PLANE CARRYING U.S. AIDES DOWN IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 13 - A United States government plane carrying four
Americans and a Colombian crashed today in a region of southern Colombia
dominated by rebels, and American officials feared that some of the
occupants might have been taken hostage.

Search-and-rescue teams quickly found the charred wreckage of the plane,
whose pilot had reported engine trouble, but three occupants, the pilot and
the co-pilot were nowhere to be seen, American officials said.

The single-engine Cessna 208 was traveling from Bogota to the southern
province of Caqueta when radio contact was lost some 250 miles south of the
Colombian capital, the State Department said. The plane tried to make an
emergency landing outside Florencia, the provincial capital when it crashed.

At least five Black Hawk helicopters along with search-and-rescue teams
were dispatched to the scene from a nearby military base, according to
Colombian military officials and American government aides.

"When they got there, there were no bodies there, and as you know that is a
hotbed of guerrilla activity," said a senior Congressional staff member in
Washington who was briefed about the search. "And so what you potentially
have there is a kidnapping."

Some Colombian government officials insisted late tonight that two bodies
had been found at the crash site, but American authorities in Bogota and
Washington would not confirm the report.

In the 39-year conflict in Colombia, rebels have kidnapped businessmen,
reporters and even bird-watchers, but not Americans working for the United
States government.

Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the rebel group
that operates in the jungle area, issued no statement. Meanwhile, an
extensive search by Colombian security forces and American advisors was begun.

The exact job of the Americans on the plane remained unclear. A Bush
administration official said they were not part of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, whose employees often travel to risky zones, or regular
embassy employees.

"They were in a U.S. government plane," the official said. "They weren't
out there fishing."

A spokesman at the State Department, Chip Barclay, said the plane had
experienced engine trouble, and the pilot had tried to make an emergency
landing.

"Somewhere during the flight, the engine cut out and they were looking for
a place to put down," he said. "I assume it was looking for a flat place to
put down, a road or large field."

Florencia is near the Tres Esquinas military base, where American Special
Forces have trained hundreds of elite antinarcotics troops.

The plane went down in a region long controlled by the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The rebels have used the region to hide kidnap
victims and oversee a thriving trade in coca.