German kidnap victims escape in Australia
A German woman and her daughter have escaped unharmed after being abducted by a gunman and handcuffed to a tree in a national park in Australia.
The gunman struck up a conversation with the two women, who are on holiday in Australia, near the popular Tolmer Falls in Litchfield National Park, about 62 miles south of Darwin.
About sunset, the man is alleged to have pointed a black handgun at the women, forcing them into bushes, where he handcuffed them to a tree.
The women, aged 45 and 16, escaped at about midnight and reached a police station in the nearby town of Batchelor just after sunrise.
"They were extremely traumatised, but had no apparent physical injuries," a police spokeswoman said.
She was unable to say how the women escaped, or to give any idea of a motive for the abduction.
The women's names and their home town in Germany have not been released.
Police have closed the park and are stopping all cars travelling through the area.
Detectives say there is nothing to suggest that the kidnapping was linked to the abduction and suspected murder of British tourist Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory on July 14 last year, about 620 miles south of Litchfield National Park.
Falconio, 28, is believed to have been shot by a man who then attempted to abduct Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, after flagging down their vehicle on an Outback highway. Lees was tied up in the man's pickup truck, but managed to free herself and hid for six hours before stopping a passing vehicle.
