Kidnap helicopter found in Ecuador

Authorities have stepped up security in the area

Authorities in Ecuador say they have found the helicopter used to kidnap 10 foreign oil workers on Thursday.

The abandoned helicopter was discovered in the town of La Bermeja, about 250km (155 miles) south of the border with Colombia.

There was, however, no sign of the 10 hostages, who are said to comprise five Americans, a Chilean, an Argentine, a New Zealander and two French pilots.

The rebels have close links to the drugs trade

Ecuador has blamed the kidnapping on Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas, but the organisation has denied any involvement.

Authorities are continuing to search jungle in the border area for signs of the captives who, they say, were taken in a highly planned raid involving up to 40 men.

FARC accused

Military officials say the helicopter used in the raid was stolen from an oil company camp in the eastern Amazon jungle, near the town of Pompeya.

Ecuador's Vice-President Pedro Pinto said he had few doubts that the FARC was responsible, and pledged that his country's armed forces would help rescue the hostages.

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

He alleged the kidnappings were 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.

However, the leader of the FARC's southern branch, Joaquin Gomez, has denied responsibility.

Colombia's President Andres Estrada also said his government doubted the FARC's involvement.

Release demands

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.

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.