Missing aid workers found safe

Two members of the medical relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, missing in the chaos of Baghdad since April 2, have turned up safe the organisation says.

The two volunteers, head of mission Francois Calas, 44, of France, and Ibrahim Younis, a 31-year-old logistician from the Sudan, were part of a six-member team working at al-Kindi hospital in north-east Baghdad. They were found yesterday.

Their four colleagues had returned from a shift at the hospital and found that the men were missing from their quarters. The group suspended operations in the country.

Agency officials said shortly after the disappearances that they believed that Iraqi authorities were holding the men, but authority crumbled when US-led forces conquered the city this week.

Kris Torgeson, a US spokeswoman for the group, said she had no details about the circumstances surrounding the men’s capture and eventual release, but that they were in good condition,

“Obviously, the whole organisation is extremely pleased,” she said.

Arjan Erkel, another Medecins Sans Frontieres volunteer, was kidnapped in the North Caucasus on August 12. The group said it has received no news about his whereabouts.