Two Brazilian women kidnapped near Mt. Sinai

Armed men grabbed the women and their guide off a tour bus

The kidnapped Brazilian women were traveling near St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt. (photo credit: CC-BY-SA Berthold Werner, Wikimedia Commons)
The kidnapped Brazilian women were traveling near St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt. (photo credit: CC-BY-SA Berthold Werner, Wikimedia Commons)

An Egyptian official says armed men kidnapped two Brazilian tourists (a woman and a teenage girl) and their Egyptian tour guide as they were traveling on a bus near Mount Sinai.

“Their kidnappers are demanding the release of Bedouin prisoners jailed under longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, as well as the cancellation of sentences handed down in absentia,” CNN reported Sunday.

The head of security in Egypt’s south Sinai Peninsula, Mahmoud Hefnawi, says six armed men with covered faces approached the tour bus carrying the Brazilian women and took them and their guide off the bus. The remaining passengers were allowed to go.

A spokesman for the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said the bus was carrying about 45 Brazilian tourists when it was stopped by the group of armed Bedouins. The official was not allowed to give his name in line with government policy.

The tourists were near the sixth-century St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist sites.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said negotiations to free the women were under way. The negotiations were being handled by the Egyptian Interior Ministry, closely followed by the Brazilian Embassy in Cairo.

Tribesmen in the area have in the past abducted tourists to pressure Egyptian authorities to release their own detained relatives. The area has seen a rise in kidnappings in recent months. In February, two American tourists were kidnapped, and in January, two dozen Chinese workers and a translator were seized, CNN added. Since the overthrow of Mubarak, hostage-takings and kidnappings of tourists and wealthy Egyptians have become more prevalent.

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