Relief for Briton Held By Colombian Rebels for 102 Days

Mark Henderson, the British backpacker kidnapped by Colombian rebels 102 days ago, was yesterday released and flown to safety.

Mr Henderson, 32, from Lincoln, was kidnapped with seven others by the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, on September 12 as they were trekking to the 2,500-year-old Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) ruins in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains.

"We're free! We're free," Mr Henderson shouted in a brief mobile phone call to journalists as he was flown back to Bogotá by helicopter last night.

He said he and his Israeli friends - Benny Daniel, Ido Guy, Erez Altawil and Orpaz Ohayon - were told little during the ordeal, which included arduous treks through jungle and mountain terrain. But they were allowed to stay together.

"Luckily, the five of us have been able to keep each other going," he said. "If one of us was down, someone else would be up, and, you know, it was the only way we could get through the days really.

"To just think that there is some hope, that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, that we are going to get out of this."

The news that Mr Henderson had been freed was greeted by tears of joy at his parents' house in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, where family and friends - and the media - had waited anxiously by the phone all day.

Sharelle and Christopher Henderson decribed the release of their son as "magic" and said they were expecting him home in time for Christmas.

Another of the hostages, Matthew Scott, 19, from Clapham, south London, escaped days after being kidnapped and spent almost two weeks wandering in the jungle before he was found by the Colombian army. Two others, a German and a Spaniard, were released in November.

Members of the humanitarian commission who escorted the hostages out of captivity yesterday afternoon included members of the Catholic Church, a UN representative and officials of the government human rights office. The commission had been negotiating for the hostages' release.

Francis McDonagh, Colombia programme officer of Cafod, the Catholic church's agency for overseas development, said Mr Henderson still seemed slightly dazed.

"He was well and impatient to be back. He was having his first real meal in months - Coca-Cola and cheese.

"I said that the idea was to get him back home for Christmas and he said he was upset that he hadn't bought any Christmas presents. I said I thought that he was the best present his family could have."