Spain on Tuesday confirmed two of its nationals were missing in Burkina Faso after an anti-poaching patrol was attacked in the landlocked West African nation.
“There are two Spanish nationals whose whereabouts are unknown in Burkina Faso,” a foreign ministry source told AFP in Madrid, indicating searches were under way to try and locate them.
“The Spanish embassy in Mali, which is accredited in Burkina Faso, is in close contact with the families who are being kept informed about the events and the searches to find them,” the source said.
The Burkina attack was confirmed by security sources, one of whom had said two Spaniards and an Irish national working for an environmental NGO were among those taken.
Two of the Europeans were wounded in the attack, survivors said.
The fourth missing person was a Burkinabe national.
The Spanish foreign ministry source they were in “constant contact” with the Burkina authorities “and making every effort to find the two Spaniards with all due caution and the prudence necessary in such cases”.
(AFP)
