Ebola outbreak: Health team 'found dead' in Guinea
Some villagers in Guinea have been scared by the appearance of health workers trying to combat Ebola
Officials
in Guinea searching for a team of health workers and journalists who
went missing while trying to raise awareness of Ebola have found several
bodies.
A spokesman for Guinea's government said the bodies included those of three journalists in the team.They went missing after being attacked on Tuesday in a village near the southern city of Nzerekore.
More than 2,600 people have now died from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
It is the world's worst outbreak of the deadly disease, with officials warning that more than 20,000 people could ultimately be infected.
Last month, riots erupted in the area of Guinea where the health team went missing - near where the outbreak was first recorded - after rumours that medics who were disinfecting a market were contaminating people.
The three doctors and three journalists went missing on Tuesday after residents in the village of Wome pelted them with stones as they visited the village.
One of the journalists managed to escape and told reporters that she could hear the villagers looking for them while she was hiding.
The governor of Nzerekore told the BBC that the group were being held captive but on Thursday night a government spokesman said several bodies had been found.
He said the eight bodies found included those of three journalists, but it is unclear who the other victims are.
A government delegation, including the health minister and the communications minister, had been dispatched to the region but the BBC's Makeme Bamba, in the Guinean capital Conakry, said they were unable to reach the village by road because a main bridge had been blocked.
There have been many reports of people in the region saying they do not believe Ebola exists, or refusing to co-operate with health authorities, fearing that a diagnosis means certain death...... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29256443
