Yemen hostages
June 23, 2009
Friends and family travelled from all over Germany to the northern city of Wolfsburg to attend the memorial service for 24-year old Anita G. and 26-year old Rita S. The church was completely filled, as shocked mourners came to pay their last respects to the two theology students.
“What happened to them is beyond comprehension,” said local community leader Johann Dockter.
“Anita and Rita will be remembered as people who loved God and all people,” said Matthias Rüther, the head of the Brake Bible College where the two had been studying for the past two-and-half years.
Anita G. and Rita S. had volunteered to work as nurses in a hospital in Yemen.
Hope remains that others are still alive
The bodies of the two German nurses, as well as a South Korean woman, were found in the country's north-west on June 15. They were part of a group of ten foreigners who were taken hostage at gunpoint while they were having a picnic on June 12.
The German couple and their three children, as well as a British engineer are believed to be in the hands of local Houthi rebels.
Because the death of the German women does not fit the usual pattern of kidnappings in Yemen, it has been suggested that the theology students may have been killed due to their religious beliefs. Yemen allows aids workers in the country, but the country strictly forbids attempts to convert people to other religions.
Yemen's information minister says he believes that the six foreigners are still alive and that they have been handed to a local Shiite rebel leader.
wl/dpa/AP
Editor: Andreas Illmer