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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (28747)	9/25/2003 5:58:26 AM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Remind me to cancel that trip to Columbia... He Leaps Off Cliff to Flee Kidnappers By LEO STANDORA and CORKY SIEMASZKO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS A 19-year-old British backpacker took a page from Indiana Jones and leaped off a cliff to escape from his Colombian kidnappers, authorities said yesterday. Matthew Scott trekked miles through thick jungles to evade his captors - who still hold seven other tourists - before winding up in a remote Indian village. The exhausted young adventurer said from a hospital bed yesterday: "I haven't eaten hardly anything for the last 12 days. They weren't giving us very much food." Scott and the others were snatched Sept. 12 near the 2,500-year-old ruins of Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City. Scott told authorities he was staying in a cabin several days' walk from the nearest road when the kidnappers - dressed in camouflage - broke in, stole valuables, then marched the prisoners deep into the mountains. He made his daring escape a few days later by jumping into a ravine near the peak of an 18,500-foot mountain in the Sierra Nevada. "We were walking in a line. ... It was raining in the mountains, the visibility wasn't good and I quickly slipped down the mountain," he said. "I fell badly sometimes, and I'm lucky I didn't break my arms or legs," he said, showing numerous cuts on his arms and hands. Scott said he hiked directionless for 10 days, sometimes in heavy rain. He was found Tuesday morning by Indians living in the mountains. "The tribe that found me gave me soup and beans with a little salt and three oranges," Scott said. "Those are the only things I've eaten in the last 12 days." One of the Indians told a Colombian television station that Scott was "dizzy and vomiting and, since he barely spoke Spanish, he didn't tell me what was wrong with him." The London teen was in good condition last night, noshing on a baked potato in his hospital bed. Later, he talked with his father by phone. Scott gave Colombian authorities enough information for them to "readjust" their search for the other captives - four Israelis, a German, a Spaniard and another Brit. He said the hostages were very demoralized and were forced to "walk a lot, every day, in the rain." More than 2,000 troops, backed by Black Hawk helicopters, have been searching for the hostages, but rescue operations were hampered this week by the weather. In recent years, warring Marxist guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers in the region have kidnapped visitors for ransom. This year, more than 1,000 people have been abducted. With News Wire Services Originally published on September 25, 2003