French Legionnaire Escapes Colombian Kidnappers After Four-Day Flight

French Foreign Legion Corporal José Olger Melo Charry, kidnapped in Colombia on August 6 by the EMC guerrilla group, escaped his captors after a four-day flight and reached a police station on his own. The Colombian corporal, abducted while on leave in the southwestern Nariño department, arrived Saturday at a Policarpa police post around 10:30 p.m., was then airlifted to Pasto, and transferred to a medical center for observation with family. Authorities will investigate the kidnapping circumstances, identify the Franco Benavides front members responsible, and determine how he escaped from his detention site.