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This is from the Northrop Web page created for this crisis. I don't know these guys personally, as Keith, Marc and Thomas work at another division. The corporation (my division is in Orlando) is passing out Yellow Ribbon pins bearing the mens' names which has little if any effect in helping to end the hostage situation unless people get involved. That is what I'm trying to do. Go to the web address above for much more info including an e-mail box for messages to the captive's families.

What Happened

On Feb. 13, 2003, four employees of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems business unit, California Microwave Systems, Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves, and pilot Thomas Janis were on board an aircraft, together with Colombian Army Sergeant Luis Alcides Cruz, performing a counter narcotics mission over the jungles of Colombia under a contract in support of U.S. government operations there.

They took off from Bogota's airport at 7:30 a.m., heading for a Colombian military base in the southern Caqueta region. But 30 miles short of the landing strip, their plane crashed in a pasture in the Caquetá countryside, a FARC stronghold.

The aircraft had landed, incredibly, within hundreds of yards of FARC forces holding a secret meeting.

The FARC forces descended upon the crash site to find all five men alive. In taped recordings since received, the three surviving employees today credit pilot Tom Janis for saving their lives by successfully landing the crippled aircraft. However, moments after they were captured, the FARC led Tom Janis and the Colombian sergeant away from the crash site and executed them.

Two hours later, a group of 40 guerrillas stopped at a home about a mile away to ask for water. The rebels, a witness told prosecutors, were hauling three monos -- Colombian slang for blonds. They were healthy. Cruz and Janis were dead.

Then, just weeks later, three former California Microwave employees working for a subcontractor, were also tragically lost when their plane crashed into a mountain while searching for the three Northrop Grumman employees held captive.

Colombian army sweeps have failed to locate them. Intelligence reports maintain that the "alleged CIA agents" are being held in the jungle region of Huila, which is under the tight control of the narco guerrillas. The FARC has acknowledged holding the three "prisoners of war" and offered to trade them for imprisoned rebels. The U.S. and Colombian governments, however, both firmly maintain that our captive colleagues are hostages -- held by terrorist forces. .

The FARC forces descended upon the crash site to find all five men alive. In taped recordings since received, the three surviving employees today credit pilot Tom Janis for saving their lives by successfully landing the crippled aircraft.

However, moments after they were captured, the FARC led Tom Janis and the Colombian sergeant away from the crash site and executed them.

Any other FReepers work for the 120,000 employee Northrop?