Édith Blais, centre, and Luca Tacchetto, left, meet with Canada’s ambassador to Mali, Michael Elliott, after being found in Mali. (MINUSMA, the UN Mission in Mali)
The CBC says a Canadian woman, Edith Blais, 34, of Sherbrooke, has apparently escaped captivity after having been abducted with a travelling companion in West Africa 15 months. Ms Blais and Luca Tacchetto 30, had been travelling by car in southwestern Burkina Faso, heading to Togo to do volunteer work, when they vanished around December 15, 2018. They were last seen in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in southwestern Burkino Faso. The UN mission in Mali has now confirmed to the CBC that the pair is free in neighbouring Mali. The UN said preliminary information suggested Blais and Tacchetto escaped their captors. A civilian vehicle then found them near Kidal and took them to a United Nations camp.
