Kurdish guerrillas kidnapped three Americans who believed they found the biblical Noah's ark, a Briton and an Austrian in eastern Turkey, authorities said Saturday. It was the second abduction of Westerners by Kurdish rebels in August.
The five, all men, were kidnapped by about 10 Kurdish gunmen near Elmali village in Bingol province on Friday evening, according to a regional official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The rebels stopped about 10 vehicles traveling on a mountain road, forced the foreigners out and took off with them, local sources reported.
The three Americans and the Austrian were traveling in a minibus they had hired in the eastern province of Erzurum earlier on Friday, according to the local sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. They said the Briton was traveling on another bus.
Turkish authorities were searching for the Westerners. Police were questioning the driver of the minibus and a Turkish hitchhiker on the vehicle at the time of the abduction, a regional official said.
The Americans were identified as Ronald Eldon Wyatt, Marvin T. Wilson and Richard M. Rives.
The other Westerners were identified as Allen S. Roberts of Austria and Gareth Johns Thomas, 50, of Britain.