Lebanon border records checked for 2 Americans

Authorities searching for two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon said Thursday they were checking records to determine whether the pair left the country through a border crossing.

The two _ Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23 _ have not been heard from since Oct. 1, when they left Beirut, according to the U.S. Embassy. They had been working for the Jordan Times and were expected back in Amman on Saturday.

The embassy formally lodged a request with Lebanese judicial authorities Thursday to investigate the incident.

The embassy said Chmela and Luck were reportedly headed for the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city where militants and Islamic fundamentalists are known to be active.

Lebanese security officials said Thursday they were checking border departure records to ascertain whether they had left Lebanon. Officials at the Beirut airport, the only one in the country, said they had not taken a flight out.

The leading An-Nahar daily claimed there was no record they had crossed any of Lebanon's borders, but security officials said that could not be confirmed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release any information of the search.

Chmela and Luck arrived in Lebanon on Sept. 29 from the Jordanian capital of Amman on vacation. They told a friend on Oct. 1 that they were traveling from Beirut to Tripoli through the coastal town of Byblos that day, the U.S. embassy said. From Tripoli they planned to cross by land into Syria, it added.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was concerned for the safety of the two journalists. CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney urged the Lebanese "to do all in their power to locate them."

Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told the local Voice of Lebanon radio that it was "too early" to speculate on the disappearance and added that such incidents "hurt Lebanon's security reputation." Tourism Minister Elie Marouni asked media not to "jump to any conclusions" until more facts emerge.

Luck has been a reporter at the Jordan Times for the past 18 months. Chmela worked as an intern at the English-language daily for three months before leaving the job several weeks ago, the paper's chief editor, Samir Barhoumeh, said.