UK, Ethiopia Look for Missing Sightseers

The search spread Sunday for five British people kidnapped in Ethiopia as officials in neighboring Eritrea denied a report it had taken them.

Ethiopian police said the British Embassy staff and their relatives, along with 13 Ethiopian drivers and interpreters, were kidnapped about 500 miles northeast of Addis Ababa Thursday, the BBC reported.

While a herder has told Ethiopian officials he saw the missing Brits being marched to Eritrea, the British Foreign Office has not confirmed the report and Ethiopian Ambassador Berharnu Kebede said, We are not in the business of finger pointing at any group or individual or any country.”

For us the priority is to secure the safe return of these people, so no official from the Ethiopian government has said that, Kebede told the BBC.

A team of British officials was in the capital city of Addis Ababa working to secure the missing tourists’ release, the BBC reported.