Irish parents still hopeful severed heads are not from hostage victims

The four men whose severed heads were found yesterday in Chechnya are believed to have been killed during a bungled rescue attempt. However, the Irish parents of Mr Darren Hickey, one of the men, said yesterday they were still "hoping and praying" he is still alive. The group was kidnapped by unknown gunmen over two months ago.

Mr Eamonn Hickey, Darren's father, said his family was hoping the news turned out to be baseless rumour. Mr Hickey and his wife, Maura, moved to England about 30 years ago. The family were frequent visitors to his hometown of Daingean, Co Offaly, and his wife's relatives in Carraroe, Co Galway.

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, said it was "almost certain" the four people found decapitated by Chechen authorities were the hostages kidnapped in the capital, Grozny.

The severed heads of the men, three Britons and a New Zealander, were discovered by the side of a road. The rest of the bodies have not been found.

Chechen officials said a man who had worked as a bodyguard for the hostages before they were captured had identified them. Russian police in Moscow confirmed the killings but gave no further details.

Their employer, Granger Telecom, said the four hostages were killed when a rescue attempt went wrong. The company's chief executive, Mr Ray Verth, told reporters it had opened a dialogue with the kidnappers and received confirmation that the hostages were alive as recently as last week.

"We understand from media reports today that the Chechen authorities may have mounted a rescue attempt last night. It would appear that something went tragically wrong," he said.

The four men - Mr Hickey (27), Mr Rudolf Petschi (42), Mr Peter Kennedy (46) and a New Zealander, Mr Stanley Shaw (58) - were captured by gunmen on October 3rd in Grozny, where they were installing a mobile phone system.

Mr Hickey was born in England and travelled on a British passport. Speaking from the family home in Thames Ditton, Surrey, Mr Hickey's sister, Deborah, said she was taking the reports of Darren's death "with a pinch of salt" for now. "The Foreign Office hasn't told us anything," she told The Irish Times.

"We had heard that things were all right and that they were definitely alive and well. Everything was pointing in the right direction. It is very, very strange the way this has happened."

The family had left the handling of the matter to the British Foreign Office and Granger Telecom, she said. "Up to now, we were quite hopeful; it was good news all the way."

Ms Hickey said the family knew nothing about the reported deaths until she was telephoned yesterday morning by Mr Verth's wife, minutes before the story appeared on international news wires.

After the men were kidnapped, Granger was criticised for having ignored British government warnings not to send its staff to Chechnya to work on the £210 million contract.

Chechnya has suffered from poverty and lawlessness since fighting a 21-month war with Russia that ended when Moscow withdrew its troops in 1996.

Chechnya's national security chief, Mr Aslanbek Arsayev, said his forces had detained a man suspected of taking part in the killings, which have drawn condemnation from the Russian President, Mr Yeltsin, the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair and other senior officials.

However, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted another senior Chechen official, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Turpal Atgeriyev, as saying nobody had yet been detained.

--(Reuters)