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| North Africa |
| Sahara tunnels could solve mystery of missing tourists |
| 2003-04-08 |
| Desert nomads were reported yesterday to have discovered an abandoned vehicle and a network of tunnels in a remote region of southern Algeria thought likely to provide clues about the mysterious disappearance of 29 western tourists in the Sahara over the past seven weeks. Germany's ARD television channel said the off-road vehicle was found in a mountainous district north of the Algerian town of Tamanrasset at the weekend by a camel train of nomads passing through the region. The vehicle was left parked outside the entrance to a complex system of underground caves linked by tunnels. The nomads said they suspected the caves "were inhabited", although they had not entered the system to find out. "I ain't going down there, you go." "Screw that!" The nomads' find appeared to be the first clue so far in an increasingly desperate search for the missing tourists, whose number increased to 29 last week after Austria announced that eight of its citizens had disappeared in the region. Sixteen Germans, four Swiss and a Dutchman have gone missing in the Algerian Sahara since the beginning of March. The last evidence of their whereabouts is a photograph taken by a friend of the missing tourists that shows six of the explorers with a car and three motorcycles while taking a break on a pass in the Algerian mountains on 21 February. Shades of "The Blair Witch Project". Two days later, the first group disappeared. German and Algerian investigators suspect the tourists may have been taken hostage by a militant Islamist group, known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), which has links to al-Qa'ida. However, no ransom demand has so far been made. "We cannot rule out any possibility; there have been no demands," said a German Federal Criminal Bureau spokesman. He said the search had been widened to include the use of helicopters equipped with heat-seeking cameras. Which won't do squat hunting for cold dead bodies. German tour operators had recently insisted that Algeria's southern Sahara rated as a relatively problem-free area. I think they also rate Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo, and the Ivory Coast as relatively "problem-free" areas. However, Germany's Sahara Club, which organises trips to the region, strongly criticised the German Foreign Ministry yesterday for failing to do enough to warn tourists of the dangers. The club claimed it had warned the German authorities about the dangers of the region some three weeks ago but had been ignored. It said it suspected the tourists had been captured by a "well-organised group" that had extensive contacts beyond Algeria's borders. Tourists keep disapearing, locals find a complex system of underground caves linked by tunnels. I think I saw this movie on the USA network last week. "Lair Of The C.H.U.D." |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Yum! I ate 'em, in revenge for Iraq. EAT 'EM UP! |
| Posted by: Hungry Allah 2003-04-08 17:11:15 |
| #7 Oops. Ignore my last. Alive and kicking, apparently. Even after a wall fell on Gimli... John Rhys-Davies (actor) -- Alive. Born May 5, 1944. Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies, Gimli the dwarf in the Lord of the Rings movies http://dpsinfo.com/dps/rnames.html |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-08 15:39:08 |
| #6 As far as I can tell, he's still alive. I did a search and found nothing about his death. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-08 15:38:25 |
| #5 RIP? Do you mean John Rhys-Davies is dead? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-08 15:11:27 |
| #4 It's not just you. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-04-08 13:21:51 |
| #3 It's not just you. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-04-08 13:21:51 |
| #2 Is it just me, or why would anybody in their right mind want to vacation in the Sahara Desert? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-08 12:40:27 |
| #1 "Snakes! Very dangerous...You go first." -- John Rhys-Davies (RIP) |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-08 11:49:39 |