iloubnan - kidnapped in Lebanon still alive: Estonia FM - June 21, 2011

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said on Tuesday that Lebanese authorities had information indicating seven Estonian cyclists kidnapped three months ago in eastern Lebanon were still alive.

"According to the information I got from Lebanon's president, the kidnapped Estonians are alive and work to free them continues," Paet told Estonia's Kuku radio from Beirut on Tuesday.

"There are some preliminary (findings) that we have reached, but not to the extent that we can share with the media," he told reporters in Beirut, where he met President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other officials.

Seven Estonian cyclists, all in their 30s, were kidnapped on March 23 after entering Lebanon on a bicycle tour from neighbouring Syria.

Several people have been arrested in Lebanon in connection with the kidnapping but there is no clear evidence as to who ordered the kidnapping or where the men are.

The Estonians appealed for help in two videos posted on the Internet in April and May.

The first was uploaded in the Syrian capital Damascus, investigators said, leading to speculation that the men had been moved across the border.

Last week, Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told reporters that his country remained completely in the dark, with no political or financial demands having been made so far.