Kidnapped man escapes in Colombia

A British tourist who was kidnapped 12 days ago in the snow-capped mountains of northern Colombia has escaped from his captors and has been picked up by an army patrol, Colombia’s army chief said today.

Matthew Scott, 19, of London, evaded his kidnappers yesterday during a forced walk amid the thick jungles of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Gen Carlos Alberto Ospina said.

Scott was among a group of eight foreign backpackers – four Israelis, two Britons, a German and a Spaniard – who were seized on September 12 from rustic cabins in the archaeological ruins of Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City.