The two Venezuelan choppers bearing the logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) landed Wednesday at Colombian town of San José del Guaviare, amidst an operation to rescue four hostages to be released by the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The two aircraft arrived from Venezuela at 9.10 am (14.10 GMT) at Captain Jorge Enrique González Torres airport in Guaviare Department, some 280 kilometers southeast Bogota, AP reporters located outside the airport confirmed.

Reporters are banned from entering the airport because of security reasons, the commander of the Guaviare police department Eugenio Ramos said earlier.

Colombian authorities said the aircraft -each one carrying two Red Cross delegates and Venezuelan officials, are to refuel and then depart for the location the FARC disclosed to the Venezuelan government's delegates to rescue former lawmakers Gloria Polanco de Lozada, Orlando Beltrán Cuéllar, and former senators Luis Eladio Pérez and Jorge Eduardo Géchem, who have been held as hostages by the guerrilla group for more than six years.

When it disclosed it would free the hostages, the FARC argued the move came because the hostages were in a poor health condition, and to acknowledge President Chávez's efforts to achieve a humanitarian swap of hostages for FARC troops who are in jail.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos and the head of the ICRC in Colombia, Barbara Hintermann, said that the helicopters are to depart for Venezuela once they pick up the hostages.