TWO AMERICAN ANTI-DRUG PILOTS DEAD AFTER CRASH IN COLOMBIA

Two US anti-drug pilots crash - Two U.S. pilots died when their crop-duster
plane crashed during an anti-drug training mission in a jungle region of
southeast Colombia, police said Tuesday.

U.S. embassy officials named the dead men as Wayne Mulgrew, of Napa,
California, and Gary Clyde Chestnut, of Leesburg, Alabama. Both were
employed by the Texas-based Dyncorp Aviation company that has a contract
with the U.S. State Department to help Colombia spray thousands of acres of
illicit drug plantations.

Their Turbo Thrush T-65 aircraft was reported missing on Monday afternoon
but was found only on Tuesday morning close to the banks of the Guayabero
River in Guaviare province, said a spokesman for the anti-narcotics unit of
the National Police.

"There was an accident but we don't yet know precisely how it occurred. Two
American pilots died in the crash," a spokesman at the police anti-drugs
base in Guaviare said.

The spokesman declined to say whether the crop-duster may have been shot
down by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas who operate
across the region.

A statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Bogota confirmed the deaths but
said there was "no indication of hostile activity".

Colombia's U.S.-backed program to destroy clandestine plantations of coca
leaf 97 the raw material for cocaine 97 and opium poppies 97 used for
heroin
production 97 is the most ambitious in Latin America.

Planes used for aerial spraying missions frequently come under fire from
armed gangs and Marxist rebels. Colombian and U.S. authorities accuse the
rebels of widespread involvement in drug trafficking and say they protect
clandestine drug crops 97 charges the guerrillas deny.

According to U.S. officials about five U.S. civilian pilots are based in
Colombia at any one time training their Colombian counterparts in aerial
spraying techniques.

The Colombian police say part of the teaching process involves the U.S.
pilots flying active spraying missions although U.S. authorities insist the
Dyncorp pilots are only involved in training.

The question of U.S. personnel taking a frontline role in anti-drug
operations is a thorny one because of what some Colombian politicians see as
possible infringement of national sovereignty.

Another U.S. pilot, Robert Martin, was killed in the same area in January
1997 when his Turbo Thrush aircraft crashed during an anti-drug flight. That
accident was blamed on mechanical failure.

Colombia is responsible for about 80 percent of the world's cocaine supply
and is a leading player in the high-grade heroin trade.

Despite intense Colombian and U.S. efforts to destroy illegal drug crops,
the acreage of coca leaf plantations in Colombia increased by about 20
percent in 1997, compared with 1996, and now totals some 196,500 acres
(79,500 hectares).

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett