Two young German girls who were held hostage for almost a year in the mountains of Yemen are due home tomorrow, following a dramatic rescue by Saudi special forces.
Lydia Hentschel, three, and Anna, five, were delivered into the care of authorities in neighbouring Saudi Arabia today, after an 11-month ordeal in the rugged terrain of north Yemen. They were allegedly held by Shia Houthi rebels with possible links to al-Qaida.
The fate of the girls' parents, Johannes and Sabine, both 36, who worked as Christian missionaries, and their baby brother, Simon, remains unknown.
"The childrenwill now be received into the bosom of the family. They need peace and quiet, not flashbulbs, in order to be able to work through what has happened," said the girls' uncle, Reinhard Pötschke, who was told of the rescue by the German foreign ministry on Monday. "For them and us the feelings of joy and mourning are mixed."
Pötschke, a vicar, said the family was prepared for the worst. "We have to expect that Simon is probably not alive anymore," he said. German officials refused to confirm numerous reports that the parents and their two-year-old son were dead.
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