Travel agency tourists trapped in Ethiopia had used 'unaware' of Spain's travel warning

Kananga, the Barcelona-based travel agency the Catalan tourists who up until recently were trapped in Ethiopia had used, was "not aware" Spain's foreign ministry had issued a travel warning advising against visiting the northern part of the African country.

This is what travel agency director Jonás Baños explained in a recent interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN) only hours after Spanish foreign affairs minister José Manuel Albares said in Congress that the government had issued the advisory "many months" earlier.

"The situation was completely unexpected," Baños insisted. "Otherwise, we obviously wouldn't have sent the travelers there."

"Other travel agencies have been to the region and not had any trouble," he added, stating that the region they had been avoiding was the Tigray due to the conflict that came to an end under a year ago, not Amhara, where fighting between the authorities and militias caught the tourists by surprise.

The 19 Spanish nationals, most of whom are Catalan, are set to arrive in Barcelona Monday night after a layover in Istanbul.

While they were able to leave the area most affected by the violence immediately, they were only able to leave the country two weeks later.

Both Catalan and Spanish authorities were in touch with them as they sought refuge in a hotel in a safer part of Ethiopia.