MADRID: Colleagues and relatives of two Spanish reporters kidnapped by Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria said Tuesday they believed the pair were alive and well and urged their captors to free them.

El Mundo newspaper correspondent Javier Espinosa, 49, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, 42, were seized on Sept.16.

“We believe they are alive and we believe they are well,” El Mundo’s director Pedro J. Ramirez said.

A spokesman for the two men’s families added: “We are convinced that they are alive. They were alive and well a month ago,” the last time their relatives had news of them from witnesses.