All Four Kidnapers Seized; Hostages Safe : Russia: Most of the $10-million ransom is recovered after a brief shootout in the Caucasus Mountains.

All four kidnapers who escaped in a helicopter packed with explosives and $10 million were captured early today after an intense manhunt in the mountains of southern Russia, police said.

All their hostages were safe. Police and elite commandos captured the four men after a brief shootout in the Caucasus Mountains, and most or all of the $10 million ransom was recovered.

“The money is still being counted--what they had on them, plus what they left behind in the helicopter,” Police Col. Yuri Reshetnik told The Associated Press. “I guess it was too much for them to carry and still run through the mountains.”

In Russia, kidnapers face the death sentence.

Authorities did not immediately release the names of the captured men. The Interfax news agency said the first two captured were from the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. One was 48 years old, and the other was 21, Interfax said.

The crisis began Thursday morning when the heavily armed kidnapers seized a dozen students in Rostov-on-Don, 600 miles south of Moscow.

They herded the hostages onto a bus, then demanded a helicopter and began flying south toward Iran. They threatened to kill the hostages unless given safe passage. Officials said the gunmen had explosive devices and threatened to blow up the helicopter if attacked.

Russian authorities met all the kidnapers’ demands. They gave them the camouflage-painted Mi-8 military helicopter and $10 million in U.S. currency.

The crisp new bills, packed in five plastic-wrapped packages of $2 million each, were flown in from Moscow. Russia’s central bank chairman said the government had some difficulty scraping together that much foreign cash on short notice, and some of it was borrowed from private banks.

The kidnapers released a few hostages at a time over the next few days. Eight hostages--seven teen-age girls and a teacher--were freed Friday. Two classmates, both boys, were released Saturday at the Mineralnye Vody airport.

At 6:45 p.m. Sunday, the gunmen freed three more hostages and took off from the airport at Mineralnye Vody, a mineral springs resort. Only two hostages--volunteer pilots--were still aboard.

After about 90 minutes, the helicopter set down briefly and the kidnapers got off at a small village just north of Makhachkala, capital of the Dagestan region in the Caucasus Mountains, according to ITAR-Tass.

The two pilots flew on to Makhachkala, landing at 9:35 p.m.

A major manhunt began immediately. Russian police and commandos had followed the kidnapers in helicopters and by radar.

The gunmen claimed at one time to be suffering from AIDS and demanded free passage to Iran for treatment. But First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, who headed the effort to end the crisis, said that appeared to be a smoke screen.