Briton seized in Ecuador freed

Sep 30 2012

A British woman kidnapped in Ecuador while visiting a remote nature reserve in the Amazon jungle has been rescued.

The tourist, reportedly named by Ecuadorian army officials as Katherine Sara Cox, was abducted on Friday with an Australian woman near the country's border with Colombia.

Ecuador's interior minister Jose Serrano said the pair were rescued on Saturday night by police and armed forces.

He said the 23-year-old English woman and the 32-year-old Australian woman, named in reports as Fiona Louise Wilde, are "in good condition".

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) was unable to confirm the names but said: "We are pleased it has been confirmed that the two women missing in Ecuador have been found and that their families have been informed."

The incident took place as the women travelled by canoe as part of a tour group in the Cuyabeno nature reserve in the Tarapoa region of Sucumbios province, in the north east of Ecuador close to the border with Colombia.

They were seized by what authorities in the country said was a Colombian group, the BBC said.

The Ecuadorian government said three other foreigners were with the two women when they were set upon in the park. The other three were not taken by the kidnappers.

The FCO currently advises against all travel to the areas immediately bordering Colombia in Carchi province due to criminal activity and organised crime.

A spokeswoman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian woman is currently in the care of Ecuadorian authorities.