Tourists rescued with Choppers
Austrian tourists rescued from kidnappers who held them hostage in the Sahara desert for almost three months told on Thursday of long marches and diminishing food rations during their captivity.
A relative of one described how they had been snatched from their captors in a helicopter raid by the Algerian army.
One said they had been well-treated by their kidnappers. "They said we had nothing to fear," Sabine Wintersteller, 41, told the Salzburger Nachtrichten newspaper.
Sometimes they had jostled members of the group or threatened them with their weapons but nothing more, she said.
"Some spoke French, others English and by the end we started to trust them. They also showed human characteristics".
Ten Austrians were among a group of 17 Europeans freed on Tuesday. Another 15 European tourists are still missing.
A relative of another hostage who did not want to be named said that the group had been rescued when helicopter-borne troops swooped and the hostages took cover near a cliff.
He said that the tourists had been held by armed Islamists and had been fed on a diet of boiled couscous, bread and dates two or three times a day.
Rations were cut
"They had just enough to live on, no more," he said, adding that towards the end rations were cut and for the last two days there was nothing to eat.
"If our captivity had lasted longer we would have started to get ill," Sabine Wintersteller said. "There were few mineral salts in our food and we were losing a lot because of the long marches," she added.
"We used to be woken at night by the kidnappers to walk for three or four hours in the desert so we would not be found by the Algerian army. During the final days (of captivity) we had to walk during the day as well and our shoes were in shreds."
"I hardly washed once in clean water," she said. "The women had to wear long ankle-length skirts. They gave us scraps of cloth to cover our faces and to have something to use during our periods."
Ms Wintersteller said that after her rescue by helicopter she had suffered from cramps, low blood pressure and trouble in talking. "I'm better now," she said after a night spent at home.
Five Germans and a Swede were freed with the 10 Austrians. Ten Germans, four Swiss and a Dutchman are still missing.