Egyptian kidnap drama ends with the release of all hostages
Posted by African Press International on October 1, 2008
All the 11 foreign tourists and the Egyptians held hostage by kidnappers, arrived safely on Monday afternoon at Cairo airport on board an Egyptian military plane after more than week in captivity.
Defense officials, the ambassadors of Italy and Germany and the Egyptian minister of Tourism Zohier Grana welcomed the group upon their arrival at the airport. They appeared in good condition.
The tourists were taken by helicopter directly to hospital for medical check- up immediately after their arrival.
Official Egyptian sources had earlier announced that the 11 tourists and the eight Egyptians kidnapped with them in the remote border region of Egypt for more than a week were liberated and were in good health.
The sources said the process ended without paying any ransom to the kidnappers.
President Hosni Mubarak expressed his pleasure on hearing the news of their release.
However further details have so far been revealed about the process of ending the drama.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Minister of Defense and Military Production underlined that half of the kidnappers were killed during ending the drama.
Gunmen kidnapped the group of tourists last week, including five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian, as well as their Egyptian guides, drivers and guards in south-west Egypt, while they were on a desert tour near the borders with Sudan and Libya.
——————-
API/Source.apa
