Missing journalist contacted

2004-07-01 08:09

Sydney - Brief contact has been made with an Australian journalist missing on assignment in Afghanistan, but it was unclear if she was in any danger, her employer SBS Television said on Thursday.

SBS spokesperson Mike Field said freelance journalist Carmela Baranowska had been reached briefly by satellite phone about 01:00 on Thursday (1500 GMT Wednesday) but the line had cut off.

The journalist had not been heard from since Monday, raising concern at her Melbourne base.

Australia's foreign affairs department fears Baranowska and her Afghan assistant and driver may have been kidnapped by Taliban guerrillas in southern Afghanistan.

A man claiming to represent Taliban guerrillas said the hardline Islamic movement had captured a foreign woman and an Afghan man.

"We were able to make very brief phone contact with her about 1 o'clock this morning, we've been trying through the night," Field told AFP.

"Frustratingly, it wasn't a very long call and it was very bad reception so it dropped out and we weren't able to glean much of her whereabouts or how she is.

"It's not enough at this stage to allay our concerns or indeed increase them."

Field said the newsroom usually had regular contact with Baranowska and silence over a couple of days had raised their concerns.

A spokesperson for the foreign affairs department said it was trying to confirm reports that international security assistant forces on the ground in Afghanistan had been in touch with Baranowska and that she was safe and well.

"We remain very concerned about the wellbeing and whereabouts of Carmela Baranowska," the spokesperson said.

Field said Baranowska, 35, had been working on a story previewing elections due there in September.

She left Kabul for Kandahar last week and was believed to be heading to Zabul province, where Taliban fighters have been active against US-led foreign troops in the past month.

Baranowska, an award winning documentary maker who has also worked in East Timor, Burma and Thailand, was "a gutsy journalist", Field said.

- AFP