Gunmen in Russian Copter, 5 Remaining Hostages Take Off

Four masked kidnapers in an explosives-packed helicopter took off early today with five hostages and $10 million in ransom after talks with the Russian government broke down.

Officials at the government’s emergency headquarters said the helicopter was apparently headed for Makhachkala, a town on the Caspian Sea about 240 miles to the southeast, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Air control officials said the flight to the southern town takes about two hours. Security officials had worked out “adequate responses” in case the kidnapers decided to deviate from their announced route, Itar-Tass said. It did not elaborate.

Clouds and fog kept the gunmen on the ground Saturday while authorities tried to negotiate the release of the remaining captives: two teen-age boys, two pilots and a bus driver.

As the weather began to clear toward nightfall, the kidnapers announced that they planned to take off. Then they cut off all communications.

The kidnapers, armed with three automatic rifles and a pistol, seized about a dozen students Thursday morning in Rostov-on-Don, a river port about 600 miles southeast of Moscow.

They herded the hostages onto a bus, then commandeered a military helicopter at an airport and began flying a zigzag route south, reportedly headed for Iran.

On Saturday, they promised to free the remaining hostages in Makhachkala but demanded to take aboard a special Foreign Ministry envoy, Valentina Petrenko, saying she would be freed once they reached Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.

But the Itar-Tass news agency said authorities feared the kidnapers would land in the Caucasus Mountains along Russia’s southern border and escape.

Eight hostages--seven teen-age girls and a teacher--were freed Friday. Two of their classmates, both boys, were released Saturday at the airport in Mineralnyye Vody, a mineral springs resort about 820 miles southeast of Moscow.

Police and elite Alpha commandos surrounded the camouflage-painted MI-8 helicopter while it was on the ground, ready to attack if ordered.

But Petrenko, who was negotiating with the gunmen, said on Russian television that the kidnapers showed her explosive devices and threatened to blow up the helicopter if attacked.

The government demanded that the kidnapers free their remaining hostages in a statement Itar-Tass described as an “ultimatum.” But authorities did not set a deadline or threaten an attack, apparently fearing that the kidnapers might harm the hostages.

The government guaranteed the kidnapers’ safety if all the hostages were released immediately.

Some of the freed hostages told Itar-Tass that they thought it was a holiday joke when the masked gunmen burst into their classroom Thursday.

But laughter quickly turned to fear when the men fired three times into the ceiling and herded the group of teen-agers and their teacher onto a bus. The gunmen announced that they had AIDS and wanted to go abroad for treatment, the students said.

Authorities apparently were not taking that claim seriously. Police say many kidnapers declare they have AIDS or some other life-threatening disease to make people think they have nothing to lose.

The government agreed to pay a ransom, and a security officer flew from Moscow on a special plane, bringing five plastic-sealed blocks containing $2 million each.