kidnap capital of the world, with 3,000 abductions reported in 1999 and an average of more than seven a day this year.

Last year, seven Canadian oil workers and one American were seized in the same region and held for three months.

At the time, Ecuadoran officials blamed Colombian guerrillas; the rebels denied any involvement.