Spanish photographer is missing in Libya, and is believed to have been taken, together with three colleagues, by forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.

Manuel Varela and three colleagues failed to return to their hotel in Benghazi on Monday nightManuel Varela - EFE


A Spanish photographer is missing in Libya, and is believed to have been taken, together with three colleagues, by forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.

Manuel Varela de Seijas Bravo, whose professional name is Manu Brabo, is a freelance photographer from Gijón who had been in Libya for the past month covering the conflict for the European Press Agency. Spain’s EFE news agency is a shareholder in EPA and distributes their photos in Spain and in Latin America.

EFE reports that the group of four were staying with other colleagues at a hotel in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, but failed to return there on Monday night. A journalist for La Vanguardia newspaper is understood to have been informed by a security advisor to the New York Times that the four journalists were arrested on Tuesday when Gaddafi forces launched a strong offensive on the road between Brega and Ajdabiya.

The security advisor was travelling in another vehicle, and said he saw that the journalists’ vehicle had become trapped between the lines of Gaddafi’s troops. They were then, he said, arrested and their vehicle was set on fire.

Manuel Varela’s colleagues have been named by EFE as James Fowley and Claire Morgane from the United States, and Anton el Harmmel from South Africa.

The Spaniard has worked as a freelance photographer for many years, and has travelled across the world for his work. He has covered the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the past, as well as the tragic earthquake in Haiti last year.