Western Travelers Missing in Ethiopia

Five of 15 Western tourists were still missing in the rugged terrain of eastern Ethiopia Friday, a day after they were feared kidnapped, reports said.

Ten members of the party made contact with their tour operator Friday, about 500 miles north of the capital, Addis Ababa, The Telegraph said. They said their mobile phone went out.

Several Britons linked to government departments were said to be among the group that disappeared in a remote desert on a trip to geological sites.

The tourists were thought to be travelling with armed guards through the Afar region when they went missing, drawn there by spectacular natural landscapes, volcanoes and salt mines.

Afar straddles Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti and is patrolled by armed separatists who have kidnapped tourists in the past.

The Times of London called northeast Ethiopia one of the more inhospitable places on Earth with average temperatures in the 90s.