The hugs and smiles of the nine travelers and their guide, who spent ten days trapped in Adis Zemen, in northeastern Ethiopia, mixed with the story of a true nightmare upon arrival at El Prat airport in Barcelona, this Monday afternoon. Faces of relief and exhaustion between words of horror. "There were times when we suffered for our lives," acknowledged Noelia Bertrán, the person who accompanied them on the ground as a Kananga worker, the Barcelona travel agency that organized the expedition. "It has been very hard," added Núria Jiménez, one of the tourists.
The group of eighteen Spaniards - the rest had landed hours before in Madrid and Valencia, including a 13-year-old girl - were surprised by a violent revolt by the Fano guerrilla, in conflict with the Government, on August 2, and were trapped in a kind of hostel that was in very bad condition. “We were near a gas station when some men armed with Kalashinikovs pointed at us,” recalls Jiménez. “The first day we heard shots and a lot of noise. The next day we saw dead. One night we had to lock ourselves in a dark room for an hour in silence. Nothing happened, but it was something very big, ”Bertrán explained.
The guide who added that every day they were long for a rescue that never came. "Tomorrow will be the day," they told us. The roads were cut and the communications were scarce. Even so, Bertrán was able to maintain contact with the Spanish consul, Fernando Magallanes, three times a day, although he always asked them to "wait". Jiménez, for his part, has regretted the little response they have received from the Spanish ambassador in Ethiopia, Manuel Salazar Palma.
