13 Apr 2011

Family worried about relative missing in Libya

2:55 pm on 13 April 2011

A Hawke's Bay family is growing increasingly worried about their cousin who is feared to have been captured by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Photojournalist Anton Hammerl went missing along with three other journalists last week.

International media say the South African-born British-based man disappeared near the eastern Libyan town of Brega on 5 April.

They say he might have been with two American journalists and a Spanish journalist who went missing the same day.

Their cases have been taken up by the group Human Rights Watch.

Mr Hammerl's cousin, Alice Cawthorne, lives in Hawke's Bay along with several other relatives.

She says the family is getting very worried, and is hoping that awareness of his case may help his release.