A corpse of the guide for two French tourists who went missing on safari in Pendjari parc in Benin last week has been found in a burnt car, a local official and a regional security source said.

The fate of two French tourists, who failed to return to the lodge in the Pendjari National Park in northern Benin, is unknown, the sources said.

French mass media reported that they were believed to be kidnapped, citing unnamed regional sources.

France’s foreign affairs ministry could not confirm the information so far, though it has acknowledged that two nationals and their guide had been missing since May, 1. However they underlined they have advised against travelling to the area.

The relevant authorities in Benin and neighbouring Burkina Faso, where the sources say the car was found, declined to comment.

In March 2009 the park was nominated as a tentative site for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site program, and in July 2017 it was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a transnational extension of the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex. Stretching across three countries, W-Arly-Pendjari Complex is the largest and most important continuum of terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic ecosystems in the West African savanna belt.