World

U.S. Sailor Found In Philippines

June 5, 2001 / 11:46 AM EDT / AP

A U.S. Navy officer missing after a suspected communist guerrilla attack showed up late Wednesday, tired and hungry but unharmed.

Navy Lt. Scott Alan Washburn, 33, of Celina, Ohio, had hidden during the attack that occurred on Mount Pinatubo, a volcano and popular tourist spot. He holed up as night fell, then walked about three hours to Clark Air Force Base, said Maj. Allan Ballesteros, spokesman for the Philippine air force.

About 1,300 Philippine soldiers had searched for Washburn on the ground and by helicopter since the attack Tuesday. Ballesteros said Washburn tried to flag down one of the helicopters but he wasn't spotted.

Washburn, commissioned as an officer in 1998, has been in the Philippines five times. His father, Donald Washburn, of St. Marys, Ohio, also said he is an avid outdoorsman who would have little difficulty surviving under difficult circumstances.

Washburn's first words were: "I'm very hungry," according to the Philippine officer. He was also very tired but was being debriefed before going to bed. He arrived at the base just after 11 p.m.

He had been believed to be lost somewhere near Pinatubo, a volcano about 55 miles north of Manila that brims with small craters and volcanic debris, said Rigoberto Tiglao, spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Washburn was among five American servicemen descending the volcano with four armed Filipino military escorts and two tour guides when at least 30 suspected guerrillas fired near them.

Some of the assailants wore ski masks and were armed with AK-47s, M-16s and grenade launchers, said Elmer Cato, a spokesman for U.S.-Philippine military exercises that are under way. Five attackers approached the group and seized two M-16s and two pistols from the Filipino soldiers.

Cato said the attackers apparently mistook the Americans, who were wearing street clothes, for tourists.

The attackers identified themselves as members of the New People's Army, which has been fighting a nationwide Marxist insurgency for more than 30 years but recently reopened peace talks with the government.

When their assailants left after about an hour, the Americans and Filipinos searched for Washburn, who had been washing his shoes at a nearby creek when the attack began. After they couldn't find him they walked back to Clark Airfield.

The other servicemen were not wounded, Cato said. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan identified the other Americans as Jeffrey Buschmann, Patrick Harrison, Sean Babbit and William Alston. No details were available on their hometowns.

About 3,000 U.S. and Filipino troops are participating in an 11-day military exercise that began Friday at Subic Bay.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said in Washington that the Mount Pinatubo tour which the Americans had taken was part of a "very carefully structured liberty program" worked out by the U.S. Embassy and that it was the first time there had been such an incident.

Authoriies say it is unrelated to an ongoing hostage crisis in southern Basilan island, where Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels have an estimated 20 captives, including three Americans.