| Submit your comments on this article |
| North Africa |
| Missing tourists clue found |
| 2003-04-29 |
| Algerian police have found a vehicle thought to belong to some of the European tourists who have gone missing in the desert. Officials say the blue four-wheel-drive Iveco car found near the south-eastern town of Illizi may be that used by a German couple who disappeared on 8 March. It was found almost completely buried in the sand. Separately Colonel Massaoud Benboudria, who is leading the search, said he was "personally convinced" that all the tourists were alive and might be in another country. More than 1,000 Algerian troops have been deployed to look for the 31 tourists - from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Some of the travellers - who were in seven separate groups - have not been heard from since February. Colonel Benboudria told El Watan newspaper on Sunday that there was no evidence to support speculation that the tourists had been abducted by Islamic rebels. "Terrorists don't keep hostages," he said. "They usually kill them for media effect or use them as a bargaining tool." He's in denial mode, terrorists take hostages for a lot of reasons, including fund raising. You just have to look at South America and the Phillipines for examples. He added that it would require huge resources to keep such a large group hostage in the Sahara. How much can bread and water cost? There was no evidence to suggest they had been murdered either, he said. Just because you haven't found a body, yet! Media reports in Algeria have suggested that militant groups linked to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network could be behind the disappearances. Attention has focused on militant Islamist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who operates in the region. Colonel Benboudria said he thought the tourists had got lost in violent sandstorms. Algerian tourism officials have suggested that the tourists brought their fate on themselves because they had travelled without the help of guides who know the desert terrain. In other news, the mayor of Amity Island said there was no danger of tourists being eaten by a great white shark. Some of the tourists left a message in the desert two weeks ago saying they were alive. The tourists comprise 15 Germans, 10 Austrians, four Swiss nationals, a Dutchman and a Swede. Somebody knows what happened and isn't talking. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 None of the nations that those missing tourists are citizens of have enough balls to go and try to find them on their own. Their pathetic Gov't is hoping for a miracle, and their fellow countrymen are letting get away woth it. It's a damn shame. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2003-04-29 13:02:30 |