Lost European tourists found in the Algerian desert
Algeria-European Union, Local, 5/15/2003

The German foreign ministry yesterday announced it found several lost European tourists, missed in the Algerian desert including several Germans.

A spokesman for the ministry said "I can assure finding a group of lost tourists including 6 Germans in Algeria." He added that the 6 Germans are in a good health condition and they were taken to the German embassy in Algiers.

A diplomatic source stressed that the number of German missing was 16 and not 15. The delegation which accompanying the German foreign minister in his visit to Algeria announced that one German tourist was lost a matter which increased the number of lost tourists to 32.

In Vienna, the Austrian foreign ministry said that the ten Austrian tourists were found safe. The ministry said it will issue a statement to this effect later.

Some 32 tourists- 16 Germans, 10 Austrians, four Swiss, one Dutch and one from Switzerland were missed in the desert which is an area of 2 million cubic meters in Algeria. More than 7,000 persons including 5,000 soldiers are searching for those tourists.

The Swedish foreign ministry said that one citizen was found. He was among a group of tourists lost in Algeria.

The spokeswoman for the ministry in Stockholm said that the Swedish citizen was found with a group of 6 Germans." It is believed that the tourists were kidnapped and held hostages in Algeria.

The Swiss foreign ministry, on the other hand, announced that the four Swiss tourists who were lost in the Algerian desert were not found. The spokeswoman for the Swiss foreign ministry said that Burn does not have extra information on the fate of the tourists.

For its part, the Dutch foreign ministry stressed that the Dutch tourist who is held in the same area was not released.

In Algeria, the Algerian daily al-Watan said yesterday that the Algerian army killed nine of the kidnappers of the tourists who were lost in the Algerian desert in an operation which took place on Tuesday at dawn near Tamnaghist ( 1900 Km to the south of the capital and resulted in releasing 17 of the hostage.

Al-Watan added that units of the Algerian army "liberated the 17 hostages in violent clashes " with ten of the kidnappers who were armed with machine guns, 150 Km to the north of Tamnaghist on the road to Ein Salah.

The paper added that the other 10 tourists: ten Germans, Four Swiss and one Dutch are in Tamarik mountains, 150 Km to the north of Eleizi ( 1500 KM to the southern East of Algeria ), adding that the attack on the region will be more dangerous because the area is very vast and full of caves.

On the other hand, a diplomatic source said that the 17 tourists including 6 Germans are in the Algerians capital since Tuesday and are subjected to medical checks and they are in good health conditions.

Previous Stories:
  Algeria: seven were killed, 6 wounded in acts of violence   (5/14/2003)
  Some 29 European tourists are missing in the Algerian desert   (4/8/2003)
  Support to police force reform in Algeria   (1/26/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search