BOGOTA, Colombia: Six Colombians kidnapped by tribesmen and held for months in the Egyptian desert while trying to cross illegally into Israel have arrived safely at Colombia s embassy in Cairo, authorities said.
Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Camilo Reyes said the five missing women and one man arrived at the embassy Monday in a taxi, severely malnourished and exhausted but otherwise in good health.
The six were part of a group of at least a dozen Colombians abducted by Bedouin tribesmen who were hired two months ago to smuggle them across the Sinai desert into Israel, where they had hoped to find work. The group instead had their passports stolen and were forced to survive on little food and water.
Two women in the group died last month from dehydration, according to one of the Colombians who arrived in Israel and was working with police there to break up the human trafficking ring.
Far from helping them, these people forced them to live in the desert for two months, Reyes said.
Family members of those abducted said they were forced to pay a ransom of up to $6,000 to secure their loved ones release.
They promised to release them in three days time, and that s exactly what occurred, Felipe Cuervo, husband of victim Beatriz Restrepo, told Caracol TV.
The odyssey of the Colombians, which made headlines in both countries, highlighted the growing desperation of migrants from developing countries to enter Israel in hope of securing a better life in a variety of underpaid, fields ranging from construction to prostitution.
The U.S. State Department said in a report earlier this year that Israel is not doing enough to stop human trafficking, placing it in the same category as Cambodia, China and Kuwait. AP
