ANTI-DRUG FLIGHT WITH U.S.TROOPS VANISHES

Bogota, Colombia - A U.S. anti-narcotics plane carrying five American
soldiers and two Colombians disappeared Friday in the hazy mountains of
southwestern Colombia, U.S. and Colombian officials reported.

U.S. officials said a search and air rescue operation was being coordinated
with the Colombian authorities.

The disappearance comes two days before a visit by U.S. drug czar Barry
McCaffrey, who has urged Washington to triple its military aid here to $1
billion to help slow the drug flow from Colombia, the world's No. 1 source
of cocaine and a growing supplier of heroin.

The plane, a four-engine DeHaviland RC-7, departed from the eastern
Colombian airbase of Apiay about 1:30 a.m. Friday on a routine
reconnaissance mission. The crew was due to return at 9 a.m. and had not
been heard from.

The reason for the disappearance remained unclear, although U.S. officials
said the plane had been flying in adverse weather.

U.S. and Colombian officials declined to say whether the incident had
anything to do with the government's civil war against FARC leftist
guerrillas. Recent attempts by President Andres Patrana to start peace
talks with the rebels have been unsuccessful.

"It was a routine counterdrug mission gathering information to support the
Colombians in the counterdrug effort," said Air Force Capt. Jack Miller, a
spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.

Miller said authorities last communicated with the plane about an hour
after it took off - and the plane missed scheduled hourly updates since.

The aircraft carries about eight to 10 hours of fuel and was last contacted
from southwestern Colombia near the Ecuadorean border.

At least three American civilian pilots, engaged in aerial spraying of
illegal drug plantations, have died in crashes in Colombia over the past 2
1/2 years.