It's Been 1,750 Days Since Their Mayday Call, and Three Members of a Flight Crew Contracted by the State Department Are Still Awaiting Rescue. While the U.S. and Colombian Governments Refuse to Bargain With Terrorists, the Hostage Crisis Threatens to Become the Longest in U.S. History.

The tropical prison lies in a muddy clearing deep in the southern Colombian jungle, surrounded by a barrier of rough-hewn logs and close to a wide, swift river.

Scattered around the compound are a dozen simple tents-plastic tarpaulins supported by bamboo poles, with hard wooden pallets on which the prisoners and their guards sleep.

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