From Yehey News......
American killed in Pinatubo ambush
1/31/2002 10:00:00 AM
Today
By JOJO DUE Correspondent
CLARK FIELD, Pampanga -- An American was reported killed and a Dutchman is still missing after they were attacked by still unidentified armed men while they were participating in a dirt-bike competition.
The two rented motorcycles in Angeles City and went to Mount Pinatubo earlier on Wednesday. They left the motorcycles at the foot of the mountain and scaled the volcano on foot.
Senior Supt. Ismael Rafanan, Pampanga police commander, identified the fatality as Bryan Thomas Smith.
Rafanan said Smith's death was reported through a text message to a certain Weiss, by Ziegfied Whitman, a Dutchman who was with the group.
He said Weiss works for the travel agency that organized the dirt-bike expedition.
Whitman's message said that he and Smith were shot at by still unidentified armed men and that Smith was killed.
Weiss received the message at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
Rafanan said the police authorities have yet to identify the attackers, but that police and military teams have been sent to the area and are now searching for Whitman in the hilly portion of Porac town.
The slaying of the American and the reports of his missing colleague came barely a year after a group of U.S. Navy servicemen were attacked by New People's Army (NPA) rebels en route to Mount Pinatubo, on an organized tour during a break in an RP-U.S. military exercise held under the Visiting Forces Agreement in Zambales.
Lt. (junior grade) Scott Washburn was with some U.S. Navy colleagues, security escorts and guides when his group was intercepted by the communist guerrillas.
Washburn was reported missing after the incident. He went back to safety the following day by back-tracking the route they had taken, braving heavy rains and the cold in the foothills of the volcano the night before.
The U.S. Navy serviceman said he was able to hide and stayed overnight somewhere in the hilly section of barangay Sapangbato in Angeles City, one of many routes used by trekkers to Mount Pinatubo.
Reports said the travel agent of the slain American's group is the same as the one that organized Washburn's trek last year.
Whitman, who was in touch with rescuers through his cellular telephone, said that he and Smith had been scaling the volcano for two hours when they were attacked.
In his latest message to rescuers, Whitman said that he was walking Porac River and that he left Smith's body somewhere on the slopes of the mountain.
Maj. Allan Ballesteros, spokesman for the Air Force's 600th Air Base Wing here, said that Smith is not a participant in the RP-U.S. military exercise that starts on Thursday.
U.S. forces attending the RP-U.S. Exercise Balikatan sent an MH-47 helicopter equipped with night vision devices to search for Whitman last night.
