Foreign minister Bert Koenders has declined to comment on reports that the Dutch tv crew kidnapped in Colombia are about to be freed.

A member of a Colombian humanitarian mission which has flown to the area where the two disappeared told Dutch media earlier that they could be released as early as today.

Presenter Derk Bolt and cameraman Eugenio Follender were trying to trace the mother of someone adopted by a Dutch couple when they disappeared in the northern region of Catatumbo, close to the border with Venezuela on Saturday.

Dozens of armed militias are active in the region and according to the Colombian army, Bolt and Follender have been taken by guerilla movement ELN.

Koenders, who is with king Willem Alexander and queen Maxima on their state visit to Italy, told reporters that he is in continual contact with the Colombian authorities.

However, saying too much would not be in the interests of efforts to free them, he said.