Canadian woman rescued in Iraq
Published: September 22, 2004
A Canadian woman held hostage in northern Iraq has been freed after 16 days in captivity, the Chicago Sun-Times said today in a report from Iraq.
Fairuz Yamucky, 38, a cement company employee, was ferried out of the area Tuesday by a Chicago-based National Guard unit.
Circumstances surrounding her abduction and release were not known.
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew, in an interview with CTV’s Canada AM, said Ottawa was “aware she had been kidnapped and we had been working on the case.”
“I can tell you the family is very happy,” Pettigrew said. “Her father has been in touch with us and he was overjoyed as much as we are. We are extremely relieved with this happy resolution.?”
Yamucky works for GSF Cement and Sand Co., which has been doing most of its business in Baghdad. She is a Canadian citizen recently working in the United Arab Emirates.
The Chicago newspaper described Yamucky as weary but smiling and chatting as the crew strapped he into the Black Hawk combat helicopter that flew her to safety.
The nighttime evacuation was pulled off as the unit, which carries troops and supplies, was on a routine mission.
Army Maj. Michael Duck confirmed Yamucky had been held for 16 days, though she was not on any official missing persons list.
The Sun-Times report said that at about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday Iraqi time, a dispatcher diverted the Black Hawk crew from normal night operations to land at a helicopter pad in the northern desert.
After about an hour, a car drove up and a slight woman with dark, chin-length hair in a white dress emerged and was seen in the car’s headlights, the newspaper said.
She boarded the helicopter and was taken to an undisclosed location where she could be debriefed by the U.S. military.
Marie Christine Lilkoff, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, told the Sun-Times the federal government “is aware of the situation of a Canadian detained in Iraq, but at the request of the family we can provide no further information at this time,” she said.
She said there are approximately 100 Canadians working in Iraq in humanitarian and other jobs.
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