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October 12, 2008 4:06:56 AM CDT

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Freed Hostages Back in US

Posted Jul 3, 08 10:48 AM CDT in World,  US 

(Newser) – Three American hostages are back on US soil today for the first time in five years, CNN reports, after a late-night landing at an Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas. The men were taken to an Army medical center, where, after undergoing tests and debriefings, they are expected to be reunited with their families.

No current US hostage has been held longer than the military contractors whose plane crashed in rebel territory during a counter-narcotics mission in Colombia. “It’s been a long, long night,” said the father of one of the contractors, who flew from Connecticut to Texas to meet his liberated son. “We have a lot to talk about.”

Sources CNN, USA Today

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Former hostages Keith Stansell, (third from left at top) Marc Gonsalves, (fifth from right, in black cap), and Thomas Howes, (second from right) deplane in San Antonio, Wednesday, July 2, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, right, embraces her daughter Melaine as her former husband Fabrice Delloye, top left, reacts upon their arrival at a military base in Bogota, Thursday, July 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)
American hostage Keith Stansell, third from right, steps off the ramp of a C-17 Globemaster III onto U.S. soil at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas July 2, 2008.   (AP Photo)
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Colombia  • hostage  • FARC  • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia  • security contractors


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