THOUSANDS of troops were last night combing the Colombian jungle for kidnapped North Yorkshire TV producer Mark Henderson and seven other travellers.

Supported by a fleet of nine Black Hawk helicopters, the soldiers were scouring the area where the party were captured by guerilla forces.

And as the search continued, Mark's shocked father, Christopher, praised his 31-year-old son's mental and physical toughness and insisted: "He will be able to cope."

From his home at Pateley Bridge near Harrogate, Mr Henderson, 59 and retired, added: "I fully expect him to write a best-seller as soon as he gets back, and then follow it up with the movie."

His son was trekking to the ancient ruins of Ciudad Perdida with fellow Briton Matthew Scott, 19, from London, a German, a Spaniard and four Israelis, when they were captured by rebels believed to be from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc.

They were camping near the Caribbean coast when the rebels, carrying assault rifles, struck last Friday. They were part of a larger group of 15 tourists that had earlier split in two. The seven others are all safe and believe they were allowed to go because they were physically unfit or did not have sturdy walking shoes.

One of them, Mark Tuite, 33, from Australia, said he believed he was spared because he and his wife, Michelle, are both overweight, had only sandals and would have slowed down the rebels.

The guerillas, aged 18 to 20, lined their captives up in the rain and stole their money and possessions before selecting their hostages. No ransom demand had been received by last night.

Mark Henderson, who was educated at Ashville College in Harrogate, is a freelance TV producer. He was taking a break after working on the show Reborn in the USA.

He has been travelling in Central American for the past four months and had originally been due to return to this country tomorrow.

"He's in good physical shape and wasn't too concerned about the area he was travelling in," said his father.

"When I last spoke to him ten days ago, he said it was an area not particularly active in respect of guerillas."

Mr Henderson said a candle had been lit in their local church which would remain alight until Mark returned.

He added: "We have got lots of friends and relatives who are holding us in their thoughts and we are drawing upon their strength at the moment."