Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has confirmed that two of the five German hostages in Yemen have been freed. In this connection he issued in Berlin today (18 May) the following statement:

”We are relieved the Saudi Arabian security forces have managed to free two of the five Germans kidnapped in Yemen.

The two girls are currently safe in the care of the Saudi Arabian authorities. They are as well as can be expected after their ordeal and are to be flown back to Germany tomorrow.

For their tireless efforts I thank the whole crisis unit team as well as all authorities involved with this case. I would also like to thank the Saudi Arabian authorities for their intervention and support.

We are continuing to do everything possible to establish the whereabouts of the remaining hostages, about whom we are still gravely concerned. We hope their ordeal, too, will soon be happily over, and will continue to do our utmost to bring this about.“