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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 20:50 GMT | more >>

Fears grow for missing Techint workers



By Upstream staff 

Four technicians working on a project for Argentine company Techint at the Gibraltar project in north-eastern Colombia have been missing since last week, according to reports.

Colombian news agency Efe quoted a report broadcasst by Caracol Radio, which said the men went missing last Monday.

Caracol said the men are Colombians employed by Techint, adding the case had not been reported formally to the authorities.

Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol, hired Techint to carry out exploration work for the Gibraltar project near Cubara, in Boyaca province.

Efe quoted the Caracol report as saying that the head of the exploration team, Antonio Torres, field co-ordinator Gabriel Roberto Villamizar, welding team supervisor Nicolas Velasquez and wholesaler Manuel Jose Tovar have been missing since Monday, when they left Cubara in an SUV bound for Saravena in neighboring Arauca province.

The Gibraltar project is operating in a part of the territory of the U'wa Indian tribe, whose members oppose petroleum exploration and exploitation because they believe that crude oil is the blood of the Earth.

In the past, the area was awarded in a concession to US-based Occidental Petroleum, which returned it due to the Indians' opposition and a solidarity campaign mounted abroad.

Also operating in the region are squads of fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the Andean nation's largest rebel group.


Monday, 19 March, 2007, 09:36 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 19 March, 2007, 09:36 GMT

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