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Spain says in "full activity" to locate 3 journalists missing in Syria

Xinhua, July 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has announced his ministry is "in full activity" in seeking to discover what happened to three Spanish journalists who have been missing for over 10 days close to the Syrian town of Aleppo.

The three reporters, Angel Sastre, Antonio Pampleiga and Jose Manuel Lopez, crossed the Turkish border into Syria on July 12 and have not been heard of since Sastre posted a tweet with the word "courage," two days later.

It is feared, but has so far not been confirmed, that the trio have been kidnapped. Garcia-Margallo has called for "maximum discretion" over the disappearances.

Speaking at an event in the "Casa America" in Madrid, he said that Spanish government was "in full activity" with the National Center of Intelligence (CNI) working to discover their whereabouts.

He explained that the Foreign Ministry was in "constant contact" with the Spanish Embassy in Ankara, while at the same time pointing out that other similar cases had been successfully resolved.

"I have the tranquility of knowing that in these cases which cause the most upset, the Foreign Ministry does everything possible. We do depend a lot on the actions the other side makes, but I hope that this is resolved well," he said, implying that it was a case of kidnapping rather than just a disappearance.

Saste, Pampleiga and Lopez are not the first Spanish reporters to be kidnapped in Syria after Javier Espinosa, who works for the El Mundo newspaper and freelance photographer, Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, suffered a similar fate in 2014. They were released in March this year after 194 days in captivity. Endit