|
||||
Sept. 14, 1999 Associated Press and Journal Staff Reports A 23-year-old American who is reportedly a Navajo tribal member from Aneth, Utah, has been kidnapped in Ecuador along with seven Canadian oil workers and four European tourists. The kidnappings occurred on Saturday in Ecuador's eastern jungle near the Colombian border, according to an Ecuadorean military official. The oil workers were installing a pipeline in the province of Scumbios, 30 miles from the Colombian border, and were being guarded by four Ecuadorean soldiers when they were ambushed Saturday by about 25 armed assailants, regional commander Col. Luis Ramirez told the Associated Press. The workers were employees of United Pipelines Systems, a Canadian contracting company, working under a contract from Canadian-based City Investing oil company, Ramirez said. He identified the American as Leonard Carter, 23, but did not know his home town. However, a former employee of United Pipelines Services, who asked not to be identified, said Carter was a Navajo from Aneth, a small town approximately 10 miles west of the Utah-Colorado border. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., said Monday afternoon that he could not confirm that information. "Whenever an American is involved in an incident, the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act come into play," said the spokesman. "We can't tell you anything about this unless he (Carter) says it's OK, which of course he can't do." Ramirez told the AP that soon after the attack, the armed group set up a roadblock on a nearby jungle highway, where it stopped some 15 vehicles and took hostage a Belgian woman and three Spanish citizens. The European tourists were instructors from the Latin American Radio Broadcasters Association, one source said. One Ecuadorean soldier was killed during the attack on the oil workers, according to Ramirez. As of Sunday evening, no ransom demands had been received for the hostages, military officials said, and the group behind the attacks had not been positively identified. However, military officials said they were investigating whether the kidnappers were leftist rebels from Colombia. In the past, Colombian guerrillas have used kidnappings to finance their operations. No one could be reached Monday to confirm that Carter was an Aneth resident. A spokesperson at Navajo tribal headquarters in Window Rock, Ariz., said she knew nothing of the incident. Two different phone numbers listed for the Aneth Chapter House both proved to be out of service, and no listing could be found for Carter. |
||||
|
