World News 26-09-2003 Jungle Kidnap Teen Tells Story who: Kidnapped Brit Matthew Scott what: Tells gruelling story of escape from captors in moving call to father where: Colombia when: Yesterday snippet: "The teenager who made a daring escape from captivity in the Colombian jungle told his parents yesterday he cannot wait to get home... for a nice cup of British tea," says The Sun. "Matthew Scott’s dad James said after an emotional phone call: `He can’t get a good cup in Colombia. They gave him a cup of tea today but he said it was awful. He wants a proper British cuppa`." On September 12th, the gap-year student from Clapham, south London, "was among a group of eight people on a trip to see the ancient ruins of the Lost City when they became the victims of Colombia`s biggest foreign kidnapping for two decades," says The Independent. "Two days ago there were fears that Matthew Scott might not make it to Oxford university," recall The Guardian`s Rebecca Allison and Grace Livingstone. "As his family prepared to spend another anxious night waiting for news... hopes that he would be found alive were beginning to waver. Then the phone call they had been waiting for came out of the blue." "`Hello, Big Man,` said 19-year-old Matthew over a scratchy Colombian telephone line," reports The Telegraph, "using the family nickname for his father, a very tall, retired orthopaedic surgeon." Matthew explained to his father what had happened. "After being force-marched through the Sierra Nevada mountains for 10 days, he managed to leap down a ravine when his captors were not looking," says The Evening Standard. "He stumbled through the jungle, surviving only on water, until he was found by a local tribe." [... more]

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