[ad_1]
Cyclists from Europe and the United States who died in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Tajikistan called their trip a "dream come true."
The victims were Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan of the United States, René Wokke of the Netherlands and Markus Hummel of Switzerland, according to the authorities Tajik.
Each of the travelers had a blog to document the trips They were taken on the road to the Pamir, on the road of the Soviet era that extends for 2000 kilometers, near the border with the Afghanistan and with spectacular views.
Americans explained in their SimplyCycling blog that they had "We decided to leave our jobs and ride bikes all over the world."
The couple traveled across Africa and Europe before flying to Kazakhstan in May
Messages on the site and on their Instagram account they interrupted when they ventured into the mountainous Tajikistan, the poorest of the world. 39, former Soviet Soviet.
"Tajikistan is a difficult place for the cycle." It's cold and windy, it's mountainous and, above all, very, very high, "wrote Austin a week ago
" I'm really glad I did. I do not have to do it again, "he said of the crossing of the Tajikistan Pass at an altitude of 4665 meters, with little air and intermittent snow.
Austin appeared in the Washington Post in 2015 as one of the following a "small house" trend and reduce their daily lives to the essentials.
On Sunday, a car saw the group of seven cyclists, two of whom were injured and one uninjured.
attacked by a gang armed with knives and pistols during a very unusual incident organized by a member of an Islamist opposition party.
They embarked on their adventure in July 2017.
The Dutch victim Wokke, psychologist Aged 56, he was cycling with his partner Kim Postma, a hospital administrator 58 year old who was injured in the incident.
The website of the Dutch newspaper NRC stated that the couple were traveling from Bangkok to Tehran. cross Tajikistan to avoid the dangers of Afghanistan.
Wokke was a very experienced traveler and had visited more than 130 countries, according to his brother, Erik.
The couple, from Amsterdam, had left Thailand in February and had planned to arrive Tokher and Postma described the Pamir Highway on their blog as "the last challenge of this trip" .
Swiss cyclist Hummel also kept an online record of the trip with another Swiss citizen, Marie-Claire Diemand, who was wounded in the attack
In a blog post titled "A dream become reality, "they explained that they were traveling along the Silk Road from Xi to Kyrgyzstan in China
" As we are already on the road, we absolutely do not want to miss the Pamir road in Tajikistan, "said the couple.
Their last entry was on July 25, when the entire group was staying in the Tajik city of Khorugh, after the adventures, including the tent full of heaps of sand
They said that on the road, "we have enjoyed the silence, the dreamy landscape and we watched the Pamir River and the Afghan side of the valley all day ".
Friends and supporters expressed condolences on SimplyCyling's Instagram profile of American victims.
Source link
