FAMILIES in Middlesbrough, Germany and the United States share the ordeal of Bob and Dianne Wells and their two other children, Sarah and Stuart.

Keith Mangan and his wife Julie met Paul and Catherine on a bus trip from New Delhi to Kashmir.

Self-employed Keith, 34, from Middlesbrough, and Julie were on the second leg of a year-long trip and were travelling through India.

They were at a make-shift camp together in the Kashmir Valley when gun-toting guerrillas threatened them with rifles.

Julie gave Keith her warm overjacket before the men were marched off. That was the last she saw of him.

Keith's mother Mavis and father Charles never left their home for six months waiting for news and even now go out in shifts so there is always someone waiting for the call.

"You hunger for news - it's as though you feed off it," she said. They have not given up hope.

German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel is not being allowed to forget about Dirk Hasert.

His office is filled with more than 200,000 postcards and letters all with the same message - do more to push for his release.

Dirk, 27, a student from Bad Langensalza, was separated from his fiancee Anne-Katrin Hennig at gunpoint during a holiday trekking in Kashmir.

Anne-Katrin spent four months in the country campaigning for his release until she felt she could do no more.

Then, together with Dirk's friends she began to encourage people to appeal to the government to do more for Dirk, organising rallies, petitions and concerts and her campaign goes on

Keen mountain climber Donald Hutchings was on a trekking expedition through the Himalayan foothills with his wife Jane Schelly when the guerrillas struck.

They were cooking dinner with their guides when the group was seized, but were allowed to eat and put on warm clothing before they were taken.

Donald, 43, a neuropsychologist from Spokane, Washington, was physically fit but he was suffering from altitude sickness at the time.

"I believe they are still alive," said Jane, a teacher. "We've had so many ups and downs but I have tried not to allow myself to engage in the negatives and what-ifs."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.