QUITO, Ecuador - Oil firms have agreed to pay ransom to an armed group holding a New Zealander and six other people hostage in the Amazon jungle.
Admiral Miguel Saona, chief of Ecuador's high military command, told Gamavision television that the unidentified kidnappers reached the deal with the oil firmsyesterday, but did not say how much ransom would be paid.
"I understand that this group of criminals negotiated, and explained they won't execute anyone else. I understand that they reached an economic arrangement," he said.
Ten foreign oil workers were kidnapped from Ecuador's Amazon region in October, but two French technicians escaped a few days later.
Two weeks ago, the kidnappers killed one hostage, Ronald Clay Sander, a 54-year-old Missouri native.
A note left with Sander's body demanded that his employer, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based drilling firm Helmerich & Payne, pay ransom.
Family members of the remaining hostages pleaded with Helmerich & Payne and the other employers to pay up, fearing that more hostages could be killed. An oil industry source said the ransom was set at US $80 million ($183 million).
The remaining hostages are New Zealander Dennis Corrin, 4 US citizens, an Argentine, and a Chilean.
Mr Corrin, aged 52, is a pilot from Nelson. He was employed by US-based, heavy-lift helicopter specialist Erickson Air-Crane.
A spokesman for Schlumberger Ltd. in New York confirmed two of their consultants were among the hostages and refused further comment. Helmerich & Payne have one more employee in the group that was kidnapped.
The kidnapping was the second in about a year in Ecuador. Twelve Canadian oil workers were held hostage for three months in 1999 by an unidentified armed group until they were released unharmed. No one claimed responsibility for this kidnapping.
Several oil industry sources have suggested breakaway elements of Colombian guerrilla groups were involved in the kidnapping, along with Ecuadorean criminals. Saona blamed common criminals.
Saona expressed concern that while paying off the group could save the hostages, it makes Ecuador more vulnerable to kidnappings.
"The moment their rescue is paid it is extremely dangerous. Tomorrow, you or I or anyone else are targets to be kidnapped, and it's a serious problem," he said.
