Four missing Polish trekkers feared abducted by Maoists in Nepal were found safe by police on Tuesday on a trail in the Mount Everest area, four days after they made an emergency call.
"I spoke to them personally over the phone today and they said they had a small argument with the rebels who had asked for money. The dispute was settled and the trekkers are safe," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
He said the four planned to continue their trek.
Marzena Staniszewska, Wojcich Mysiara, Konrad Kakolewski and Maria Los had called colleagues via satellite phone on March 23 and said they had been abducted by the rebels, according to Bharat Kumar Ghimire, general secretary of the Nepal Esperanto Association where two of the trekkers worked.
The incident happened at Jiri, 320 kilometres east of Kathmandu, the start of a popular trek through the Everest region.
It prompted a search after the four could not be contacted.
The rebels control big swathes of the countryside outside the capital Kathmandu and normally charge tourists a "tax."
{{/usCountry}}The rebels control big swathes of the countryside outside the capital Kathmandu and normally charge tourists a "tax."
{{/usCountry}}But attacks on or abductions of foreigners are rare because tourists are an important source of income in the countryside.
The rebels regularly admit taking local people for indoctrination sessions before releasing them unharmed.
The rebels are waging a decade-long campaign to install a communist republic in which 12,500 people have died.