Belarusian Svyatlana Markiyanovich escapes from Syrian captivity

She and her Moldavian friend climbed down from the window while the terrorists were asleep. Then a local imam hid them in a mosque.

Positive news has arrived from Syria. Svyatlana Markiyanovich and her Moldavian friend Karina Koltsa escaped captivity with the help of quick wit and dexterity.

Svyatlana contacted her Belarusian family about two weeks ago. But it was forbidden to distribute the information because some of the abductors could speak Russian and they could read our reports. Svyatlana phoned from captivity (a guard probably let her do it) and complained that she was scared to escape. They will find and kill her anyway, she said. Then the situation aggravated even more.

It turned out that the ransom was demanded from the owner of the Lebanese hotel the girls had worked in.

"They said: 'As soon as we get the money, we will kill them anyway.' There was no choice; they had to escape on their own. The girls went though many hardships, bombs fell a few meters away from the cottage where the abductors were keeping them," Svyatlana Markiyanovich's aunt Iryna said. "The girls decided to risk, climbed down from the window and headed for the nearby Mosque. The imam hid them there and contacted diplomats."

Svyatlana and Karyna have already been delivered to Lebanon. Diplomats are preparing to send them home – to Belarus and Moldova.