It was a highway robbery but the bandits got more than they bargained for when they stopped a taxi van in Guinea and made off with blood samples that are believed to be infected with the deadly Ebola virus.
Authorities publicly appealed on national radio Friday to the unidentified robbers to hand over the samples that were stolen from the minibus taxi during its 265-kilometre (165-mile) trek from central Kankan prefecture to a test site in southern Gueckedou.
The samples were drawn from a single person and were stored in a sealed container, and handed off to the taxi driver when armed bandits stopped the vehicle the aid group had commissioned near the town of Kissidougou, said Faya Etienne Tolno, a press officer for the Guinea Red Cross.
Tolno explained that the Guinea Red Cross did not have its own vehicles for transport, which explains why a taxi was commissioned. No one was injured in the incident, which took place on a road known for banditry.
"We don't understand why they stole the blood sample. Perhaps they thought there was cash hidden in the flask," Tolno said.
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