2023-08-11 21:26:44
Four French tourists are missing in Guatemala. As the French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Friday evening, the four French were “last seen” on Wednesday in the north of the Central American country. A six-year-old child is believed to be among them.
Guatemalan authorities announced on Friday that the people had disappeared in the jungle of Tikal, near the border with Mexico and Belize. The two women, aged 40 and 68, as well as the 41-year-old man and the six-year-old boy, were part of a family, the statement said, to which BFMTV refers. A warning was sent to the French embassy in Guatemala City.
The ancient Mayan city of Tikal is considered one of the most important surviving Mayan sites. Among other things, a temple has been preserved. Around 900 BC, the first settlements arose in the area, in which up to 200,000 people lived at peak times. The decline of Tikal began in 900 AD – evidence suggests that there was a connection with dry periods.
In 2022 a tourist from Germany disappeared
The area around Tikal is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the Foreign Office urges caution when traveling to Tikal, which is in the middle of the jungle. “The risk of robberies also exists in principle in tourist centers such as Antigua, Flores, Tikal and on Lake Atitlán. […] The danger of robberies and of going astray is not to be underestimated there.”
Tjerk Brühwiller, São Paulo Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 75
The exact circumstances of the disappearance of the French family are unclear. In January 2022, the body of a German tourist was found two days after he disappeared. The 53-year-old had left his tour group to explore the park alone.
The current case also brings back memories of the four siblings who were searched for more than 40 days in the Colombian jungle. They went missing after a plane crash and were finally found alive two months ago.
#tourists #disappeared #Guatemalan #jungle