Tourists kidnapped from Egypt

A group of 11 tourists were kidnapped today in a remote corner of southern Egypt and taken across the border to neighbouring Sudan.

A government spokesman said the five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian were with four Egyptian guides and guards on a trip in the vast, rugged and mostly uninhabited western desert near the Sudanese-Egyptian borders when they were kidnapped.

The Italian and German foreign ministries confirmed that five nationals from each of their nations are among those taken.

Details remain sketchy and there was no word on the identity of the kidnappers or their motives.

But the spokesman said Egyptian and Sudanese authorities were co-ordinating on the kidnapping.

"There is no direct contact with the kidnappers. All the contact is indirect through the tourist company" that organised the desert trip, he said.