Tunisia Museum Attack Leaves Spanish Couple Hiding in Facility for 24 Hours

The husband and wife were apparently afraid to use the cellphone.

ByABC News
March 19, 2015, 8:38 AM

LONDON— -- A Spanish couple and a Tunisian security guard were found alive today after hiding for 24 hours in the Tunisian museum where gunmen massacred 22 people Wednesday, officials said.

“We have excellent news to give because an hour ago two Spaniards who were believed to be missing, were found alive by our Spanish consulate officials,“ Spain’s Foreign Minister José García-Margallo told reporters today.

The couple, Juan Carlos Sanchez and wife Cristina Rubio, who is four months pregnant, scrambled to safety by hiding but were apparently too frightened to use their cellphones to raise the alarm, García-Margallo added.

“They spent the whole night hidden in the museum and didn’t even dare to use their cellphones, which is why we were unable to contact them,’’ García-Margallo said, adding that because Rubio is pregnant, ‘’she has been taken to a hospital for check-ups.”

It's unclear where they hid in the museum.

Garcia-Margallo explained that consular officials and police had searched all night for the couple, to no avail, but they were never listed among the dead.

Spain was planning to send a plane to Tunisia today to get them safely home, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said.