CAIRO, July 16 (UPI) -- Two U.S. tourists and their guide were released unharmed Monday after being held for four days by Bedouin kidnappers, Egyptian officials said.
Michel Louis, 61, Lissa Alphonse, 39, and their Egyptian guide were handed over in the North Sinai town of al-Arish, Bikya Masr reported.
Louis, a pastor from Dorchester, Mass., and Alphonse of Everett, Mass., were abducted Friday while on a sightseeing tour of the Sinai Peninsula.
CNN said the the kidnappers were holding the three hostage in exchange for the release of a relative detained in Alexandria on drug charges.
Bikya Masr said kidnappings are becoming more common in the area as the Bedouin, who feel disenfranchised by the government in Cairo, attempt to push for the release of tribesman detained by Egyptian security.
